Inserting Special Characters in Microsoft Word

If you've used Word much at all, you probably already know all about the Insert --> Symbol command. This command can be used to insert all kinds of special symbols that don't appear on the traditional keyboard: everything from the highly useful (currency signs and copyright symbols) to those of somewhat dubious usefulness (the ace of spades and an inverse white circle). But did you know that several of the special symbols accessible from this command are assigned keyboard shortcuts? Table 1 lists the more useful of these symbols and their shortcuts.

Table 1: Keyboard Shortcuts for Special Symbols

The following pointers can aid you in your quest for special characters:

• If you can't remember the keyboard shortcuts for these symbols, choose Insert --> Symbol and click the Special Characters tab in the dialog box that appears. A list of these characters appears, along with their keyboard shortcuts. The list also includes a few characters for which no keyboard shortcuts exist.

• You can add a keyboard shortcut to any special character by choosing Insert --> Symbol, clicking the Symbols tab or the Special Characters tab in the Symbol dialog box that appears, and choosing the Shortcut Key button.

• An em dash is a dash the width of the uppercase letter M. An en dash is as wide as an uppercase letter N. If you want to use a dash as a punctuation mark — like this — use an em dash instead of two hyphens. The old double-hyphen treatment is a carryover from the days of manual typewriters.

• The minus sign required for the em dash and en dash shortcuts is the minus sign on the numeric keypad, way off to the far-right side of the keyboard. The shortcut won't work if you use the hyphen that's between the zero (0) and the equal sign (=) at the top of the keyboard.