Excel 2007 For Dummies
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Excel 2007 makes it easy to enter symbols, such as foreign currency indicators, as well as special characters, like trademark and copyright symbols, into Excel's cells. These symbols are available in the Symbol dialog box.

To add a special symbol or character to a cell entry you’re making or editing, follow these steps:

Click the Insert tab and then click the Symbol button in the Text group.

Click the Insert tab and then click the Symbol button in the Text group.

The Symbol dialog box appears. The Symbol dialog box contains two tabs: Symbols and Special Characters.

(Optional) Click the Font drop-down list button and select a different font.

Check out the Wingdings fonts to see a wide variety of symbols that you won’t find with most other common fonts.

(Optional) Click the Subset drop-down list button and select the desired character set.

These subsets include foreign alphabets, accented characters, and mathematical operators.

Select the desired symbol on the Symbols tab; or click the Special Characters tab and select the desired character.

Select the desired symbol on the Symbols tab; or click the Special Characters tab and select the desired character.

Notice that the most recently used symbols appear near the bottom of the Symbols tab.

Click Insert to insert the symbol or character.

The Symbol dialog box stays open, so you can insert a string of special characters without having to re-open the dialog box for each one. Repeat steps 2 through 5 for each character or symobl you want to insert.

Click Close when you’re done adding symbols and special characters.

Click Close when you’re done adding symbols and special characters.

The inserted symbols or characters appear in the worksheet.

Press Enter to complete the cell entry.

If you need to add more (regular) text to the cell entry, you can continue typing after you click Close before you press Enter.

About This Article

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About the book author:

Greg Harvey has authored tons of computer books, the most recent being Excel Workbook For Dummies and Roxio Easy Media Creator 8 For Dummies, and the most popular being Excel 2003 For Dummies and Excel 2003 All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies. He started out training business users on how to use IBM personal computers and their attendant computer software in the rough and tumble days of DOS, WordStar, and Lotus 1-2-3 in the mid-80s of the last century. After working for a number of independent training firms, Greg went on to teach semester-long courses in spreadsheet and database management software at Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
His love of teaching has translated into an equal love of writing. For Dummies books are, of course, his all-time favorites to write because they enable him to write to his favorite audience: the beginner. They also enable him to use humor (a key element to success in the training room) and, most delightful of all, to express an opinion or two about the subject matter at hand.
Greg received his doctorate degree in Humanities in Philosophy and Religion with a concentration in Asian Studies and Comparative Religion last May. Everyone is glad that Greg was finally able to get out of school before he retired.

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