Special Characters

Note 1: A character like ΓΏ (y with an umlaut) may be a special character in some localities, but it is an normal character for someone in Iceland. We define "special character" to mean a character not found on your keyboard. This will vary depending on which keyboard you use.

Note 2: You may have some characters in an MS Word file that do not import properly into Duxbury DBT. See the help topic Missing or Wrong Characters for details on handling this problem.

Set the Correct Keyboard Mode

If you wish to type Icelandic text, it helps to set your keyboard mode to match the text to be entered. You can use the Control Panel to change the keyboard to Icelandic. The exact way to do this depends on your operating system and base language.

Unicode Input in MS Word & other Microsoft Applications
  1. Enter the four character hex (alpha-numeric) Unicode value for the character.
  2. Without moving the cursor, press Alt + x.

For example, the Euro sign is 20AC. Type 20AC, then Alt + x to obtain a Euro sign in Word.

Alt-Key Entry Method

Those who wish to reproduce Latin accented characters in their text may find it useful to study the Alt Key Entry Method topic. This method seems to be popular in Central Europe. You turn on the Num Lock, and then type a decimal number while holding down the Alt key. It has the advantage of working in many applications.

Entering Raw DUSCI into Duxbury DBT

In DBT, to enter a special character, press Ctrl + ] (that is, hold down the Ctrl key and press the right bracket key: ]). In the dialog box which appears, enter the DUSCI 4-digit (or 2-digit) code. Like Unicode, DUSCI is written in hexadecimal. As an example, if you want to put the Devanagari "AA" character into your document, its DUSCI code is D+C036. Press Ctrl + ] to open the dialog box and enter C036. To enter this same character into Microsoft Word, you would use the Unicode number: 0906. To locate DUSCI numbers, open the topic Comprehensive List of Characters.