# Is there a "hot key" to bring up the special character box (Windows)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 21, 2001, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-hot-key-to-bring-up-the-special-character-box-windows/83034 "2001-09-21T16:04:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-hot-key-to-bring-up-the-special-character-box-windows/83034/1 "2001-09-21T16:04:10Z")
Is there a quick way to bring up the Unicode Character box rather than going the Start- Programs- Accessories- Character Map-- route? Or maybe a way to assign an “Alt + some key” command so I don’t have to go fishing everytime I need an “é”? Thänks ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-hot-key-to-bring-up-the-special-character-box-windows/83034/2 "2001-09-21T16:31:20Z")
You can create a hot-key combination to bring up any program you want. Right-click the Start button, and choose Open. Navigate to the shortcut you want to change, right-click it and choose Properties. Under the Shortcut tab is a setting for “Shortcut key”. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-hot-key-to-bring-up-the-special-character-box-windows/83034/3 "2001-09-21T17:08:01Z")
In Word, alt+s brings up a symbol window, but it’s a bit cumbersome to operate. A very few Greek symbols can be had by pressing alt+a, alt+b, alt+u, etc. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-hot-key-to-bring-up-the-special-character-box-windows/83034/4 "2001-09-21T18:42:35Z")
In what application does Alt-S bring up a symbol window? ---
**Author:** ![Trucido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Trucido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trucido)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-hot-key-to-bring-up-the-special-character-box-windows/83034/5 "2001-09-21T18:45:51Z")
Used to be able to generate some of those characters by holding the tab key and typing the ASCII code. Depends on the font, though. ---
**Author:** ![Trucido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Trucido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trucido)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-hot-key-to-bring-up-the-special-character-box-windows/83034/6 "2001-09-21T18:47:56Z")
Ack! Not tab, alt! ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-hot-key-to-bring-up-the-special-character-box-windows/83034/7 "2001-09-22T22:41:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CurtC \* > \*\*In what application does Alt-S bring up a symbol window? \*\* In Word. You actually get your choice of fonts, but some font sets have more special characters than others. ---
**Author:** ![BigGiantHead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b4bc9f/32.png) [@BigGiantHead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigGiantHead)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-hot-key-to-bring-up-the-special-character-box-windows/83034/8 "2001-09-23T01:10:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Trucido \* > \*\*Used to be able to generate some of those characters by holding the tab key and typing the ASCII code. Depends on the font, though. \*\* Actually, you can still use a method similar to this in (I believe) any Windoze app. The Character Map will show you, in the bottom right, what the number sequence is for the symbol you want; don’t believe it has anything to do with ASCII anymore. The numbers seems to be standard across the common TTF’s. **Inky-** , if you’ve got the brain space for it you can just memorize “0233” for your é. Just remember: hold Alt, type the number _on the keypad_, release Alt. - Dave ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-hot-key-to-bring-up-the-special-character-box-windows/83034/9 "2001-09-23T03:23:59Z")
I was unable to bring up the symbol window using Alt-S in Word 97. Here’s a couple tables of the extended character set. It is referred to as ANSI by the first link, and extended ASCII by the second. [http://www.fingertipsoft.com/3dkbd/ansitable.html](http://www.fingertipsoft.com/3dkbd/ansitable.html) [http://www.delanet.com/~pparish/ascii.htm](http://www.delanet.com/~pparish/ascii.htm) I just noticed that the first table hasn’t been updated since the introduction of the Euro(€) symbol, and lists the code as “unused”. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-hot-key-to-bring-up-the-special-character-box-windows/83034/10 "2001-09-23T03:32:00Z")
I explained this extensively [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=78508#post1450905). ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-hot-key-to-bring-up-the-special-character-box-windows/83034/11 "2001-09-24T17:15:34Z")
I am a doofus. I should have said Alt+I, followed by “S”.