Making shortcut keys on the PC platform for diacritic fonts and special characters.

This helpful article was submitted by Prabhu Gauranidhi. Special thanks to him for solving this long-standing puzzle.

This is how you add the shortcuts on a PC (you have to do it manually):

Open MSWord, then select the font 'Centenary'. Then you go to the 'Insert' menu at the top of the screen. Left-click. Then you go to the 'Symbol' item in the drop-down list. Left-click. Then a special window opens up. In that window you have to change the 'font' option to '(normal text)'. Then look for all the diacritic keys one by one in the resulting character map. There is a button at the bottom of that window that says, 'Shortcut Key'. After selecting the letter you want to make a shortcut for, left click the 'Shortcut Key' button and then set the appropriate shortcut for that key. The shortcuts used on PCs and Macs at the Math are given in the accompanying file. It is easy and it takes 10 to 20 minutes to complete. Then your shortcuts will work anytime you are in Centenary font. In other fonts, if you use these shortcuts, you will see gibberish, but if you select that text and change the font to Centenary, you will see the diacritics again.

'Search' and 'Replace' notes

For tips on searching and replacing diacritic words and characters please see the accompanying file.

Character Map on the PC
for Centenary and similar diacritic fonts

The following information was given by Sri Bivash Dutta of Calcutta. Again, many thanks.

If you have not adjusted your keystrokes according to the guidelines given above, or if you are typing into a programme other than MSWord, then you may find the following useful.

Probably easiest is to adjust your keystrokes in MSWord, then type your text and paste it into the other programme you are using. Or else you can type the characters directly into any programme with the help of the following chart of the principal keystrokes for our diacritic fonts used on the PC.

The process is to hold down the Alt key and then press the key numbers on the keypad, not the numbers at the top of the keyboard, then release the alt key. i.e. for a long 'a' hold down Alt then type on the keypad 0229, then release the Alt key.

a with line = Alt 0229
d with dot = Alt 0224
h dot = Alt 0232
i with line = Shift 6
m with dot = Alt 0236
n with ~ = Alt 0241
n with dot above = Alt 0237
n with dot under = Alt 0242
r with dot above = Alt 0214
r with dot under = Alt 0249
s with ' above = Alt 0223
s with dot = Alt 0163
t with dot = Alt 0233
u with line = Alt 0168
y with ~ = Alt 0227

chandra-bindhu = Alt 0156
chandra-bindhu (higher) = Alt 0140

A with line = Alt 0196
D with dot = Alt 0226
H with dot = Alt 0234
I with line = Alt 0238
M with dot = Alt 0239
N with ~ = Alt 0209
N dot above = Alt 0228
N dot under = Alt 0244
R dot above = Alt 0225
R dot under = Alt 0251
S ' above = Alt 0231
S dot = Alt 0246
T dot = Alt 0235
U line = Alt 0220
Y with ~ = Alt 0195

We hope this information will be helpful for you in your Service, and if we can be of further assistance, please ask.

Shortcut keystrokes chart | Search and Replace tips | Diacritic Fonts

Math Home Page | Math Index | Useful Downloads | "Memories" Index