symbols

[lyndaf]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) How do I insert a new font into the symbols list?

 

[John McGhie]

Mac Word employs a hard-coded list of fonts that are treated as "Symbol"
fonts: you can't change it.

However, in OS X, few people use the Insert>Symbol dialog. On the Mac OS X
menu bar, have a look for the Character Viewer applet: use that, it does a
much better job.

Cheers

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) How do I insert a
new font into the symbols list?

--

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

John is right about the OS X Character Viewer, but it may not be active by
default. Go to AppleMenu> System Preferences> Language & Text - Input
Sources to check the box for "Keyboard & Character Viewer".

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[glenno]

After going through a lot of troubleshooting with Microsoft Tech Support that turned out to be pointless, they finally acknowledged this is a flaw in Word for Mac.

It's a serious usability problem that the Symbol dialog doesn't let you access all your fonts (indeed, it only allows access to a tiny handful) in Word for Mac, like it does in Word for Windows.

The Mac OS X Character Viewer has a major usability limitation for Mac users of Word: you can't assign keyboard shortcuts to symbols in Word.

In Word for Windows, you can easily access ALL of your font symbols and characters from within Word, and assign keyboard shortcuts to all those you want. For years I've had about two dozen keyboard shortcuts for commonly-used symbol characters in Word for Windows, which made daily work extremely easy and fast.

Now, in Word for Mac, inserting these characters requires a time waste that breaks the flow of your work. You can't simply type at normal speed. You have to go searching for those symbols or characters, then drag them into Word (when double-clicking doesn't work, which is often). Even if you make a Favorites collection, it's still a time waste that interrupts your work.

Microsoft really needs to fix this flaw in Word for Mac.

If anyone knows of a viable workaround in the meantime, though, it'd be greatly appreciated!

 

[glenno]

Also, the characters in the Symbol dialog needs to be made bigger, as it is in Word for Windows. It's near impossible to see those tiny characters in Word for Mac. Having to click on each character to see it a little bit clearer, one-at-a-time, is a real waste of time. And even then, they're not big enough.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

The Mac OS X Character Viewer has a major usability
limitation for Mac users of Word: you can't assign keyboard shortcuts to
symbols in Word.

True!
I use a separate utility to insert special characters when I have no
easy way to create a shortcut in Word. There are plenty out there,
Keyboard Maestro, Typinator, QuickKeys, Spell Catcher...
You could even consider PopChar:
http://www.ergonis.com/products/popcharx/
I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard good things about it,


You could also create a "text" shortcut. Eg: typing b-- enters a beta.
Word: Preferences: Auto correct


FYI, you might not be able to enter your character in the prefpane, but
you can use Copy and Paste to get it in there.

Corentin

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Also, the characters in the Symbol dialog needs to be made bigger, as it
is in Word for Windows. It's near impossible to see those tiny
characters in Word for Mac. Having to click on each character to see it
a little bit clearer, one-at-a-time, is a real waste of time. And even
then, they're not big enough.

I agree, I hate this UI for the symbols. Vastly insufficient (and I
therefore never ever use it).

Corentin

 

[glenno]

True!

> I use a separate utility to insert special characters when I have no
> easy way to create a shortcut in Word. There are plenty out there,
> Keyboard Maestro, Typinator, QuickKeys, Spell Catcher...
> You could even consider PopChar:
> http://www.ergonis.com/products/popcharx/
> I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard good things about it,

Thanks. That's too bad because it means having one more application we have to start and run concurrently (I assume). Hopefully release of Word:Mac will fix this flaw. I hope more people suggest it here: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/suggestions.mspx.

I'll look into these to see if they'll do the job as a temporary workaround, but one question. Can these separate utilities work *only* within Word -- so that the keyboard shortcuts I assign to insert symbol characters won't affect other applications? Thanks.

 

[glenno]

I assume another downside to that workaround, unfortunately, is that those separate utilities can't warn you if you've already assigned a keyboard shortcut in Word. Or vice versa. This is pretty important.

Also, if you have assigned the same shortcut in Word, which one prevails?

 

[Jim Gordon Mac MVP]

After going through a lot of troubleshooting with Microsoft Tech Support
that turned out to be pointless, they finally acknowledged this is a
flaw in Word for Mac.

It's a serious usability problem that the Symbol dialog doesn't let you
access all your fonts (indeed, it only allows access to a tiny handful)
in Word for Mac, like it does in Word for Windows.

The Mac OS X Character Viewer has a major usability limitation for Mac
users of Word: you can't assign keyboard shortcuts to symbols in Word.

In Word for Windows, you can easily access ALL of your font symbols and
characters from within Word, and assign keyboard shortcuts to all those
you want. For years I've had about two dozen keyboard shortcuts for
commonly-used symbol characters in Word for Windows, which made daily
work extremely easy and fast.

Now, in Word for Mac, inserting these characters requires a time waste
that breaks the flow of your work. You can't simply type at normal
speed. You have to go searching for those symbols or characters, then
drag them into Word (when double-clicking doesn't work, which is often).
Even if you make a Favorites collection, it's still a time waste that
interrupts your work.

Microsoft really needs to fix this flaw in Word for Mac.

If anyone knows of a viable workaround in the meantime, though, it'd be
greatly appreciated!

Once you have inserted a character from either the MacOSX Character
Viewer or Keyboard Viewer (as described by others) you can assign
keyboard shortcuts to it via Word's AutoText feature.

How to make AutoText is explained in detail on pages 271 through 277 of
the Office 2008 for Mac All-in-One for Dummies book. There is more than
one way to create an AutoText entry and then turn it into a keyboard
shortcut. Here's one way:

1. Turn on the AutoText toolbar (View menu > Toolbars > AutoText)
2. Select a character (or phrase, picture, or just about anything for
that matter)
3. Click the New button
4. Give your selection a name
5. Click the OK button
6. From the Tools menu choose Customize Keyboard
7. Under Categories on the left side choose AutoText
8. Under AutoText on the right side select the name of your new AutoText
9. Click in the field where it says Press new Keyboard shortcut
10. Press a new keyboard shortcut for your AutoText
11. Click OK

Hope this helps!

-Jim

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I assume another downside to that workaround, unfortunately, is that
those separate utilities can't warn you if you've already assigned a
keyboard shortcut in Word. Or vice versa. This is pretty important.

True, though with auto-text (or any equivalent form) the chances are
more than slim.

I didn't say I had miracle solutions, just that I had options for you
;-)

Also, if you have assigned the same shortcut in Word, which one
prevails?

The short answer is "it depends".
I noticed that with Typinator, it's typinator.

I like this utility because, it works well, fast, in all applications
and I can sync my shortcuts through Dropbox.

Your mileage might vary obviously,

Corentin

 

[glenno]

I didn't say I had miracle solutions, just that I had options for you

 

[glenno]

Jim: Brilliant, that does the trick! Thank you very much.

Even though it requires extra steps that aren't necessary in Word for Windows, in the end it does the same job so this solves the problem. I still hope the Symbols dialog can be fixed to work properly and simply like it does in Word for Windows, though.

Meantime, it'd be great if the Tech Support folks were made aware of this workaround. It'd save them and users a lot of time and energy. (They had me moving all my fonts, returning them one at a time to the font folders, downloading font fixing software, etc., all because they had no clue that the Symbol dialog doesn't quite work in Word for Mac. Oh well, good times.)

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Glenn,

Meantime, it'd be great if the Tech Support folks were made aware of this
workaround.

Since Microsoft staff don't come here, the best way is for you to send
feedback via the Help menu. Someone does read all comments, we've been told.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
==============

 

[Jim Gordon Mac MVP]

Jim: Brilliant, that does the trick! Thank you very much.

Even though it requires extra steps that aren't necessary in Word for
Windows, in the end it does the same job so this solves the problem. I
still hope the Symbols dialog can be fixed to work properly and simply
like it does in Word for Windows, though.

Meantime, it'd be great if the Tech Support folks were made aware of
this workaround. It'd save them and users a lot of time and energy.
(They had me moving all my fonts, returning them one at a time to the
font folders, downloading font fixing software, etc., all because they
had no clue that the Symbol dialog doesn't quite work in Word for Mac.
Oh well, good times.)

Actually, I was sort of hoping MacBU would simply kill the Insert >
Symbol dialog altogether. The MacOS Character Viewer and Keyboard Viewer
are so much nicer to use than what you see in Office for Windows. Take a
few minutes and explore the incredible number of options, Spotlight
search and other features of these two MacOS tools and you'll gain an
immediate appreciation of just how well designed these tools are.

In the next version of Office for Mac, VBA will return. It will be easy
to make an add-in that could automate the process of turning a selection
into an autotext with a keyboard shortcut.

-Jim

 

[Jim Gordon Mac MVP]

Actually, I was sort of hoping MacBU would simply kill the Insert >
Symbol dialog altogether. The MacOS Character Viewer and Keyboard Viewer
are so much nicer to use than what you see in Office for Windows. Take a
few minutes and explore the incredible number of options, Spotlight
search and other features of these two MacOS tools and you'll gain an
immediate appreciation of just how well designed these tools are.

In the next version of Office for Mac, VBA will return. It will be easy
to make an add-in that could automate the process of turning a selection
into an autotext with a keyboard shortcut.

-Jim

Also, I fiddled and came up with perhaps a more direct way to accomplish
your goal. As you probably know, Word's AutoText replaces certain things
you type without even using a keyboard shortcut. For example (c) is
replaced by the copyright symbol by default.

You can take advantage of this feature and define your own character
sequences for automatic replacement using AutoReplace instead of
AutoText as discussed earlier.

You can define text strings that are to be automatically replaced by any
special character. For example, you can have Word automatically replace
(s) with a special character from the MacOS Character viewer. Here's how:

In Word, use Tools > AutoCorrect, which opens the AutoCorrect dialog box.
Make sure Automatically correct spelling is checked at the top of the box.
Make sure Replace Text as you Type is also checked.
In the Replace field, type the character string you want automatically
replaced as you type. Since (s) has not been taken use (s) in this example.
Click into the With form field to position the insertion cursor there,
but don't type anthing.
Go to the MacOS Character View or Keyboard viewer and insert a special
character.
Switch back to Word and click the OK button to close the AutoCorrect
dialog box.
In your document, type (s) and it should be replaced instantly with the
special character.

Note that you can have as many of these text sequences as you want, as
long as each is unique. This gives you an additional method to using
keyboard shortcuts. AutoText and AutoReplace are among the most useful
and powerful features of Mac Office.

-Jim