Finding special characters

Notes on getting the ë using shortcut keys on a Windows computer.

Figure 1: Photo of a tree from below in the warm Winter light

I recently got a new laptop, an upgrade from the standard NHS Trust issue, which now means I can open more than one session of RStudio and have lots of other Microsoft programs open without the fan going crazy as it overheats. I should be grateful, and I am, but I’ve spent a long time trying to find out how to type my name as there is no numeric keypad or shared letter/numbers on the keyboard. It’s not like I don’t type my own name much or anything!

MS Teams - please introduce yourself in the chat: Hello, my name is Zo

Do I write just a plain e? But that’s not my name. Do I have to go to another program or the internet to copy the ë every time I need this? That can’t be right can it?!

Even when I think I’ve got my name entered somewhere it gets changed, like for this distill post, it came through as Zoë which has a certain ring to it.

Using Alt for ë

If I have a keypad I’ve used Alt+0235.

Microsoft Word has it down as Ctrl+: then the e or Shift+e for a capital but that doesn’t work globally (so not in MS Teams or RStudio).

Adding a language - doesn’t work

I thought adding another language would be a workaround as I added German as, throughout my childhood I’ve always heard people say “ë like in German”. Only it’s not a German character it seems, it appears in French but no one ever said that. I’ve also heard it said that if you cut a worm half you get two worms which is complete nonsense so I should always question this stuff.

Adding another language like French does give other chacaters but I got é where I hoped I’d get ë.

Extended keyboard solution

The solution turns out to be pretty convoluted but here it is for future me:

• Windows button then Language settings
• Preferred language is probably already English (United Kingdom)
• Click on the language and then Options
• Add keyboard and scroll down (the list is not in any order) and select United Kingdom Extended

The new keyboard appears by the time along the bottom of the screen:

Screenshot of the menu of two keyboards which appears next to the time

Toggling between the keyboards can be done using Alt+Shift but that just shows the menu which you need to then select the language using the mouse at least on my computer. I thought I’d just need the extended keyboard but it seems that when I use the back tick here in RStudio the extended keyboard only does the ticks if I select it twice and then I get an extra back tick for my efforts.

Getting the ë

To get the ë, now this is the fun part.

• Hold down the alt gr key (to the right of the space bar) and select the number 2
• Let go of both keys and then select e or Ctrl+e for a capital

Getting other characters

Occasionally I like to use the é character, particularly for Hugo Apéro and my colleagues surname has a special character ú and to get these I hold down the alt gr key with the letter I want.

This works for the standard keyboard as well as the extended so that’s a nice find.

Addendum

Microsoft PowerToys have a quick accent utility but relies upon PowerToys being installed.

Another shortcut!

Found by my colleague Lorna Crofts at The Strategy Unit:

Ctrl and Shift and : (colon), release the keys, and type an e