In this lesson, you'll learn how to use symbols and special characters in your Word documents.
Symbols and special characters are not part of the standard character set. The Greek letter mu u and the copyright symbol (c) are examples. If it's not on your keyboard, Word can probably still display and insert it in your documents.
Windows 95: Which is Which? The distinction between a symbol and a special character is not clear. For example, the Greek mu is considered a symbol, whereas the copyright symbol is considered a special character! There are many more symbols than special characters.
To insert a symbol at the insertion point, follow these steps:
Figure 20.1
The Symbol dialog box.
To insert a special character in your document at the location of the insertion point:
Figure 20.2
The Special Characters list.
If you frequently use a symbol in your document, you may want to assign a shortcut key to it. Then you can insert it quickly by pressing that key combination. Most of the special characters already have shortcut keys assigned to them; you can view these key assignments in the Special Character list.
Timesaver Tip: More Shortcuts You can also use Word's AutoCorrect feature to quickly insert symbols and special characters. See Lesson 19 for more information.
To assign a shortcut key to a symbol:
Figure 20.3
The Customize dialog box.
The shortcut keys are really key combinations; you can select from the following (where key is a letter key, number key, function key, or cursor movement key):
Shift+key
Ctrl+key
Alt+key
Alt+Ctrl+key
Alt+Shift+key
Ctrl+Shift+key
Ctrl+Shift+Alt+key
Some of the special characters that Word offers may seem unfamiliar to you, but they can be quite useful in certain documents. The following lists brief descriptions of the less well-known ones.
En dash A dash that looks slightly longer than the standard dash made with the key above the "P" key on your keyboard. The en dash is properly used in combinations of figures and/or capital letters, as in "Please refer to part 1-A."
Em dash Slightly longer than an en dash, the em dash has a variety of purposes, the most common of which is to mark a sudden change of thought. For example, "She said--and no one dared disagree--that the meeting was over."
En space A space slightly longer than the standard space. This space is an en space.
Em space A space slightly longer than the en space. This space is an em space.
Non-breaking space A space that will not be broken at the end of the line. The words separated by a non-breaking space always stay on the same line.
Non-breaking hyphen Similar to a non-breaking space. That is to say, two words separated by a non-breaking hyphen will always stay on the same line.
Optional hyphen A hyphen that will not display unless the word it is in needs to be broken at the end of a line.
In this lesson, you learned how to use symbols and special characters in your Word documents. The next lesson covers proofing your document.
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