MadCap Software Forums

I can use AltGr + E for the occasional é, but Word keyboard shortcuts such as CTRL+^+a don't work, although I can copy and paste â etc from Word to Flare.

However, that is only viable for very occasional use.

Is there a quicker way to type whole paragraphs containing a scattering of accents used in French and Spanish? (I'm using Flare 6.1.)

You can use Alt + character code; e.g. Alt+0226 for â.

So I'd have to know all the Alt codes for all the different accents (which don't seem to work on this laptop, even in Word).

That's what I feared - though I was hoping there might be a better way.

Thanks.

Could you change your keyboard layout to French or Spanish? If you know where the accented characters are on the other language layout you might find that the easiest option, but if you're used to touch-typing on a QWERTY keyboard, you could find using an AZERTY keyboard very frustrating!

Cecily wrote:So I'd have to know all the Alt codes for all the different accents (which don't seem to work on this laptop, even in Word).

That's what I feared - though I was hoping there might be a better way.

Thanks.

Flare does let you define a 'quick character' that you can insert using F11; but that's only one character.

I'm no expert by any means; I use Windows Character Map to insert characters, but I don't have to use it very often.
Maybe there are freeware tools out there that let you set up hotkeys and shortcuts.

Thanks, though that doesn't sound very easy either, at least, not for whole pages of text.

I suppose I could write it in Word, define AutoCorrect (or use Edit Replace) to insert the accented characters and then paste that into Flare and hope it compiles correctly as html, but even if that works, it sounds rather laborious and possibly prone to error.

Dave Lee wrote:You can use Alt + character code; e.g. Alt+0226 for â.

Thanks. That concurs with this list: http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/inte ... rench.html.

However, with Alt (even with NumLock on), I get nothing in Flare. The nearest I can get is NumLock AltGr+0226, but that creates an accented o instead of an accented a: ó.

Did you miss my suggestion to change the keyboard layout that you use?

ChoccieMuffin wrote:Did you miss my suggestion to change the keyboard layout that you use?

No, I didn't miss it, and I didn't mean to be ungrateful, but I'm not sure how to change the layout, and with the combination of extra characters (in a language I am only vaguely familiar with) and non-QWERTY, my typing would be so slow, I think it might be fractionally less slow to do it in Word, with AutoCorrect and then try pasting into Flare!

Cecily wrote:

Dave Lee wrote:You can use Alt + character code; e.g. Alt+0226 for â.

Thanks. That concurs with this list: http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/inte ... rench.html.

However, with Alt (even with NumLock on), I get nothing in Flare. The nearest I can get is NumLock AltGr+0226, but that creates an accented o instead of an accented a: ó.

Ah, on my (desktop) keyboard, pressing Alt + 0226 works fine - it doesn't work with Alt Gr though.

I got those codes from Windows Character Map.

Dave Lee wrote:Ah, on my (desktop) keyboard, pressing Alt + 0226 works fine - it doesn't work with Alt Gr though.

Because Alt and AltGr are two different keys, even on a kezboard with US lazout....unless you have one of these cheap east asian button gadgets where they saved a wee bit copper by wiring the two keys to the same line.


Changing keyboard layout is easy. Start > Settings > Control Panel > Regional and Language Options. In there select the Languages tab and hit the Details button, then add additional layouts. Make sure that you click Language Bar... in Preferences on the same tab and check to have the language bar displayed on the desktop. That way you can switch layouts on the fly. Unfortunately or luckily, that selection is application dependent. That means while one app uses the french layout the other apps continue to use the english layout. I haven't found a way to make the switch work for the entire OS and all running apps at the same time.

RamonS wrote:

Dave Lee wrote:Ah, on my (desktop) keyboard, pressing Alt + 0226 works fine - it doesn't work with Alt Gr though.

Because Alt and AltGr are two different keys, even on a kezboard with US lazout....unless you have one of these cheap east asian button gadgets where they saved a wee bit copper by wiring the two keys to the same line.

Yeah, I know they're different - the odd thing is that Cecily is getting some different (if not quite correct) results from Alt Gr on a laptop keyboard.

Because the ASCII codes work for the Alt key. I don't know what the Alt Gr key does.
Cecily, does it work when you use the Alt key instead of Alt Gr?

No, the Alt key doesn't work, which was why I tried AltGr.

I think these investigations have demonstrated that what I was trying to do is not really viable (and if I'm honest, I'm actually rather relieved).

Hello,

For occasional use of special characters, adding to what Dave Lee suggested, you can do many of them using the ANSI character set:
This link takes you to a page on the IBM Web site, where they have reproduced the list:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.w ... wg21089251

With num lock on, type 0 + the code indicated on the keypad. Note from the list that an letter and its accent are a single code; you don't type a letter and then accent it.

I have found that these work in Word, Flare, email, etc. etc. I believe they are totally device- and app-independent. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

Regards,
Mel