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My OS is Windows 7 (a localized version of this OS). I want to be able to enter any character in the applications mentioned in the title. I've tried some methods described on SE sites, including:

To be able to input characters using Unicode, run C:\Windows\regedit.exe, inside the application navigate to Computer -> HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Control Panel -> Input Method and right-click -> New -> Key and name the key(/folder) EnableHexNumpad. On the right-hand side of the application, the type, which is set to REG_SZ, is OK, but you need to set the value to 1: double-click under Name and enter the value 1 in the popup window that shows up. Then close the regedit.exe application and reboot the system for the changes to take effect.

But this does not work for me: Word 2007 intercepts Alt + keyboard plus and thinks I want to insert an equation. Notepad thinks that I want to pull down a menu from the top when I press Alt. And I've even tried inserting the + key with SHIFT+= after keeping the Alt key pressed by no luck. And it doesn-t seem to work in chrome and firefox either.

Thank you for your help.

John Sonderson
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  • The method as a whole seems rather buggy. Here the "+" doesn't do anything dumb (I don't use word if I can help it) but if the hex code includes a "B" (in firefox) or "E" (in most applications), the menu that would appear with Alt+B or Alt+E appears instead of my unicode. – Chris H Sep 29 '15 at 14:31

2 Answers2

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The method referred to in the question, the Alt+ method, described on the Fileformat.info page about typing characters, requires that you keep the Alt key pressed down until you have typed + using the numeric keypad and the Unicode number in hexadecimal (using normal or numeric keypad keys).

This method works in Notepad and in web browsers. In Microsoft Word, it fails. However, in it you can use a different method: type the Unicode number, using normal keys, and press AltX to change the number to the corresponding character. However, If the preceding character is a hexadecimal digit (0–9 or a–f or A–F) or the letter x or X, the number must be preceded by the two characters u+.

(In WordPad, both methods work, but the first one only when normal keyboard keys are used to enter the number.)

Jukka K. Korpela
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  • Sorry, but your method doesn't work on my localized version of Windows 7 for some reason. I've even tried this with both the NumLock key disabled as well as enabled but still doesn't work. For instance, let us try entering 好 Unicode: U+597D. I hold down Alt, I press keypad +, I release Alt, I type 597d, but at the end of all of this the output in notepad and in the chrome URL I get is: 'd' (if I use the keypad for the last 4 characters), or '597d' (if I use the keyboard for the last 4 characters). How canI debugit? – John Sonderson Jan 29 '15 at 12:46
  • On the other hand I can get your other suggestion for both Word and WordPad to work: type U+597d, highlight the U+597d, and type ALT-X. The Unicode character sequence turns into the character 好. The other method you mention doesn't work on any of Word, Wordpad, Chrome, or Notepad. I wonder whether we can get something to work on Chrome and Notepad as well. Thanks. – John Sonderson Jan 29 '15 at 12:54
  • @JohnSonderson, I think the problem is that you release the Alt key too early: it should be kept pressed down until you have typed the Unicode number. – Jukka K. Korpela Jan 29 '15 at 14:02
  • In Notepad, holding Alt and pressing + produces an alarm/bell sound. Even if I type 0 instead of +, once I reach the 'd' character, if Alt is kept pressed, then Alt and 'd' produce another bell sound. So this doesn't seem to work on Notepad. So how can I get it to work in Notepad? I've also tried your suggestion (keeping the Alt pressed until all of the +597d characters have been entered), but after entering the codes and releasing Alt the result is that no character appears in the Chrome URL. How can I get Notepad and Chrome to work with Unicdoe character sequences? Thanks. – John Sonderson Jan 29 '15 at 14:25
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    I cannot imagine any other reason than the localization. I wonder why any localization would break this functionality, but maybe you can try with a different keyboard layout (not that I’d expect much that to affect these issues). You could also test whether numbers without letters work, e.g. whether Alt + 2 2 0 0 produces ∀. – Jukka K. Korpela Jan 29 '15 at 15:24
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    Oh, you need to press the (numpad) “+” key when entering Alt + 2 2 0 0 (the notations are often confusing, since often people use the “+” sign to mean “and then press...” instead of indicating an actual “+” keypress). – Jukka K. Korpela Jan 29 '15 at 17:41
  • Yeah, I've done this. I meant to write: my Chrome browser is not localized, and, not that it matters, but I've even got the standard US keyboard layout enabled. I have tried producing the ∀ (mathematics 'for all') symbol in the Chrome browser URL. The result is strange: press Alt, type keypad +, type 2200, release Alt produces ÿ and press Alt, type keypad +, type 02200, release Alt produces ˜. So I cannot get the math forall ∀ symbol showing up no matter what I tried. I would like to know why this happens. – John Sonderson Jan 29 '15 at 17:51
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    Oh, then I think something went wrong when enabling the feature using Regedit (as described in the question). I just tested on a Win 7 system without the feature enabled, and it behaves the way you describe. – Jukka K. Korpela Jan 29 '15 at 18:02
  • Yeah, I've undone the regedit.exe modifications because they were interfering with my keyboard input method (couldn't switch keyboards any more, and the keyboard used did not correspond to the one on the lower-right hand side of the task bar), so perhaps the modifications to the Windows registry from my original post are wrong. Is there a way to carry out the regedit.exe modifications without messing keyboard input up? Thanks. – John Sonderson Jan 30 '15 at 14:31
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Actually, in Word, go with the HTML symbol numbers, not the UNICODE ones. Indeed, using the ALT+ invokes the formula window. Hold the ALT key, then put in the number FROM THE NUMBER KEY PAD, then hit ENTER. So, the question now is (for me), how to do this on small keyboards without the number keypad. The "Cross of Lorraine" symbol appears in Unicode as U+2628 ☨ CROSS OF LORRAINE (HTML ☨). So, hold the ALT key while you type 9768 on the number pad and hit enter. Here is a great list I found: http://htmlarrows.com/symbols/

Florence
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