Add user-made symbol to the list of Microsoft Word symbols

[alchemist]

I created symbol/character using Character Map but when I copy/paste it into
the MW document it gives me completely different symbol (some kind of
hieroglyph). What can I do about it? Additionally, I would like to find out
if it is possible to add the character permanently to the list of symbols in
MW?

Thanks
Aleksey

 

[Graham Mayor]

I wasn't aware that you could 'create' symbols using the Character Map?

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[alchemist]

Sorry that's typo I created symbol in Private Character Editor and after that
they appear in Character Map from where you can copy/paste them.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

If Private Character Editor assigns a Unicode value to your character,
then presumably Word is using the character that already has that
value. If that's how it works, then be sure to put your newly created
character into the Private Use Area of Unicode.

 

[alchemist]

I suspect what you said is right, but the actual question is how to do it
MW2007? I could not find Private Use Area of Unicode in MW.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

You've assigned your character to the PUA in some font. When you open
Insert Symbol and select that font (at the upper left), then choose
Private Use Area (upper right dropdown), and your character will
probably be the one it lands on. (Unless the font happens to have
other PUA characters in it, with lower code numbers!) You can then
click to use it, and/or you can assign a keyboard shortcut to it
(middle bottom).

 

[alchemist]

I have thought about that before but there is no such font in MW2007! or at
least in the one I have!

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Now I don't know what Private Character Editor is, but if it creates a
typeable letter (as opposed to a graphics image), then it has placed
that character into some font or other -- and it must give you the
opportunity of choosing which font you want to add it to. (Perhaps the
font that's selected in Character Map while you're doing it?) Every
font accommodates characters from every range of Unicode (though most
fonts only happen to have characters in a few ranges), including the
Private Use Area, which is an immense collection of empty slots where
any individual can put whatever characters they want.

You've put your PCE-created character into a font, in a particular
slot. So to type that character, you need to select that font at the
point you're going to type, open Insert Symbol and scroll down
(probably to the very end) the display of characters, and there your
character should be. Double-click it, and it goes into your text. (You
can make a keyboard shortcut for it; also, it appears in the separate
bottom line of Insert Symbol so you won't have to hunt for it the next
time you need it.)

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It may be helpful to note that in Times New Roman, the range for private use
characters is F01E to F02C. The C fonts used in Word 2007 all have a much
more limited range and do not include private-use characters. It continues
to baffle me that MS would go to the trouble of creating all these
"beautiful" new fonts for Office 2007 and make them so much more limited
than TNR and Arial.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

Now I don't know what Private Character Editor is, but if it creates a
typeable letter (as opposed to a graphics image), then it has placed
that character into some font or other -- and it must give you the
opportunity of choosing which font you want to add it to. (Perhaps the
font that's selected in Character Map while you're doing it?) Every
font accommodates characters from every range of Unicode (though most
fonts only happen to have characters in a few ranges), including the
Private Use Area, which is an immense collection of empty slots where
any individual can put whatever characters they want.

You've put your PCE-created character into a font, in a particular
slot. So to type that character, you need to select that font at the
point you're going to type, open Insert Symbol and scroll down
(probably to the very end) the display of characters, and there your
character should be. Double-click it, and it goes into your text. (You
can make a keyboard shortcut for it; also, it appears in the separate
bottom line of Insert Symbol so you won't have to hunt for it the next
time you need it.)

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

There are tens of thousands of slots for PUA characters. The primary
ones are the 6400 slots from E000 to F8FF (it may be that you're
restricted to these in Windows XP and Office2003). Beyond these,
Planes 15 and 16 are the "Supplementary Private Use Areas A and B,"
with 131,068 code points (Unicode 5.0 book, pp. 547-48; all Unicode
documentation is available at the unicode.org site, but it's organized
slightly less well than the Microsoft site).

 

[Peter Jamieson]

The Private Character Editor isn't something I am familiar with either,
but it may/should be there in Win XP and later, typically at

c:\windows\system32\eudcedit.exe

Historically it appears to be associated with systems using East Asian
fonts. It's possible that more people have started noticing it because
its more prominently displayed on Windows 7 menus or some such (I have a
feeling that's the reason I came across it recently).

There is more info. on how Windows treats these characters in the MSD
library at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd317802(VS.85).aspx

In essence, the PCE creates small files containing "separate" private
character files in e.g.

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\EUDC\

These files are .tte files and .euf files. I don't know what the .euf
file is but the .tte is essentially a .ttf file /of some kind/. The PCE
also creates the registry entries that specify whether the characters
are "linked" to particular fonts or all fonts.

Then in Character map, if you link to a specific font such as Arial, you see
Arial (on my copy of Vista this is an OT font)
Arial (Private Characters) (appears as a TT font)

If you link the character to "all fonts", Character Map lists a new font
called "All Fonts (Private Characters)"

However, these fonts do not seem to appear everywhere where fonts are
listed - e.g., they do not appear in the font list in the Insert->Symbol
facility. Presumably that dialog box either does not look up the
necessary registry entries and use them, or does not use whatever APIs
make the whole thing transparent.


Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Thanks for this follow-up, Peter. I've known about the Private Character
Editor (eudcedit.exe) for many years, but every time I investigated it, I
concluded that (a) I'm not a type designer and (b) I couldn't figure out how
to get my custom characters to be readily available, so I've abandoned any
further attempt to play with it.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Peter Jamieson]

but every time I investigated it,

I concluded that (a) I'm not a type designer and (b) I couldn't figure
out how to get my custom characters to be readily available, so I've
abandoned any further attempt to play with it.

Same here, on both counts.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

So if this has become available outside the Asian Fonts in Windows 7,
maybe Office2010 will be able to see the minifonts it creates. It
explains why Word2007 doesn't. (Just as there are some font-related
things that Word2007 was the first to be able to handle -- such as
Unicode ranges added after v. 2.0.)

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I was finally able to have a look at this and
a. in Win 7 RC on my old tablet PC, the Private Character Editor does
appear in the Accessories/System tools (so it's not /that/ prominent,
but it is there, at least in the RC version. Unless it was put there as
a consequence of adding a Display Language with an RTL script).
b. Word 2010TP appears no more able to see these characters than Word
2007. I've mentioned that to MS, although I have a nasty feeling that it
would be too much work to modify the Insert->Symbol dialog to consider
doing at this stage.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk