How to insert Unicode characters in Word v.X for Macintosh OSX?

[Joel Huberman]

Is there a way to insert extended Unicode characters into Word X?
So far as I can tell, there isn't. Extended characters (such as Unicode
0113, which is Latin small e with a "macron" (an overline), can't be
inserted into Word from the Character Palette. If one attempts to copy
them into Word from a Unicode-capable program such as TextEdit,
they get converted to different characters (such as underline).

If there' no way to insert extended Unicode characters into Word,
then Word X, then Word X will become increasingly worthless. This
would be bad business for Microsoft, so I hope that Microsoft will
correct this situation ASAP. So far as I can tell, Word for Windows _is_
Unicode-capable.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Elliott Roper]

Is there a way to insert extended Unicode characters into Word X?
So far as I can tell, there isn't. Extended characters (such as Unicode
0113, which is Latin small e with a "macron" (an overline), can't be
inserted into Word from the Character Palette. If one attempts to copy
them into Word from a Unicode-capable program such as TextEdit,
they get converted to different characters (such as underline).

If there' no way to insert extended Unicode characters into Word,
then Word X, then Word X will become increasingly worthless. This
would be bad business for Microsoft, so I hope that Microsoft will
correct this situation ASAP. So far as I can tell, Word for Windows _is_
Unicode-capable.

Thanks for your help.

In short, the only unicode that works are those that also have glyphs
in Apple's extremely limited 'extended' character set.

For the full story google this group over the last 12 months or so for
'macron'. You are not the first to be underwhelmed. You will find a
very kludgy work-aound involving auto-correct being discussed.

 

[Joel Huberman]

Thanks, your suggestion was a good one. By doing a Google search on
"macron", I found several clumsy, but effective, work-arounds. I also
learned that the problem with Word is two-sided. Apple is at fault by
not making full Unicode available to carbon applications, and Microsoft
is at fault for not making v.X a cocoa application.

-----Original Message-----

 

[John McGhie [MVP]]

There is a way. Have a look on www.mvps.org/word/mac for details. You can
insert the characters if you do a lot of fiddling around. Regrettably, you
can neither print nor display them!

There's also a laborious explanation of why it doesn't work. (I wrote it!)

I can tell you, with great confidence, that there is no way this situation
will be corrected in Word X. Sorry, it's just too expensive.

For what it's worth, you will get full Unicode support in the next Mac Word.
Yes, PC Word is fully compliant with Unicode 2.1 (there's a version 3 out
now, which the PC also supports, but it does not have any fonts that do so
yet).

Hope this helps

Is there a way to insert extended Unicode characters into Word X?
So far as I can tell, there isn't. Extended characters (such as Unicode
0113, which is Latin small e with a "macron" (an overline), can't be
inserted into Word from the Character Palette. If one attempts to copy
them into Word from a Unicode-capable program such as TextEdit,
they get converted to different characters (such as underline).

If there' no way to insert extended Unicode characters into Word,
then Word X, then Word X will become increasingly worthless. This
would be bad business for Microsoft, so I hope that Microsoft will
correct this situation ASAP. So far as I can tell, Word for Windows _is_
Unicode-capable.

Thanks for your help.

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John McGhie, Microsoft MVP: Word for Macintosh and Word for Windows
Consultant Technical Writer <[email protected]>
+61 4 1209 1410; Sydney, Australia: GMT + 10 hrs