inserting special characters into Word doc

Question

inserting special characters into Word doc

I chose characters from the character viewer but do not see how to insert them into the text in my MS Word document. They don't double-click, there's no Command button, they don't copy and paste. What I'm trying to do is write words that look like the pronunciation guides in a dictionary entry.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Sep 14, 2015 10:21 AM

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Answer 1

fjwhiston

Level 3

742 points

Sep 14, 2015 10:30 AM in response to stephanienashville

I can't see the exact view that you've screenshotted (is that a word??) above, but on the view that I did get, I could drag and drop. I'm presuming you've tried that.......

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

239,111 points

Sep 14, 2015 1:43 PM in response to stephanienashville

Open a new document in say Text Edit, do they Paste or double click enter there?

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Answer 3

Sep 14, 2015 11:36 AM in response to fjwhiston

It's a symbol. I made a "favorites" list of 4 symbols, of which "schwa" (upside-down e) is chosen (in the screenshot). Yes, I did try to drag….

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Answer 4

Sep 14, 2015 11:42 AM in response to BDAqua

I opened a new document in Adobe InDesign, and still the Mac Character Viewer acted the same way. "Select" and "Copy" keys do not act upon the Mac Character Viewer, and no dragging either with the mouse or ALT+mouse.

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

239,111 points

Sep 14, 2015 12:08 PM in response to stephanienashville

I was wondering if it worked in Text Edit, & just not in 3rd party Apps.

To find out if it's system wide or user specific, try this...

Open System Preferences>Users & Groups, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

Does it work in the new account?

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Answer 6

Sep 14, 2015 12:48 PM in response to BDAqua

Okay, I admit I'd never known there was such a thing as Text Edit. So I did both of the things you recommend: tried it in a TextEdit document as well as creating a new account. No progress, same problem. Characters in Viewer are unclickable, undraggable, uncopyable, and I see no Command buttons.

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

239,111 points

Sep 14, 2015 1:10 PM in response to stephanienashville

Thanks, does Copy/Paste work elsewhere?

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Answer 8

Sep 14, 2015 1:18 PM in response to BDAqua

Yes; you mean can I usually copy/paste? Until I tried to learn how to use this Character Viewer, everything copied and pasted like crazy.

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Answer 9

Sep 14, 2015 1:35 PM in response to BDAqua

Wait. Whoa. Oh I got it. I've been clicking the selection in the top right window. It wanted me to click on the small character where it appears on the chart (lower window). It drags! Thank you for your kind patience ...

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