Special characters replaced with emoji

Question

Level 1

11 points

Special characters replaced with emoji

How do I keep special characters from being automatically replaced with emoji? I am trying to insert special characters into a Powerpoint presentation (16.13.1) using the character viewer, as I have done probably hundreds of times before, but now the characters are being replaced with emoji versions, even if I specifically select a plain font variation. I don't want the emoji version; I need the character to match the colors and styles in the rest of my text.

I tried selecting each of the font variations; each one was automatically replaced with emoji. I also tried placing the desired symbols in a plain text document using Text Edit. They appeared correctly in the Text Edit document, but when I tried to copy from there into Powerpoint, they were replaced by emoji again.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

I am working on a Macbook Pro, running OS X El Capitan, version 10.11.6.

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jun 4, 2018 12:37 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 4, 2018 1:56 PM in response to BrantleeSR

It will depend on the version of OS X/macOS that you are using, and the specific recipient application.

On El Capitan 10.11.6, the Emojis & Symbols panel shows the Pictographic Font variations, and the iconic, purple Atom Symbol icon. On macOS High Sierra 10.13.4, there is no purple, Atomic Symbol icon shown in the Font variations.

On El Capitan, and for instance, Pages v5.6.2, one must double-click one of the Font variation Pictographs to get that same item inserted into the document. Any other approach results in the purple icon. In High Sierra, with Pages v7.0.1, double-clicking any of the Pictographs of the Atomic Symbol, including Font variations — results in the actual Pictograph insertion, and not the purple icon.

The hosting software for these communities gets in the way of properly posting the Atomic Symbol Pictograph.

Here is the result of directly entering the HTML code for the Atomic Symbol, on El Capitan:

⚛

And by directly entering the HTML code from High Sierra:

⚛

Although the High Sierra version enters as the Pictograph before posting the result, the hosting software chooses to transform the Pictograph into the shown icon. Both posts were from Safari 11.1.1.

But in the Terminal App:

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Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

118,340 points

Jun 4, 2018 1:59 PM in response to BrantleeSR

BrantleeSR wrote:

I don't want the emoji version; I need the character to match the colors and styles in the rest of my text.

You should be able to do that by selecting the emoji in the PowerPoint text and going to the Font control menu in PowerPoint (not in Character Viewer) and making sure it is set to something other than Apple Color Emoji. Of course the black/white font you set it to has to include the particular symbol.

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Answer 3

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

118,340 points

Jun 4, 2018 4:46 PM in response to BrantleeSR

BrantleeSR wrote:

I tried selecting Menlo as the font, but to no avail. Still with the purple emoji.

Did you select the emoji first? Works for me

(I am on El Capitan, but version 15 of Powerpoint, will try with version 16 later).

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Answer 4

BrantleeSR Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 4, 2018 3:22 PM in response to VikingOSX

Hi, VikingOSX,

Thanks for the quick reply! As stated in the original post, I'm on El Capitan 10.11.6, and the problem is occurring in Powerpoint. I did double-click the font variation pictograph in an attempt to get that same item inserted into the document, but it doesn't matter which font variation I click: it always inserts the emoji version. It seems that Powerpoint is doing exactly what the hosting software here is doing: transforming the pictograph into the icon shown (purple emoji). If I use the same procedure (double-click on the desired font variation) in Apple's TextEdit or in MS Word, it works perfectly. But in Powerpoint, it won't give the plain pictograph, no matter which variation I try to select.

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Answer 5

BrantleeSR Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 4, 2018 3:25 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Thanks, Tom. Unfortunately, that isn't working either. When I checked the Font control menu, Apple Color Emoji was not selected. Since the variation that I tried to insert was "Menlo regular" I tried selecting Menlo as the font, but to no avail. Still with the purple emoji.

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