Alt Codes Cheat Sheet - Alt Codes Reference

It happens to everyone. You're typing a paper and then you need to insert some special character that is not conveniently at your fingertips. You then type the word out instead of the character and think to yourself, 'I don't like that' then probably you'll minimize your work in progress and Google search how to etc. Everyone has and this will continue to be a never ending dilemma, because there are quite literally too many to remember that often are seldom used.

Below, I list some of the most common characters we often wish to use rather than type out in full. These are just the basics. Too much information (TMI) is often too easily forgotten.

These are called “Alt Codes”. You can simply hold down the Alt key while typing out a number code to get your desired character.

How to use

Press and hold the ALT key and type the number

Alt-0162 = ¢
Alt- 0169 = ©
Alt-0174 = ®
Alt-0153 = ™
Alt-0176 = °(degree sign)
Alt-0134 = †(dagger)
Alt-0135 = ‡(double dagger)


Common Fractions

Alt-0188 = ¼
Alt-0189 = ½
Alt-0190 = ¾


More Alt-Codes can be found with the following links.

http://symbolcodes.tlt.psu.edu/accents/codealt.html#punc

http://www.rapidtables.com/math/symbols/Infinity_Symbol.htm

You can also use Charmap to copy and paste other popular signs and symbols to make your written work more unique.

   MS Windows Character map

Charmap ("Character Map") is a program built-in into MS Windows operating systems. You can use it to input characters from the different fonts installed on your system.

How to run it...

There are two ways to open Character Map.

1.Start ➢ All Programs ➢ Accessories ➢ System Tools ➢ Character Map
2.The Faster way is: Start ➢ Search >Programs and files search bar ➢ type "charmap" then press enter on your keyboard.

With Character Map, just choose a font and pick text characters you like. You type them in a line by double-clicking them in the character list and then copy-paste from the program's input line to where you want.

The program is easy to use and you'll discover more on your own easily, just by trying it out.

Another suggestion would be to create your own 'cheat sheet' document with all of the characters you might ever want to use. A page of only characters, signs and symbols that you can easily refer to and access to copy and paste from. It might seem like a silly idea, but most writers do have a copy & paste cheat sheet that they VERY often refer to.

I hope the above information is of use and helps you out.