Vista Tutorial - Character Map

Information

Character Map is a feature in Vista that makes it possible to use characters that are not displayed on the keyboard. You can use Character Map to insert special characters into your documents, such as the trademark symbol, a special mathematical character, or a character from another language. For more information, see: Windows Help and How-to: Character Map FAQs

Tip

To make your own special characters, see: How to Use Private Character Editor in Vista At the bottom right corner of Character Map, it will show you what keyboard shortcut Keystroke to press for the selected character symbol. See screenshot below step 2.

NOTE

The Character Map exe file is located at: C:\Windows\System32\charmap.exe

• How to Use Private Character Editor in Vista
• How to Change the Keyboard Settings in Vista

1. Open the Start Menu.

2. Click on All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then click on Character Map.

A) Go to step 3.

OR

2. In white line (Start Search) area, type charmap and press Enter.

3. To Select a Font -

A) Select the Font you want at the top. (See screenshot above)

4. To Search by a Character Value -

A) Click on the Character set list, and then click the character set you want to search in. (See screenshot below step 2)
NOTE: If the character set you want is not available, choose a different font in the Font list.

5. To Search by a Character Category -

A) Click on the Group by drop down menu list, and then choose a group (EX: Unicode Subrange) to open the Group By box. (See screenshot below step 2)

B) In the Group by box, click on the category of character you want to view. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: When you click a category, Character Map displays the characters that belong to that category.

6. To Search by a Character Name -

A) Click on the Character set drop down menu list, and then click the character set you want to search in. (See screenshot below step 2)
NOTE: If the character set you want is not available, choose a different font in the Font list.

B) In the Search for box, type all or part of the name of the character you are searching for.

C) Click on Search.
NOTE: Character Map displays the characters that match your search.

7. Click on the character you want to use to enlarge it. (See screenshot below step 2)

8. Click on the Select button. (See screenshot below step 2)

9. Click on the Copy button. (See screenshot below step 2)
NOTE: This will put the character into the Clipboard.

10. Now, right click in your document and click on Paste. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: This can be anything that you are able to Paste text into. I am just using Notepad as an example.

11. Close the Character Map window when done.