Vista - Insert Lower-case Greek letter?

In both the symbols (under Times Roman) and in the Character Map the
character code for the Greek small gamma is listed as 0383, the upper case
gamma is 0393. But when I use the Alt+0383 I get the upper case Gamma. How
can I get the lower case gamma using the character code rather than "Insert
Symbol?"

It is more convenient to utilize the character code when typing text.


"Chad Harris" <vistaneedsmuchowork.net> wrote in message
news:uE3wdAE6HHA.4712@xxxxxx

"Don Bouchard" <deebeeX@xxxxxx> wrote...Hi Don

Lower-case gamma is actually U+03B3, not U+0383. It's a very easy mistake to
make (I speak from personal experience :-)

I think U+0383 remains undefined, as of Unicode 5.0.

Since the code for lower-case gamma is not all-numeric, I don't think the
Alt-keypad input method can work (because it requires all numerical values).

If you are working in Microsoft Word, Word has its own nifty Unicode input
feature: just type 383 and then press Alt-x. The "383" will be turned into
lower cases gamma - this will work for any Unicode char, supported by your
current font.

For what it's worth, here's the technique I often use when working on
documents with many non-keyboard chars. I just keep Notepad running in the
background, with a text file I call "chars.txt" open. In this text file, I
have all my favourite German, scientific and Greek characters ready to
easily cut-n-paste. Character Map is a great tool, but you have to hunt
around for the char you want; whereas by having frequently used chars ready
in Notepad, I can alt-tab, find, copy, alt-tab back to my doc and paste, all
in a single automatic movement. My wife writes docs in Greek and French, so
she has the full multilingual keyboard stuff set up, and changes her whole
keyboard back and forth between English, French, Greek and Polytonic Greek,
as required. It works well for her; but it's overkill for my simple
requirements.

There are also may 3rd party tools you can use to map chars to keyboard
combinations. Alan Wood has compiled a useful list of resources, here:
http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/utilities_fonts.html

Hope it helps,
--
Andrew McLaren
amclar (at) optusnet dot com dot au

"Andrew McLaren" <andrew@xxxxxx> wroteOops, I did it again! (hey ... isn't that a song?) That sentence should
read .....

"If you are working in Microsoft Word, Word has its own nifty Unicode input
feature: just type 3B3 and then press Alt-x. The "3B3" will be turned into
lower cases gamma."

Sorry for the mix-up.
--
Andrew McLaren
amclar (at) optusnet dot com dot au

"Don Bouchard" <deebeeX@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uFwXV1D6HHA.5316@xxxxxxDon:
I realize Andrew McClaren has already given you a great answer, but I
wonder...
Could it be that the problems you were having were due to your gamma being
at the beginning of a sentence or in a spot where Word perceived it to be
the beginning of a sentence?

I just tried AM's alt-x trick and it works. However, if I do it in a place
that could be construed to be the beginning of a sentence, the character
changes to upper case as soon as I hit the space bar. In other words,
typing 3b3 followed by alt x gives me the lowercase gamma. But if I hit the
space bar it autocorrects into uppercase.

I'll bet that's what's happening here.

Andrew,
Thank you for the gamma, 3B4, character code correction, and especially for
the excellent suggestions and link on how to insert needed characters and
symbols. After >15 years working with computers, I am still learning.

Don

"Andrew McLaren" <andrew@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:B4CDBC6F-2038-4B8D-90CE-781FB8320C3E@xxxxxx

"Don Bouchard" <deebeeX@xxxxxx> wrote...
I know how you feel :-))

After >20 years working with computers, I'm starting to get the hang of it
.... but definitely, still learning ...

--
Andrew McLaren
amclar (at) optusnet dot com dot au