Travel Technology - How does one access ALT key symbols on a laptop?

Dumb question I know!

I have resisted a laptop for many years.

I bought one in June 2006, and it sat in the Dell carton on my floor for 18 months unopened.

Doing the past week I tripped over it for the 100th time, so had someone hook it all up for me this week.

Neat. :)

Anyway, having never used one before I do not know how to use the ALT keys .. which I use 100 times a week to type symbols for my business

British Pound (ALT 156)
Yen
Euro
Half
Quarter
three quarters (3/4)
degrees
copyright
European accents

etc, etc

That bunch of keys on the right hand side of my old keyboard are no longer there!

Appreciate if someone can assist here. :)

Dumb question I know!

I have resisted a laptop for many years.

I bought one in June 2006, and it sat in the Dell carton on my floor for 18 months unopened.

Doing the past week I tripped over it for the 100th time, so had someone hook it all up for me this week.

Neat. :)

Anyway, having never used one before I do not know how to use the ALT keys .. which I use 100 times a week to type symbols for my business

British Pound (ALT 156)
Yen
Euro
Half
Quarter
three quarters (3/4)
degrees
copyright
European accents

etc, etc

That bunch of keys on the right hand side of my old keyboard are no longer there!

Appreciate if someone can assist here. :)

You have to have a numeric keypad. You can't do it using the number keys at the top of the keyboard. I don't think any laptops smaller than 17" come with a true numeric keypad.

Perhaps, if you have the ability to lock some of your letter keys into numeric mode, that might work (never has for me).

Perhaps you could attach a USB numeric keypad. I've never tried it.

Depending on what I'm doing, I either use the insert symbol button in the MS Office software or else I use the character map found in Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools. I keep a shortcut on my QuickLaunch toolbar.

I agree that it's a pain.

Locking the numeric "keypad" on the laptop has worked for me, but it's a pain in the posterior because (1) the numeric keypad layout is set at an odd angle, at least on my laptop, and (2) you have to unlock it every time you want to use the letters.

I haven't tried a USB keypad, either, but if that works it would be the simplest solution.

I also have a Dell laptop (an ultraportable X1 of around the same age as yours).
It has a function key ("Fn" in blue) next to the left-hand side Ctrl key. There are also blue numbers written on some of the other keys (M=0, JKL=123, UIO=456 and 7890 being, well, 7890!). This is how some laptop makers replicate a separate numerical pad on smaller keyboards. So if I want to enter the £ sign, instead of going Alt+156, I go Alt+Fn+156.

Works just fine - just means I have to hold down 2 keys at once with my left hand rather than one. As you are using a Dell as well, does that work?

On my Thinkpad, you have to first engage the NumLock (Fn key + ScrLk) key, then you can use the numeric keypad which is the keys
789
UIO
JKL
M
You would then hold down the Alt key and type 156 (JIO) to get the £ symbol.
Cumbersome but feasible.

My dell does the same thing. Hold down the alt, then the fn key (left hand) then for 156 type jio to get 156. Release the fn and alt keys (though on the board it makes a sun symbol, everywhere else it's the pound symbol).

Absoulte worse case? Put the ones you use most in a notepad document on a machine you can easily do them on and cut and paste from that to the laptop. Cutting and pasting for example works on the pound sumbol - £

My dell does the same thing. Hold down the alt, then the fn key (left hand) then for 156 type jio to get 156. Release the fn and alt keys (though on the board it makes a sun symbol, everywhere else it's the pound symbol).

Absoulte worse case? Put the ones you use most in a notepad document on a machine you can easily do them on and cut and paste from that to the laptop. Cutting and pasting for example works on the pound sumbol - £

Exactly.

Some of the older laptops had a Fn+key command to "turn on" the number pad instead of the letters, but the newer ones have done away with this.

On my Thinkpad, you have to first engage the NumLock (Fn key + ScrLk) key, then you can use the numeric keypad which is the keys
789
UIO
JKL
M
You would then hold down the Alt key and type 156 (JIO) to get the £ symbol.
Cumbersome but feasible.

Yeah, just using Alt Fn doesn't work on my Thinkpad either. Having to engage and disengage the numeric keypad is too much trouble. It's easier to use the Character Map.

I may invest in a USB numeric keypad some day.

If you're working mostly in Word, you can map currency symbols to new keystroke combinations. For instance, instead of the British pound being Alt+0163, you could make it Alt+Ctrl+1 or pretty much any combo you wish. And yes, that's the actual 1 key at the top of your keyboard - no worries about the embedded keypad because you wouldn't need to use it.

The result of your custom mapping could actually result in far fewer keystrokes for you, since you indicate you use a good dozen of these symbols regularly.

If you're working mostly in Word, you can map currency symbols to new keystroke combinations. For instance, instead of the British pound being Alt+0163, you could make it Alt+Ctrl+1 or pretty much any combo you wish. And yes, that's the actual 1 key at the top of your keyboard - no worries about the embedded keypad because you wouldn't need to use it.

The result of your custom mapping could actually result in far fewer keystrokes for you, since you indicate you use a good dozen of these symbols regularly.

I don't know about ozstamps, but, unfortunately I work mostly in Excel.

As this thread has not yet had the mandatory "Get a Mac" post required by the FT TOC and the laws of both the U.S. and Australia, I hereby provide it.

No replies to this post are necessary.

I recommend the absolutely wonderful US-International keyboard layout (it's a setting within Keyboards in the Control Panel).

It is intuitive, easy, and fast.

It uses a combination of some Alt key combinations, for example:
RtAlt+S=ß
RtAlt+5=€

As well as ''sticky keys":
" followed by a vowel: äëïöü
' followed by a vowel: áéíóú
etc. etc.

Did I say it's great?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#US-International
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306560

I also have a Dell laptop (an ultraportable X1 of around the same age as yours).

It has a function key ("Fn" in blue) next to the left-hand side Ctrl key. There are also blue numbers written on some of the other keys (M=0, JKL=123, UIO=456 and 7890 being, well, 7890!).

This is how some laptop makers replicate a separate numerical pad on smaller keyboards. So if I want to enter the £ sign, instead of going Alt+156, I go Alt+Fn+156.

Works just fine - just means I have to hold down 2 keys at once with my left hand rather than one. As you are using a Dell as well, does that work?


Brilliant advice - as usual on FT - thanks Meerkat and the other helpful folks. ^^^

Tried the above, and also the other tip of first turning on the Num Lk key first, and indeed used together, fn+ALT+JIO (156 in blue keys) = £

Many thanks ... I felt sure there was SOME fast way to do it, and FT came thru as always. :D :D

Basically as fast and easy as using the desktop unit. @:-)

Not sure if it works for too many things other than Dell but like magic on them. :p

I recommend the absolutely wonderful US-International keyboard layout (it's a setting within Keyboards in the Control Panel).

It is intuitive, easy, and fast.

It uses a combination of some Alt key combinations, for example:
RtAlt+S=ß
RtAlt+5=€

As well as ''sticky keys":
" followed by a vowel: äëïöü
' followed by a vowel: áéíóú
etc. etc.

Did I say it's great?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#US-International
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306560
Do you have only the US International keyboard installed or do you switch keyboards?

Do you have only the US International keyboard installed or do you switch keyboards?

I use the US-International keyboard layout exclusively. It take a day or two to get used to the different behavior of the punctuation mark keys, but it is easy to adapt to.