How can I add keyboard shortcuts for characters and symbols in Word?

Question

I want to apply a keybord shortcut for some international characters but don't know how.

I tried looking in the File->Options->Customize the Ribbon options, but I couldn't find an appropriate option.

Answer 1

In the Insert→Symbol dialogue, you can select a character and then click on the button for adding a shortcut. They key combinations you can use there are limited, but there is still a lot you can do with them.

Alternatively, or additionally, you can use the so-called Autocorrect options (in Word settings). There you can specify a string of printable characters to be automatically “corrected” to a symbol of your choice. There you can see some predefined “autocorrections” like changing “->” to “→”, and you can add more there, e.g. using a combination of a special character and a letter to produce an international character.

Answer 2

I know about two solutions, but they are not too user friendly:

1. There's already a shortcut for all the symbols, but it requires you to know the 4-digit decimal number of a given character for example: when you have your word document open, press LEFT_ALT + 8364 (on NUMERIC keyboard, make sure it is on) and it will put euro (€) sing into it.

2. Using external program for it, for example AutoHotkey - you can assign any key combination (for example ALT + E) to do any action (in this case to write any character, that will work in any program)