banyuls diver Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 When I write a word document I can use "symbols" to obtain French characters with accents such as acute, circumflex - but I don;t know how to invoke "symbols" when writing an e-mail with my qwerty keyboard. Can anyone offer any info regarding writing e-mails on a U.K. keyboard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ysatis Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Hi, this is the way I use.To type French accents on a PC, you can use ALT codes.Hold down the ALT key, then on the numeric keypad type the three or four digits listed here. When you release the ALT key, the character will appear. You must type the numbers with the numeric keypad, not with the row of numbers across the top of your keyboard (which means that this is not the best way to type accents on a laptop - try another method for typing French accents).Accent or Special CharacterALT +ALT +a with grave accentà133 À0192a with circumflexâ131Â0194a with trémaä132Ä142a e ligatureæ145Æ146c with cedillaç135Ç128e with acute accenté130É144e with grave accentè138È0200e with circumflexê136Ê0202e with trémaë137Ë0203i with circumflexî140Î0206i with trémaï139Ï0207o with circumflexô147Ô0212o e ligatureœ0156Œ0140u with grave accentù151Ù0217u with circumflexû150Û0219u with trémaü129Ü154French quotation marks«174»175Euro symbol€0128 Hope this useful. If pads is about she know a different way by downloading something onto your toolbar, I think.Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 On Vista, go Start, All programs, Accessories, System tools, Character table,or type Character table in the search box.Right-click on it and Add to quick start toolbar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Another easier way [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pads Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 I use the same as ernie , quick and easy to use and can be used with any programme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Two other ways 1)If you open a yahoo email with the address as yahoo.fr (as opposed to yahoo.co.uk for example), the spellcheck will correct any missed accents.You don't even need to put them in at the start...I wrote this without accents, and yahoo corrected it:"j'ai acheté une crème brûlée pour dessert"2) If you use Firefox you can add a French Dictionary from here This has a similar effect of automatic correction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 Nice tip, Norman.The avisoft "type French characters" prog doesn't work when I use my aol.com email address so I think I will set up a Yahoo.fr email as suggested by Norman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weegie Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 Unfortunately Avisoft doesn't work with Vista. I did ask them at one time if they were intending to bring out a "fix" but the reply was that Vista was so different from previous versions of Windows that it would have been too big a task. For Vista I use Lexicool - www.lexicool.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 I would endorse what Weegie says about Lexicool. I particularly like the fact that, as well as working perfectly with Vista, the toolbars are available for various other foreign languages as well as French. The toolbars can be downloaded from http://www.lexicool.com/lexibar_special_keyboard_characters.aspI also use the Alt/numeric keypad trick quite a lot, particularly for the few programs or web pages that do not work with Lexibar, but that gets a bit awkward when using a laptop.One other tip is that if you just want the é, you can get it by pressing AltGr and E simultaneously. Similarly for á, ú, ó (should you ever need them) and €, which is AltGr 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banyuls diver Posted November 3, 2008 Author Share Posted November 3, 2008 Merci pour ça! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madeira Jon Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 If you use WORD just click INSERT then SYMBOLS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Thank you Will, Lexibar was what I was actually looking for when I happened across the Avisoft tool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 The Firefox French dictionary add-on works as a spell check for both webmail and Pop mail if you are using Thunderbird.The advantage is that you don't need to type in any French accents. You type the word in without, and if you have French enabled as the language option any words which need accents are underlined in red.Click on them and the accented version replaces the original.I use this even though I type on a French keyboard, in case of error.Changing the language option back to English is simple.I even use the British English add on, as I hate having words like colour or Theatre corrected by my spell check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gosub Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 [quote user="Weegie"]Unfortunately Avisoft doesn't work with Vista. I did ask them at one time if they were intending to bring out a "fix" but the reply was that Vista was so different from previous versions of Windows that it would have been too big a task. [/quote]I have it installed, and it works on my Vista laptop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 If you use Firefox dictionaries, I recommend this extension as a complement:https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3414 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Thanks Clair.Have installed it and will try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banyuls diver Posted November 4, 2008 Author Share Posted November 4, 2008 Madeira Jon - symbols are fine in a WORD document - but you can't access them for an e-mail. This was my problem. Have now added the Avistoft software and it works fine on my WINDOWS XP operating system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weegie Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Weegie wrote:UnfortunatelyAvisoft doesn't work with Vista. I did ask them at one time if theywere intending to bring out a "fix" but the reply was that Vista was sodifferent from previous versions of Windows that it would have been toobig a task. I have it installed, and it works on my Vista laptop. LesThanks Gosub. Have just tried it and it works as you said. I was still operating on this on their website:"(VISTA users: Microsoft has removed the functionality in their new operating system 'Vista' that enabled keystrokes to be sent to other applications. Sorry, but beyond my control. This utility works fine on Windows XP, 2000, 98, ME. I will release a new tool shortly that works around this limitation. Watch this space!)"I find it a bit "slicker" than Lexicool although, as Will points out, Lexicool is useful for other languages.Thanks for the update.[:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Definitely easier to use than Lexicool and you don't have to change the font if you're using other than Times Roman.However, I still seem unable to use it with my aol.com address. Can use it fine elsewhere, even here on the forum.It's very annoying. I suppose I could type a word document and then send it over to email but what a kerfuffle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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