Windows 10: Right Alt Key is broken, having trouble entering language characters.

Hello! My right alt key is broken, ad I can't put in characters for Spanish because of this. Is there a way to find an alternative?

:)

 

Unicodes and language packs


Several work arounds can be found at http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2008/0...rs-in-windows/

1. as I suggested above, U+(hexcode) Alt-X
2. edit a registry key and hold down the Alt key while entering the code on the numeric keypad
3. download the free utility called UnicodeInput, which pops up with the Alt-+ key

None of these are useful on my Surface Pro virtual keyboard which is missing both the Alt key numeric keypad *Sad

 

ALT Key Codes for Special Characters List


I find it easier to just press the key with 1 on it, instead of Alt+(numpad)49 *Wink

Thanks for posting the information and the portable doc.

Every Windows has Charmap in Start | Windows Accessories. It's great if you need a one time character, but not as convenient as learning the few often typed characters such as the ones Dick mentioned.

If you want to go further with characters, beyond this thread then you should take a peek at Charmap

 

Windows 10 - Alt code results in wrong character

Instead of trying to remember that ✓ is U+2713 (which I am unable to), I can suggest trying a piece of software I maintain called WinCompose. It inserts itself in the keyboard input chain and when using the default Right Alt as a compose key, lets you enter combinations such as:

• Right Alt @ / for ✓
  
• Right Alt @ X for ✗
  
• Right Alt [ Space ] for ☐
  
• Right Alt [ / ] for ☑
  
• Right Alt [ x ] for ☒
  
• … and thousands more
  

There is a GUI that lets you search for sequences and characters. Of course if you only know the Unicode codepoint for a given character and not the (supposedly intuitive) combination, you can still activate Unicode input in WinCompose and do the following:

• Right Alt u 2 7 1 3 for ✓
  

Finally, note that Windows doesn’t let you enter Unicode characters beyond U+FFFF with the EnableHexNumpad key, so you won’t be able to enter e.g. U+1F4A9, but WinCompose lets you do this:

• Right Alt u 1 f 4 a 9 for