Configure Microsoft’s word processor to automatically replace some poorly written characters with special characters.
Entering some special characters on Windows is not always easy. This is the case, for example, with accentuated capitals which require learning several keyboard shortcuts. Not always practical when you have to write a long document. The problem can also arise with certain special characters such as ligatures, which are found in the French language: Œ, œ, Æ, æ, etc.
It is quite possible to use the Windows Character Map to copy and paste these famous special characters, but the multiplication of their use in a text can quickly make the manipulation tedious. For some words, Word automatically corrects the writing of the words, but unfortunately this is not always the case.
However, it is possible to hijack the automatic correction function of Microsoft’s word processor so that it automatically replaces the writing of certain elements with a word or a special character.
1. Open the Character Map
Start by opening the Character Map on your machine. Click on the Start menu, search for Character Map, and open the application. You will need them in the next steps to copy and paste the special characters you need.
2. Open the symbol insertion options
Start Word, go to the Insert tab, then to the far right of the ribbon, expand the Symbol menu and click on Other symbols.
3. Configure the Automatic correction
To make Word let you easily write some special characters, we’re going to set up AutoCorrect to replace one item’s writing with another.
To do this, in the Symbols window that appears, click the Automatic correction … button.
In the Replace with text box, write the shortcut you want to use to write your special character (a combination of two characters for example) and then select Plain Text.
Open the Character Map window you launched in step 1, locate the special character to use and double-click on it to display it in the Characters to copy field and click Copy.
Then go back to Word’s AutoCorrect window, and paste the special character into the By field.
Click on Add to create your shortcut which should take place in the Corrections during typing table.
Repeat as many times as necessary to create new entries, depending on your needs. Then click OK then close the Word Special Characters window.
You can test your creation directly in your Word document. In our case, for example, we asked Word to replace the writing of E ‘by É, A’ by Á or even ae by æ, an excellent solution not to have to remember the dedicated keyboard shortcuts.