Inserting a Symbol or Special Character

While you are typing you may need to insert a symbol or special character that is not available on the standard keyboard. This is a pretty straightforward process.

Note: Symbols and special characters are contained in the different fonts installed on your computer. However, when you're looking for a symbol to insert, Author-it will not allow you to select from any font you like. You can only select from the fonts specified in the paragraph style or available character styles where your cursor is positioned. This is because Author-it enforces text formatting standards by requiring you to apply paragraph and character styles, rather than specify text formatting directly.

To Insert a Symbol or Special Character

1. Position the cursor where you want to insert the symbol or special character.
2. If necessary, change the style applied to that paragraph or the character style applied to that part of the paragraph to one that has the font which contains the symbol or special character you want.
3. From the Topic Editor toolbar, choose the Insert Symbol button. The Symbol window appears, displaying all the characters of the current paragraph font.

   

4. If required, select a specific character style. The list of symbols is updated when you choose a character style with a different font.

   Note: Not all character styles will specify a different font than the one specified in the underlying paragraph style - they may just change other text attributes, like making text bold or italics.

5. Select the required symbol character by clicking on it, and then choose OK. The window closes and the selected character is inserted in the topic text. If you specified a character style, that is also applied to the inserted character.