People ask all the time how they can type in random Unicode data.

Some people point out the vast array of supported Keyboard Layouts on Windows.

Others point out how you can create your own keyboards with MSKLC.

Still others talk about fancy things you can do with the numeric keypad.

And then still others like to go on about typing a code point value in Word, highlighting it, and then hitting <Alt+X>.

Personally, I like to just install the Unicode IME, first added for Traditional Chinese in Windows 2000 and available in every version of Windows since then. Just install it:

and then it will be on your list of available input languages....

Simple to use -- just switch to it with <Left Alt+ Shift> and start typing hex numbers in any application....

and then when you type a full Unicode code point, it will commit the character automatically!

A very cool stealth feature available in all even moderately recent versions of Windows! :-)

 

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A character that was feeling a little cheated by the small post it ended up sponsoring earlier -- thus the second sponsorship!