The FMS TEL team have been discussing using special characters in documents. What symbols do we use most? What’s the quickest way of creating them? Do they create any issues?

ALT codes

Using ALT codes can speed up this process. On a Windows PC you can hold down the ALT key whilst keying the corresponding number. When you release the ALT key, the special character will appear.

Some ALT codes for Microsoft Word

Find more ALT codes here and here or google for other sites.

Some of these characters may look more like colour emojis to you – this is because different browsers and devices sometimes read and display the characters slightly differently.