What does "insert symbol" really do ??

[Guest]

I thought that "Insert Symbol" would just insert a character
from the Symbol font, just as if I had typed the character and
manually changed the font. But this doesn't seem to be the case.

If I use "Insert Symbol" to insert a "delta" symbol, for example,
then that character seems immune to font changes, I can't
search for it, etc. In short, it's something weird.

Can anyone throw any light on this ??

thanks

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In earlier versions of Word, symbols were inserted as SYMBOL fields
specifically so they would be protected from font changes. It may be that
Word is still treating "decorative" (non-Unicode) fields the same way
without making it apparent.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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[Guest]

You are correct, I think.

I used Insert Symbol to insert "beta" from the Symbol font,
and, looking at the resulting rtf, I see this garbage ...

{\field{\*\fldinst SYMBOL 98 \\f "Symbol" \\s 12}

But "Show Field codes" reveals nothing within Word.

Very sneaky !!

Anyone know what special tricks MS is using here
to create a field that doesn't behave like a field ??

thanks

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Word's handling of fields is sometimes very cryptic. For example, footnote
and endnote references and autonumbering are clearly fields, but they also
are not displayed as such. And XE and TC fields are also clearly fields, yet
their display is toggled not with Alt+F9 but by displaying/hiding Hidden
text. I'm not a programmer, so I have no idea what's going on in the source
code.

You will note, however, that you can explicitly insert a Symbol field from
the Insert | Field dialog. You have to specify the font and character number
(and you have to have researched these ahead of time, as Word does not
provide a dropdown list or allow you to browse), and there are various other
options. Presumably if you do this, the field will behave as expected.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.