diacritical marks in notes

caracas
Please tell me how to insert accents and tildes within notes and in biblio records! The library I use most, the University of Texas at Austin, is not supported, so I have to enter records manually in many cases.
  • noksagt
    Zotero has Unicode support that just works--You should be able to add these UTF-8 characters in the same manner as you add them to other programs. You can copy/paste them or can use any virtual keyboard/character map/shortcuts that your operating system (which you haven't specified) or third party tools supplies.
  • caracas
    I'm on a pc, with Windows XP. Part of my problem is I'm a Mac user, and the "shortcuts" Microsoft uses aren't intuitive for me. Can you spell it out a bit more for me? I've tried using the default shortcuts for Word but they don't work. How would I copy/paste them - or is there a quicker way? I'm taking notes in Spanish, so it's pretty important that I find an easy way to insert them.
    Thanks!
  • noksagt
    Again, this isn't really a Zotero question.

    You can either copy/paste individual characters from the character map or can change keyboard layouts. Assuming you're using a U.S.-style keyboard & want to use shortcuts to create accented characters, refer to:
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306560
    There are other keyboard layouts that you might prefer, though.

    There are numerous third-party apps which claim to make entering extended characters easier, but I can't comment on them.
  • caracas
    I appreciate your help. I've gone through the Microsoft page and done everything I needed to to enable the keyboard; while it works in Word, it still doesn't work in Zotero. Oh, well. Thanks for the advice.
  • noksagt
    Word has separate keyboard entry enhancements. The regional keyboard should apply to all windows programs that support those characters.

    If you've installed multiple keyboard layouts, they will be application-specific. You can use the language bar to ensure that you're using the US International keyboard with Firefox (and therefore with Zotero).
  • caracas
    Thanks again. I've configured the keyboard, and the language bar is there. I've changed the shortcuts for the most common Spanish marks, and the shortcuts work fine in Word, but when I try to use the shortcuts in Zotero (using the Spanish keyboard), for ex Ctrl+u for u with an accent over it, it takes me to the source for the highlighted text. Any thoughts?
    Thanks!
  • noksagt
    edited May 30, 2007
    and the shortcuts work fine in Word
    Once again: the Word shortcuts are different. I'd encourage you to stop testing in Word & use something else.
    for ex Ctrl+u for u with an accent over it, it takes me to the source for the highlighted text. Any thoughts?
    Ctrl-u isn't the way to make an accented 'u' in Windows (see the page I linked to). The way to make an accent is to first use an apostrophe (') followed by the letter that you wish to accent.
  • seantmitch
    if you're still having trouble with this, allchars <http://allchars.zwolnet.com/>; is a little opensource program that makes imputing diacritics from all over windows really easy. it works fine with zotero.
  • megan.reif
    Just FYI for the Zotero developers, EndNote Desktop allows use of any Windows accent shortcuts regardless of the keyboard layout, add-ins, etc. so it can be done. I switched from Zotero after years of using EndNote for a variety of reasons, but this is a pain! Basic French and Spanish insertion shouldn't require cutting and pasting or editing imported citations manually.
  • adamsmith
    as noksagt says, this is unlikely to happen. Sure it can be done but it's a fair amount of work and there are multiple solutions out there - switching keyboards (if that doesn't work find out why), using a Firefox plugin (e.g. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/easyaccent/?src=ss ) if you're using Zotero for Firefox, using a Windows program like the one linked above, etc.
  • megan.reif
    seantmitch, I can't get Allchars to do anything in Zotero, but perhaps it's because i have Windows 7
  • noksagt
    I'll also note that EndNote's manual suggests keyboard entry through the language supported by the keyboard or copying/pasting from another program (such as the character map), so their level of technical support for this isn't much different than ours. They do support "term lists" that are a bit different than our autocomplete. There is some chance that they have all of the MS Word stuff mapped by default, but I'd be surprised (and have no way to test).

    Diacritical entry in Zotero (or the rest of Firefox) shouldn't be any different than the entry into most other programs. How do you handle this outside of Word/Endnote?
  • abr2z
    I can't type in diacritical marks in my notes either. I use a Mac and when I use the codes I get the letter with a little circle over it, and not the acute accent mark. When I use the keyboard short cut (holding down the letter) nothing happens. I would like to be able to type them directly and not copy and paste. Can you offer any suggestions?
  • adamsmith
    I don't think we have anything to add to the various solutions suggested above. If you type a lot of diacritics, you should probably consider setting up different keyboard layouts.
  • abr2z
    How do I set up a different keyboard layout on Mac? I can insert diacritics in all other programs except Zotero.
  • adamsmith
    as in - you can type them here on the forum? Then it should work in the notes as well.

    Switching keyboard layouts:
    http://www.dotkam.com/2011/01/04/edit-keyboard-layout-on-mac/
  • abr2z
    Yes, I can type them in the forum, but it does not work in Zotero.
    áéíóú

    I will check out the keyboard layout...
  • abr2z
    Thank you for your help. It is working now.
  • adamsmith
    working with a different keyboard layout or with key-combinations?
  • abr2z
    I am working with a different keyboard layout.
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