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• • November 23, 2009 at 12:24 pm #53914
    Alex Lemos

    Member

    My dear employer decided to change us all designers from Mac to PC. And if the transition wasn't bad enough, now I don't know the shortcuts to insert special characters, as I did so easily on the Mac.

    For example, on the Mac, there's a key combination for inserting a proper “…”. There's another for inserting a bullet. And I can't find a similar way of doing it on the PC!!! Of course, there's always the Glyph palette, but I think shortcuts are way easier and faster.

    So, are there any kind PC users out there who can help me find these and other special characters' shortcuts on the PC?

    Thank you all very much!

  • November 23, 2009 at 12:35 pm #53915
    Theunis De Jong

    Member

    Ellipsis: Alt+;

    Bullet: Alt+8 (not the keypad one)

    If you right-click in text (did you use a one-button mouse? it's similar to Ctrl+click), you can select “Insert Special Character” -> any of Symbols, Markers, or Hyphens and Dashes. The submenu helpfully shows the currently assigned shortcuts. Of course, you can change all of these with Edit -> Keyboard Shortcuts. Look under “Type Menu” for the “Insert xxx” series.

    Every default shortcut from InDesign should work, with a little translation: Command -> Ctrl and Option -> Alt.

  • November 23, 2009 at 1:01 pm #53916
    Alex Lemos

    Member

    Yay! Thanks a lot! …although now I feel dumb Never crossed my mind checking the shortcuts on the menu.

    I did know that part about command > crtl though

  • November 23, 2009 at 1:24 pm #53917
    Theunis De Jong

    Member

    Nothing to feel dumb about. I recently switched from 20+ yr uninterrupted pc usage to a Mac — it's a lovely machine but I feel like having butterfingers with even the simplest of operations.

  • November 23, 2009 at 1:55 pm #53919
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Of course (you know I can't help but include this… sorry!) this is a great opportunity to buy copies of the InDesignSecrets Keyboard Shortcut poster for the whole department!

    (The thing that gets me when I move between mac and windows is the reversal of the Ctrl and Command keys; I need to look at the keyboard to figure out where to put my thumb. Gr.)

  • November 23, 2009 at 3:01 pm #53921
    James Fritz

    Member

    As long as your are inside InDesign your shortcuts should not be a problem, but as soon as you venture out of Adobeland your shortcut mileage may vary. For example, everywhere oen the mac opt+8 is a bullet, but on a PC only in Adobe apps will alt+8 give you one. Outside of Adobe you will have to learn to type Alt + 0149. It is kind of annoying, but that is the way PC's work.

    Maybe your PC will have an “unfortunate run-in with a sledgehammer” and you will have to get a new mac.

    I just wanted to warn you about those sledgehammers that ar

  • November 24, 2009 at 5:42 am #53932
    Lindsey Martin

    Member

    I switch from one OS to another all the time; it takes a while to get used to it, though. I've found on Windows machines that using the Alt + numeric keypad sequences for some commonly typed characters is easier because they work beyond Adobe's products. There's a useful list at <https://tinyurl.com/oe4d&#62;.

  • December 3, 2009 at 3:48 pm #54103
    Alex Lemos

    Member

    Thank you all!

    And I thought those times of typing ASCII codes were gone… My mistake! :)

    David: my birthday is in January and no one ever gives me anything [sad puppy eyes go here].

    Can I e-mail you my address?

    Just teasing you ;)

  • December 3, 2009 at 4:49 pm #54107
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Your sad puppy eyes almost won me over, but no poster gifts this time! Sorry. But we will be doing a poster giveaway very soon to some randomly drawn ID Secrets members, so perhaps you'll be lucky! I hope so!

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