Can I assign a special character to a keyboard shortcut? (Card suit symbols in Red and Black)

See my Article Assigning Keyboard Shortcuts in Microsoft Word 2007-2021 (365) which uses the four suit symbols as examples.

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Using a Prefix or Trigger or Setup in a Keyboard Shortcut

There are a large but finite number of possible keyboard Shortcuts and some require real finger dexterity. Users have fertile imaginations and can come up with more uses for shortcuts than there would seem available shortcuts. This is especially true if you do not want to overwrite commonly used built-in shortcuts.

Word allows one key combination to be the starting point or prefix or trigger for multiple shortcuts. For instance, you might wish to assign shortcuts to items that are in Backstage (show up under File). Rather than use multiple primary keyboard shortcuts, you can use Ctrl+Shift+F as a prefix to be followed by another keystroke to actually call a feature.

• Ctrl+Shift+F, C - Compatibility Checker
• Ctrl+Shift+F, I - Document Inspector
• Ctrl+Shift+F, O - File Open Using Backstage

The initial prefix can be a Function Key or a key combination (that can include a Function Key). That can be followed by any single keystroke which can be a function key. Here is another example of a shortcut prefix being assigned to symbols for card suits:

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Reserved Key Combinations

The example with card suits above was to help someone who wanted shortcuts for symbols for the four card suits. The first thought was to combine Ctrl+Alt+Shift with each of the appropriate letters. However, it turns out that Word will not let you assign a the shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Shift+D. ***

Another option would be to set AutoCorrect for them.

Exploiting AutoCorrect by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP

You would want to save them as formatted AutoCorrect, for instance:

cdspd = spades ♠

cdhrt = hearts ♥

cdclb = clubs ♣

cddmd = diamonds ♦

The color and size comes from applying a character style to the red suits and a corresponding style to the black ones so that they will not be tied to theme colors. The unicode numbers and the text are all in 11 pt text, the symbols are 16 pt in the same font. The character styles do not carry the font name, only the size and color.

Here is a temporary link to a document that has the four symbols from unicode numbers. https://www.dropbox.com/s/f7yqzjgx5hrhbxc/deleteme%20card%20suit%20symbols.docx?dl=0

Here is a separate temporary link to the same document without the font size change in the style. https://www.dropbox.com/s/dos7oh772o3xdkx/deleteme%20card%20suit%20symbols%202.docx?dl=0

They are already formatted so all you would need to do would to select them and add them to your AutoCorrect as formatted entries. If you want to change the size, do that in the styles.

If you wanted to leave them comparatively small and the same size as the font you are using, change one of the symbols to be that size, i.e., 11 pt., as the surrounding text, then update the style from the formatting. That should remove the size component from that style. Here is what the Hearts symbol looks like when it is the same size.

Be sure, if prompted as to whether you want to save changes to your Normal template, you answer "Yes" because that is where the AutoCorrect is saved.

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I don't know how to get the diamonds and hearts to be red, but this helps a lot.

Thanks

To get the Hearts and Diamonds to be red rather than the font's color in your style will require using something different. You can't do that with just keyboard shortcuts unless you find a font that has them colored and perhaps not then either.

You would need to use:

• AutoCorrect, or
• AutoText/Building Blocks
• or Macros with keyboard shortcuts assigned to them.

I gave you links about AutoCorrect earlier. To use AutoCorrect you simply type a series of characters and press the space bar or punctuation. See Suzanne's article on this. The examples I gave for a series of keys is in the screenshot and documents I provided. This is how I've implemented the card symbols on my system.

With AutoText/Building Blocks you would also start with text formatted using character styles and select it. Use Alt+F3 to get a dialog box, give it a name, category, and save. I think AutoCorrect is the way to go, though, unless you need to transfer these methods of inputting to someone else.

The documents I linked previously with the formatted characters could be a starting place for either method. That way you do not have to set up the styles. Again, this is the only way to get the Red short of macros.

• Document with larger symbols (16 pt) than font
• Document with symbols same size as font

Both symbols and macros can be assigned to a QAT modification stored in a template as well as to keyboard shortcuts that can also be stored in a particular template. I guess that rather than storing these in the Normal template, I would create a custom template to use when writing about playing cards that contained your symbols, shortcuts, macros if used, and any QAT modifications.

Modifying the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) in Microsoft Word

In the Symbol dialog, with the desired symbol selected, click the Shortcut Key... button and assign the desired shortcut.

I got it to work. Your comment about More Symbols triggered something. In the document, I clicked on

• Insert
• Symbol
• More Symbols...
• Went to the Segoe UI Symbol font
• Entered Character Code "2660"
• Selected the spade symbol
• Clicked on Shortcut Key:
• Entered my key combination (Ctrl+P,S).
• Clicked Close
• Clicked Close

Back in the document, I typed Ctrl+P,S and got the spade symbol.

I will do the same for the other three.

I don't know how to get the diamonds and hearts to be red, but this helps a lot.

Thanks

I tried to follow your steps in "Finally! Method of Assigning Keyboard Shortcuts:", but I got stuck on Step 5: Choose the category. I scrolled through the list of categories, but didn't find anything until I got to "Common Symbols" at the very end. But selecting that, I didn't see the card symbols listed.

???