Special Characters in Publisher - quick reference chart

[MikeTO]

[EDIT: I have incorporated this quick reference chart into the free manual I've written for Publisher which you can download from my signature below. I've kept the quick reference chart available for convenience and also because it's translated into French and German.]

* Attachments updated July 24, 2023 with minor edits

I've made a chart of the Special Character symbols shown when you choose Show Special Characters in Affinity Publisher, Designer, and Photo, including some characters that can't be inserted from the Text menu and which must be entered as Unicode and some that aren't mentioned on the Affinity Help page for special characters. Please let me know of any errors so I can update the chart. I apologize for any translation errors.

I've attached the original afpub file so that others can use the embedded images of the special characters for other training materials or purposes.

Special Characters.pdf - English

Caracteres speciaux.pdf - Français

Sonderzeichen.pdf - Deutsch

Special Characters.afpub - editable version

 

[laurent32]

Hello Number 1 Mike, and thanks again for all the good job you do on the Affinity Forum.

What is your preferred method (the easiest way) to enter Unicode with Mac keyboards ?

[laurent32]

When I download the French file I get :

Is it a UTF-8 thing ?

[laurent32]

Looking at those charts… That gave me an idea for a topic I created :

 

 

[walt.farrell]

7 hours ago, laurent32 said:

What is your preferred method (the easiest way) to enter Unicode with Mac keyboards ?

As a Windows user I'm not sure of th easiest way on a Mac, but the methods built-in to the Affinity apps are:

• the Glyph Browser
• typing U+nnnn if you know the value, then pressing Alt+U (Windows) and (Edited) Ctrl+U on Mac. And something like that is supposed to work on iPad but I'm having trouble with it there.

Edited January 21, 2023 by walt.farrell
Corrected Mac shortcut. Thanks, Mike.

[laurent32]

On Mac, I know this way of doing :

First you change your keyboard, and then you type Option-xxxx to access the xxxx unicode you want…

And then you have to change back the keyboard…

What I'm looking for is a way of doing it faster ?

Edit :

Using that "U+ universal keyboard" on Mac is very tricky because in the same time it transforms our AZERTY keyboard to a QWERTY one (impossible to use !!!), without telling us !! ; I might miss some knowledge there to solve that problem ???

[loukash]

4 hours ago, laurent32 said:

the easiest way) to enter Unicode with Mac keyboards ?

Edit menu > Emoji And Symbols. Globally available.
For more advanced "fiddling", I like earthlingsoft.net/UnicodeChecker

[laurent32]

Right now I'm looking after U+2028 and U+2029 and they have no glyphs, we can't see them…

So Glyph Browser (Walt) or menu > Emoji And Symbols (loukash) not good for me…

Concerning "fiddling" I use apps : Cicero ; CharViewer ; Key Codes ; UnicodeChecker —they are good ones.

[MikeTO]

6 hours ago, laurent32 said:

What is your preferred method (the easiest way) to enter Unicode with Mac keyboards ?

As Walt said, use Window > Text > Glyph Browser or type U+nnnn where nnnn is the unicode value, select that text, and choose Text > Toggle Unicode (Ctrl+U). Or use System Settings > Keyboard and choose a foreign language so you can take advantage of the on-screen keyboard to type characters not on your physical keyboard. Or in a pinch, just google the character and copy/paste it into Publisher.

6 hours ago, laurent32 said:

When I download the French file I get :

Is it a UTF-8 thing ?

Hmm, this forum must not be able to handle accented characters in filenames. I have replaced the file but the only change is the filename so you don't need to re-download it. Thanks.

2 hours ago, laurent32 said:

Right now I'm looking after U+2028 and U+2029 and they have no glyphs, we can't see them…

Those are the easiest to type, just press Shift+Return for 2028 and Return for 2029. If you turn on Show Special Characters you'll be able to see them in Publisher.

Cheers

[laurent32]

7 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

type U+nnnn where nnnn is the unicode value, select that text, and choose Text > Toggle Unicode (Ctrl+U)

Nice, thanks…

11 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Those are the easiest to type, just press Shift+Return for 2028 and Return for 2029. If you turn on Show Special Characters you'll be able to see them in Publisher.

My finality was not to type them in Publisher but to get them from a data merge from a csv file built by FileMaker Pro.

I want to develop a routine in FileMaker Pro to make it possible to have line break and paragraph break in a database field that would be exported to Publisher.

My actual posts here are related to this one :

 

 

[laurent32]

Mike, i was wondering, for indent here, do you know the unicode value ?

[MikeTO]

1 hour ago, laurent32 said:

Mike, i was wondering, for indent here, do you know the unicode value ?

There is no unicode value for this. You can prove this by drawing a frame, inserting an indent here, shift+left arrow to select it, and then choosing Text > Toggle Unicode.

The characters missing values in the table I posted don't have unicode values, they're just hidden control codes specific to Publisher and most page layout apps.

Cheers

[v_kyr]

On 1/21/2023 at 4:47 PM, laurent32 said:

My finality was not to type them in Publisher but to get them from a data merge from a csv file built by FileMaker Pro.

I want to develop a routine in FileMaker Pro to make it possible to have line break and paragraph break in a database field that would be exported to Publisher.

Then you have to set it up that way first correctly in FileMaker Pro and cross check if and how it exports this with CSV files. See therfore also ...

• How do I remove special characters that don't display in filemaker fields
• ... etc.

Afterwards, as far as unicode control chars are exported correctly by FMP in CSV files, you would have to see and try out if APub does take those into account at all when importing (parsing in) from the by FMP generated CSV files.

 

[laurent32]

9 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Then you have to set it up that way first correctly in FileMaker Pro and cross check if and how it exports this with CSV files. See therfore also ...

• How do I remove special characters that don't display in filemaker fields
• ... etc.

Afterwards, as far as unicode control chars are exported correctly by FMP in CSV files, you would have to see and try out if APub does take those into account at all when importing (parsing in) from the by FMP generated CSV files.

 

Thanks @v_kyr, I solved it all in my other post :

 

The best solution is to go with XSLX and not CSV for FileMaker Pro exports…

Right now I'm missing some Affinity Special Characters that don't have Unicodes attached to them… for example, I miss the "Insert Here" code…

I guess I must make a request to Affinity to have Unicodes for all Special Characters in order to use them in my FM routine ?

[Pyanepsion]

Bravo, @MikeTO, for this beautiful synthesis.

Perhaps we can make a clarification about the space (French Wikipédia).

A distinction is made between:

1. the cadratine, sometimes called indentation, a blank whose width equals the size of the character used, and is approximately the width of the character M (which in fact has 15/18 cadratine); the cadratine is sometimes assimilated to the width of a double tabular digit 0 (00) although theoretically these occupy four thirds of the cadratine;
   -> in English typography, it is normally used to separate two sentences on the same line, and may be used once or more at the head of a paragraph to improve visual separation when paragraphs are not separated by increased line spacing;
2. the two-thirds cadratine, a number space, which is used to align columns of numbers at a fixed advance; it often also corresponds to the average advance of low letters and punctuation such as the n or the comma;
3. the half-space, sometimes called the big space, was the smallest space that could separate two words on the same line. In digital typography, the half-cadratine is the reference value for tabular numbers;
4. the third cadratine, sometimes called the justifying space, which is used to increase the space separating words in the case of line justification; it often corresponded to the advance of the punctuation mark. It is now obsolete with digital typography, as the interword is designed to be close to a quarter-cadatenation by type designers;
5. the quarter-cadratin, named in the days of the lead fine space in French typography.
   -> In digital typography, it is now the reference for the design of the inter-word. So, a fine space in digital typography should therefore often be closer to a fifth of a cadratin or even an eighth of a cadratin. In practice, the French professional extensions are at odds with each other. Some use U+2009, others U+2005;
6. the fifth of a cadratine, sometimes called a fine space in English typography;
7. the sixth of cadratine, which is used to modify the space between words or letters in case of precise line justification; it is now obsolete with digital typography, which allows more precise adjustment of approaches;
8. the eighth of cadratin, also called fine space in French typography.

 

 

[MikeTO]

4 hours ago, Pyanepsion said:

Perhaps we can make a clarification about the space (French Wikipédia).

Thanks for sharing, I love historical typography. BTW, the English Wikipedia page for whitespace doesn't exist in French but is very useful. FYI I didn't define the size and purpose of the em space due to the limited space but this is all fun to know.

• the two-thirds cadratine, a number space...

This one doesn't existing in Unicode so we can't use it. The similar Figure Space exists and I'll add a note that it's often the width of an 0 but there's not room to explain that this isn't always true. For example, it's the width of an 0 for the macOS version of Helvetica Neue but not for the older Helvetica.

• the half-space, sometimes called the big space...

I'll add (grosse espace) to the name.

• the third cadratine, sometimes called the justifying space...

I'll add (espace justifiante) to the name.

• the quarter-cadratin, named in the days of the lead fine space in French typography.
  -> In digital typography, it is now the reference for the design of the inter-word. So, a fine space in digital typography should therefore often be closer to a fifth of a cadratin or even an eighth of a cadratin. In practice, the French professional extensions are at odds with each other. Some use U+2009, others U+2005;
• the fifth of a cadratine, sometimes called a fine space in English typography;

I'll keep espace fine as 1/5 because that's what Publisher calls it but I'll add (cinquième de cadratin) to the name for clarity.

• the eighth of cadratin, also called fine space in French typography.

Fortunately we don't have this one so we don't have to worry about another space with the same name.

Thanks again! I'm about to upload an updated chart but I'll edit the first post and note that it's updated.

[Oufti]

Thank you for this helpful reference! 

If I dare to suggest two minor corrections in the French version, there are two "e's" to add (in bold red): 

Espace ultrafine 1⁄12 cadratin

 

Taquet de retrait à droite

[MikeTO]

59 minutes ago, Oufti said:

Thank you for this helpful reference! 

If I dare to suggest two minor corrections in the French version, there are two "e's" to add (in bold red):

Thanks, I've made those corrections for the next version.

Cheers

[MikeTO]

11 hours ago, Oufti said:

If I dare to suggest two minor corrections in the French version, there are two "e's" to add (in bold red): 

New version uploaded with these changes and one other change

[Oufti]

Thank you. 

21 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

and one other change

Some more? 

Pour ajouter un caractère spéciauxl : entrez la valeur Unicode et choississez Texte > Activer/désactiver Unicode, ou choississez Texte > Insérer, sauf pour ceux qui ne sont pas dans le menu Insérer (identifiés par *)

Pour afficher les symboles : choississez Texte > Afficher les caractères spéciaux (les caractères sans symbole sont identifiés par †)

 

Corrected version, ready to paste: 

 

Pour ajouter un caractère spécial : entrez la valeur Unicode et choisissez Texte > Activer/désactiver Unicode, ou choisissez Texte > Insérer, sauf pour ceux qui ne sont pas dans le menu Insérer (identifiés par *)

Pour afficher les symboles : choisissez Texte > Afficher les caractères spéciaux (les caractères sans symbole sont identifiés par †)

[MikeTO]

5 hours ago, Oufti said:

Thank you. 

Some more? 

Thanks, I'll make those changes for the next update.

Cheers

[MikeTO]

FYI the latest version of this chart is in my free Publisher manual which you can download from the link in my signature below. There are no major changes from the standalone quick reference chart, it just has slightly better explanations because there is more space. If and when there are new symbols someday, I'll update the quick reference chart, too.

Cheers