Foreign Accents In Openoffice

[goodgoalie]

Does anybody, please, know how to write foreign accents (acutes, umlauts etc) in OpenOffice? Also, is it possible to write them in Hotmail emails?

[Old_Geezer]

I don't, but if I want strange characters I look for them and copy/paste using charmap.exe.

[Buenchico]

In any program . . .

Method 1: Use the Character Map. It's accessed from Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Character Map.
(Useful hint: So that you don't have to go through that lot every time you want to access the character map, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools, then RIGHT-click on Character Map and select 'Pin to Taskbar'. Then in future you can simply click on its icon at the foot of your screen to access it). The actual method for using the character map itself is fairly intuitive.

Method 2: Use ALT codes. You need to have the Number Lock on your keyboard turned on. (It's usually on by default anyway with most computers). Then you use the numeric keypad on your keyboard (NOT the numbers across the top of it) to enter the appropriate numbers indicated in this list, while holding the ALT key down:
http://www.tedmontgomery.com/tutorial/ALTchrc.html
(I keep a printed version of that page by my computer). If you're using a laptop without a numeric keypad it's not so easy though. (You can still do it but you need to hold both the ALT and Fn keys down and use the coloured numbers which appear above some letters on your keypad).

Method 3: Use the Microsoft Word shortcuts (which are mimicked in most other word processing programs, including OpenOffice writer), which are explained here:
https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/Keyboard-shortcuts-for-international-characters-108fa0c1-fb8e-4aae-9db1-d60407d13c35

[Jackdaw33]

Mine works whether the numlock is on or off.

[goodgoalie]

Thanks for that, Buenchico, yet another excellent clear answer - I knew you would know!. Will try the Alt codes method. Sorry to be late with response, been out. Thanks again.

[Chinajan]

A quick method is to just google a word that you know to have the required accent or umlaut and copy and paste into your document.

Eg: Münster
Eg: l'été

[gl556tr]

I have such "accents" I require by having them near the lowest line of the Open/LibreOffice templates. Once the new document is complete, I delete these now-unnucessary lines.
_Or: "Insert/Special Characters ..." when required.
_For my eMails, I have the corresponding language modules (German,Russian) already inserted. That, or open a new Document and write the text there.