Remap keyboard - remap keys to use certain symbols (Unicode)

[androidek]

Remap keyboard to use symbols i.e. currency symbols £€

I am using non-UK keyboard layout, however I find myself constantly in the need of usage GBP symbol. In my keyboard layout, there is no direct option to type £ symbol, so I find myself constantly copying & pasting the symbol. Adding support for symbols (and possibly other characters) would really make the Keyboard Remap extremely useful.

[GoodClover]

You can probably get the £ symbol by changing or adding a keyboard layout in Windows settings.
If you have multiple press Ctrl+Shift to move between variations of the same language (e.g. UK to UK Extended) or Win+Space to change between all layouts.

I do second this addition though, being able to type in any symbol e.g. something in Unicode that isn't on keyboards would be brilliant, if we could combine the shortcut and key remapping into one tool and let the user type in any symbol so you can copy & paste non-standard symbols.

I know you can use the keypad for typing Unicode, but most (including mine) laptops don't have one and having a shortcut would be way easier anyways.

[Bragolgirith]

Either this or allow shortcut remapping for the [ALT + numpad] code shortcuts.
It is not only useful for currencies, but also for typing the odd umlaut character one might need while using the US keyboard layout.
This feature alone will be reason enough for a lot of people to install the power toys.

[Jay-o-Way]

The € is often inserted by typing Ctrl + Alt + 5, but this may depend on the keyboard? I was also going to say Alt + 0128 will do the trick and Alt + 0163 is for the Pound, but then I read

I know you can use the keypad for typing Unicode, but most (including mine) laptops don't have one and having a shortcut would be way easier anyways.

and I think you are right on that one.

[androidek]

You can probably get the £ symbol by changing or adding a keyboard layout in Windows settings.
If you have multiple press Ctrl+Shift to move between variations of the same language (e.g. UK to UK Extended) or Win+Space to change between all layouts.

I do second this addition though, being able to type in any symbol e.g. something in Unicode that isn't on keyboards would be brilliant, if we could combine the shortcut and key remapping into one tool and let the user type in any symbol so you can copy & paste non-standard symbols.

I know you can use the keypad for typing Unicode, but most (including mine) laptops don't have one and having a shortcut would be way easier anyways.

I know, but I find myself randomly pressing ctrl + shift (i.e. when accessing the task manager) and unintentionally triggering keyboard change. I was even considering changing the shortcut to something else, but this would make the access to pound symbol even more difficult.

The € is often inserted by typing Ctrl + Alt + 5, but this may depend on the keyboard? I was also going to say Alt + 0128 will do the trick and Alt + 0163 is for the Pound, but then I read

I know you can use the keypad for typing Unicode, but most (including mine) laptops don't have one and having a shortcut would be way easier anyways.

and I think you are right on that one.

In the case of the layout i use, Ctrl + Alt + U yields € sign, so this one is not problematic, but I am mostly interested in £ and maybe other special characters. Support for all Unicode characters would be a dream.

[snarum]

This would be very useful. I need to be able to type the ō character (unicode 0x14d) and for this the alt+numpad trick doesn't work. In MS Word I can type 14dAlt+x, but that don't work outside Office.

[Jon999999]

I agree. As I wrote in a separate thread that is now closed (sorry about that!):

In Keyboard Manager, it should be possible to remap keys and shortcuts to any Unicode character, even those that are not present in the current keyboard language. To me, the main point of using Keyboard Manager in this way is to avoid having to recall a Unicode sequence or change keyboard languages every time I want to insert a single foreign character, like € or č, when typing mostly in U.S. English. Please extend the current functionality by permitting the entry of any Unicode character in the "Mapped To" field, or by making the current cross-language behavior optional.

Here is an additional use case: I would like to remap Ctrl+Shift+4 to € when using a U.S. English keyboard and language. Since the € is not present in this keyboard/language, there does not currently appear a way type € in the "Remap To" field. If I try to type the usual sequence Alt+0128, only the last key-press of the sequence "sticks" and it does not work.

And one more use case: I would like to remap Ctrl+Alt+C in my U.S. English keyboard to the Lithuanian letter č. If I try to enter č in the "Maped To" field by temporarily switching the language to Lithuanian in order to type č, the remapping does not work as desired. Instead, when I subsequently type Ctrl+Alt+C (once back in U.S. English), I get "2" instead of "č" (because the letter č on a Lithuanian keyboard is where the number 2 is on a U.S. English keyboard).

Thank you.

[torrentx]

I would absolutely love to be able to do this for common use special characters that aren't available on an (in my case) US keyboard. Often on the laptop without a num pad. Used to use AutoHotKey for this, but doesn't work very well on Win10.

[enricogior]

Closing in favor of #6976

[RealDavidoff]

Either this or allow shortcut remapping for the [ALT + numpad] code shortcuts. It is not only useful for currencies, but also for typing the odd umlaut character one might need while using the US keyboard layout. This feature alone will be reason enough for a lot of people to install the power toys.

Indeed. 🙏 I actually only installed Powertoys today because I was confident it would (finally) allow me to remap "weird keys" on the physical Danish keyboard I got from a reseller when I am using the software Danish keyboard, and remap certain other keys when I am using the software English US keyboard, when using the software Canadian keyboard, Portuguese, German, etc. - People switch software keyboards a lot, but never the physical keyboard 😉

Unfortunately, I realized Powertoys lets you only remap one physical key to another physical key. 😔 That doesn't help me an inch. The suggestion from others to type a definite Alt-code in the "Mapped to" field is perfect, if implemented. ✔🙂🙏🏆

PS: While "Keyboard Manager" is useless for me until then, I got a few other "Powertoys" that should come handy. ✨

[RealDavidoff]

I am realizing now I may need to be clearer: The function I was hoping for (and failed to find searching the net for the whole morning):
👉 Subject to the selected Win software keyboard language, the tool would let us type a physical key/combination, and remap that to an ALT code that we can enter on a laptop (ie without Numpad).
👉 Ideally, then when we selected a different Win software keyboard language (bottom right in taskbar), the tool would again let us remap a physical key to something else.
👉 This behavior subject to Win software keyboard language is the ideal. If too difficult to implement, then of course a simple remapping of physical key to ALT code would be great too! (Ie without that the tool knows/sees which Win software keyboard language is selected currently - which may be difficult, yes.)

Could I explain well? 🤔

[Eisenbahnplatte]

Hey,

I had a similar problem like you and found a solution (without Powertoys) that works for me.
I wanted to write "Umlaute"(ä,ö,ü) on an english keyboard without switching the language all the time.
I got the answer from stackoverflow.

What u need to do is:

1. Download and Install AutoHotKey, You can also find it in the Microsoft Store.
2. create a script
   a. Open Notepad
   b. and enter

!+a::SendRaw Ä
!+o::SendRaw Ö
!+u::SendRaw Ü
!s::SendRaw ß
!a::SendRaw ä
!o::SendRaw ö
!u::SendRaw ü

c. save the file as .ahk file (I named it umlaute.ahk)
3. right click & install the script

Hotkeys are now:

• ALT+a -> ä
• ALT+SHIFT+a -> Ä
• ...

You can change the script to any unicode character and any keyboard key you want.

If you have problems with that it could be possible that you need to make sure to save the file in "utf-8" encoding, but the default utf-16 of windows should work, too.

I you play around with the script in one session I got some funny errors, so maybe try around with the script and later on you can move it to the Windows startup folder so that you dont have to re install it on every start up.

Cheers and have a nice day.

[kiviuk]

!+a::SendRaw Ä
!+o::SendRaw Ö
!+u::SendRaw Ü
!s::SendRaw ß
!a::SendRaw ä
!o::SendRaw ö
!u::SendRaw ü

Thanks, however I get this error

Warning: This local variable appears to never be assigned a value.

Specifically: SendRaw

   001: {
▶	001: SendRaw(Ä)
   001: }
   002: {

This worked for my in AutoHotKey 2.0.8

!+a::SendInput "Ä"
!+o::SendInput "Ö"
!+u::SendInput "Ü"
!s::SendInput "ß"
!a::SendInput "ä"
!o::SendInput "ö"
!u::SendInput "ü"