Purpose
The purpose of this App is to allow you to create a list of favorite Unicode symbols for easy reuse in Origin by either copy-pasting a symbol or entering the 4-character Unicode hex code and using Alt+X keyboard shortcut.
Note: This App has one limitation that may not be desireable. If you are in "in-place" edit mode to enter text somewhere in Origin, shifting focus to the App dialog will take you out of "in-place" edit mode. This is a limitation of how some dialogs work with Windows and cannot be overcome with the App. Also, when certain other Origin dialogs are open, it is not possible to re-focus on the App dialog to copy a symbol. If this is the case, then you can use the displayed 4-character Unicode hex code along with the Alt+X keyboard shortcut to enter the selected character in the Origin dialog.
Features
- The App dialog can stay open while you do other things in Origin.
- The dialog is resizeable to accomodate a larger list of symbols.
- Choose a different font for the App dialog to display the symbols with.
- "Font Fallback Mode" - Some characters are not supported by some fonts. If this is the case, the character is displayed as a crossed-out box (see the screen shot above). If "Font Fallback Mode" is selected, the App will render the symbol using an alternate font if possible.
- Symbols can be selected either by clicking on them or, if a symbol is focused, using the left and right arrow keys.
- Copy the selected symbol by double-clicking on it, clicking the "Copy" button, or, if a symbol is focused, using the Enter/Space key. Note: when copy-pasting symbols, the font is not changed in the pasted location, only the symbol itself is pasted.
- Drag and drop to reorder symbol tiles as you like.
- When adding a new symbol, you can either paste the actual Unicode character or enter the 4-character Unicode hex code for the symbol.
- Selected symbols can also be removed from the list.
- Mouse-over a symbol to view the Unicode name assigned to it.
Finding Desired Symbols
While you can Google for a particular symbol, the following web site works very nicely for finding Unicode symbols because it allows for various types of searching. It also supports copying a symbol to the clipboard. The symbol can then be pasted into the App when adding a new symbol.