Special Unicode Characters Inkscape

If you want to learn how to use Unicode characters in Inkscape that aren’t on your keyboard then this video is for you. The method of accessing special Unicode characters that I demonstrate in this video works just as well for PUA (Private Use Area) characters as it does for the Greece alphabet, maths symbols and language-specific characters. The Unicode character dialog box is Inkscape’s own version of the Character Map making it easy to find the symbols and characters you are looking for. Many fonts give you a range of alternate characters, which can be easily viewed and used with the tool. I also show you how to enter characters using their Unicode - this method is quick and easy and has some benefits over the Unicode dialog box.

[@diecastchaser164]

Super helpful thank you so much

[@CreateForFree]

You're welcome

[@Badgerr99]

Thanks for this, I've never heard of Unicode Characters before, I've always used Alt Codes. Will be giving this technique a go 👍

[@CreateForFree]

I'd not heart of Alt codes before, so we've both leant something new 🙂

[@Badgerr99]

@@CreateForFree ALT 1

[@CreateForFree]

@@Badgerr99 ☺ - who knew!

[@melissagillin8069]

Thank you! This was a huge help!

[@CreateForFree]

Glad to hear it was useful 🙂

[@LoveAllReality]

Really helpful, thank you!

[@CreateForFree]

You're welcome 👍

[@clintongallagher]

Actually all Unicode is available using keyboards but we do need helper tools.
The Windows Character Map tool (Requires a NumPad when using the desktop) is much easier to use than Inkscape's Unicode Dialog and trains our muscle memory to recall the most frequently used symbols we use such as ® (alt-174) é (alt-233) and so on so we can use them at will with they keyboard alone in so many other application use cases; WordPress and any and all text editors for example.
Because "symbols" are Unicodes it doesn't matter what typeface or font we're in so we'll only need to use Inkscape Unicode Dialog with special characters as shown in this video that also omitted something important....
Declarations using the copyright and trademark symbols as well as other symbols are properly written in superscript X² (alt-0178). Inkscape gives us superscript and subscript buttons that can be used to change super or sub text orientation. Changing the font size of the superscript or subscript symbol is then done in our Text Dialog.

[@CreateForFree]

Thanks for your comments. There are already numerous videos demonstrating how to use the Windows character map to access special characters to use in Inkscape, I thought I'd show Inkscape's own tools.

[@StephenBoyd21]

San Sherif 😁

[@natalie_burkitt]

Thanks for another informative video! :) I have downloaded fonts from Creative Fabrica, and was adding the glyphs from my font book and they worked fine, now nothing is recognised, even doing it your way above. I keep getting random symbols or question marks appearing if it allows me to append. Other times append isn't an option and it won't paste anything. Do you happen to know how I could resolve this please? :)

[@CreateForFree]

Does the font work in other programs? If it doesn't, you could try re-installing it again. If it does the problem might be with Inkscape. You could try resetting Inkscape and see if that helps:
How to reset inkscape
ua-cam.com/video/R0Hm1kHpMk4/v-deo.html

[@natalie_burkitt]

I’ll try that, thank you so much 😊

[@hamdyhalim]

unfortunately, it's not working for icon font.

[@CreateForFree]

Icon and dingbat fonts just have images as the glyphs, so the computer shouldn't notice any difference. Is the font in your list of fonts when you have the text tool selected? If you can use the font with the text tool it should work with the dialog box.