Printing an accent over a letter in Textmaker

[stefanmaine]

A minute ago, I inadvertently posted this item at "Linux" - I do not know how to delete that.


I have Softmaker Professional 2021 on an iMac. For reasons I am unable to discover, it is apparently not possible to type an accent over a letter in Textmaker 2021. Yes, it seems unlikely, but if there is a way, I cannot find it.

So, here is what I do. Open any other word processing app, like TextEdit, and create a letter with the desired accent. Say, an accented e: Hold down the e key until the list of accented e's pops up, copy the one you want, and go back to TextMaker, and paste the é.

The interesting thing is, in this Softmaker forum, holding down the e key causes the popup, and so I was able to type an accented é in the sentence above But, of course, that is because this forum was designed and developed by the phpBB folks, not the creators of Softmaker.
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[Jossi]

Unfortunately, TextMaker doesn't support this specific Mac functionality so far.

It is possible, however, to get the most common accented letters like á, è or ô by pressing the accent key (´, `, or ^) and then the letter. For more exotic accented letters, there is the option to insert characters from the character map on ribbon "Insert". The lambda-icon on the far right opens the complete character map, whereas the black triangle right to it gives quick access to the ten last used characters. And of course, there is always the possibility to define a personal keyboard shortcut for any letter.

[stefanmaine]

"... the character map on ribbon 'Insert'. The lambda-icon on the far right ..."

Thank you for suggesting that.

"...most common accented letters like á, è or ô by pressing the accent key (´, `, or ^) and then the letter"

I may be misunderstanding your suggestion, but I am unable to get the accent to appear above the letter, like é or ô instead of 'e or ^o
In other words, how do I get the keyboard to "sit still" and print both characters — the accent and the letter — on the same space?

[Jossi]

The accent keys are “dead keys“. When you press the ´ key (for example), nothing happens. Then you press the e key, and é appears. At least, this is the way it works for me.

[stefanmaine]

Are you on Windows or Mac?

I am on an iMac 2017 with OS ver 12 and a Macally keyboard.

Working with this thread, I have figured out a way to type é (an acute accent) on this Mac. Press the Option key and the E key simultaneously; that prints the accent mark ´ with a blinking underline beneath it. (I am guessing that is Apple's way to say to me "Please place a letter here".) While that is blinking, press the letter E alone. That prints a lower case e under the already existing accent mark, and turns off the blinking underline. Producing é

In the process of discovering that, I came across a way to place a circumflex mark above the letter O. Press Option and I (the letter i, not the number one) simultaneously, then the letter O. That prints ô

Is that the simplest way to accomplish this? What sequences print other accents? I do not know. And if someone here does know, please post. All I know is, I got the acute accent I needed.

Thanks for your help.

[Jossi]

I'm on a Mac mini 2018 with Monterey 12.4 and an Apple keyboard.

Apple support explains how to type accented characters here:

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/m ... h27474/mac

As I wrote before, the accent menu doesn’t work in TextMaker, but dead keys do. However, I have to apologize as my last answer was not correct. I simply forgot that I am working with a German keyboard layout. With the English keyboard layout, the "dead keys" are indeed Alt+i for ´, Alt+\ for ` and Alt+o for ˆ.

To see which accented characters can be accessed directly via the keyboard and which dead keys there are, you may use the Apple keyboard viewer. To access it, click the word "English" in the menu bar and choose it from the pop-up menu. It shows the complete keyboard layout, and when you press Option or Shift+Option either on your keyboard or with the mouse on screen, it changes to show the alternate keyboard mappings. In the keyboard viewer, dead keys have an orange border.

If you need certain accented characters very often (like é, á, and ô) it might be still easier to define a keyboard shortcut in TextMaker. In the Apple keyboard mapping, only Option and Shift+Option are used to change characters. In TextMaker shortcuts, you may also use the Command and Control keys, alone or combined with Shift. So you could, for example, define é as Ctrl+e. This would be more comfortable than pressing first Alt+i and then e. These self-defined shortscuts work only in TextMaker, of course, not system-wide.

[romad]

@stephanmaine wrote:
"Is that the simplest way to accomplish this? What sequences print other accents? I do not know. And if someone here does know, please post."

Here is what you can do using the Option key using an U.S. English keyboard:

Option + e = ´
Option + u = ¨
Option + i = ˆ
Option + n = ˜

Also you can add keyboard maps using the Keyboard Preferences, selecting the Input Sources tab, then clicking the + under the left pane. You can then select the language you wish to use in the left pane and the preferred keyboard in that language from the right pane and click the "Add" button.

[stefanmaine]

Jossi wrote, "If you need certain accented characters very often (like é, á, and ô) ... define a keyboard shortcut in TextMaker."

Yes, I would like to do that. Although the more I fuss with this, the more I wish all app designers would agree to "press and hold a letter key on the keyboard to display the accent menu". Oh, well.

If necessary to make and use Textmaker keyboard shortcuts, I have an Apple keyboard (Model A1243 EMC# 2171). But my fingers prefer the Macally.

As you guessed, the three Textmaker keyboard shortcuts I would like to create are CTRL e for é, CTRL o for ô, and CTRL a for á

I have tried to do it myself, even searched Google for assistance, but without success.

I ask for your help, if you are willing.

Thank you again.

[Jossi]

Go to Insert > Symbol (the lambda icon mentioned before). Select the accented character in the character table (click to make it appear big). In the bottom left corner, you will probably see "Shortcut key: none". Click the "Change..." button. In the dialog box appearing now, press the key combination you want (e.g. Ctrl+e). It will appear in the entry field. Now click "Add", then "OK" and there you are.

[stefanmaine]

"Go to Insert > Symbol ..."

Perfect!

Thank you for your continuing help here. I truly do appreciate it.

[Jossi]

You’re welcome!