# French accent marks in open office



## africangie

i recently downloaded open office (a free alternative to microsoft word) because, with it, i could also download dictionaries in numerous languages, including french, that would do spell-check for me in my documents.  the problem is that the key strokes/short-cuts for accents in microsoft word don't work in open office.  is anyone familiar with open office?  it's really helped me with my documents in french (and spanish, and other languages) that, up to this point, were full of annoying red squiggly lines.


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## Hakro

I use the Open Office. Your problem probably is not the Open Office but your keyboard. At least I can write the accents in Open Office Writer exactly as I do in Microsoft Word.

By the way, please correct your capital letters, it's a rule in the WR Forums.


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## africangie

Hakro,

Thank you for your reply.  I find it strange, though, that even though I can use the accent marks in a Word Document just fine, the same is not true, on the same computer, with the same keyboard, of Open Office.  I guess I have to try to figure out the settings, but I have and it hasn't worked.  Oh, well.  I'll figure it out eventually.


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## Gutenberg

africangie said:


> i recently downloaded open office (a free alternative to microsoft word) because, with it, i could also download dictionaries in numerous languages, including french, that would do spell-check for me in my documents.  the problem is that the key strokes/short-cuts for accents in microsoft word don't work in open office.  is anyone familiar with open office?  it's really helped me with my documents in french (and spanish, and other languages) that, up to this point, were full of annoying red squiggly lines.



I use Open Office on Windows and I have all the accents I need. Your problem is probably with the choice of keyboard. 
Go to Start, then Settings, then Control panel, then Keyboard, click on the Language tab and select your languages...

I hope it helps.


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## Hakro

I'm sorry, Africangie, right now I can't help you. I hope there's someone who has a similar keyboard and who can tell you what to do.

(Thank you for the capital letters. Now it's much easier to read.)


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## GeorgesBrassens

I have a QWERTY keyboard, and can testify to the fact that the standard Microsoft keyboard shortcuts for accented characters don't work in Open Office 2.1, to the best of my knowledge.
Sure, I suppose I could buy an AZERTY, but shouldn't there be some simpler way of getting accented characters?  The program does recognize accented characters, but they have to inserted the long way round, via the special characters box in the Insert drop-down menu.
Open Office suggests writing my own macros to make it easier, but I confess this is sort of inconvenient for a dumb guy like me...


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## alisonp

How are you trying to insert the accents?  Using ALT+NumKeys?  That's usually the best route, I find.


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## Gutenberg

I use Open Office 2.1 on Windows 98, second edition, I have a QWERTY keyboard and all the French accents are available on my keyboard and they work...

As I have already mentioned above, your problem is probably with the choice of language. Here is what you must do:
*Go to Start, then Settings, then Control Panel, then Keyboard, click on the Language tab and add the languages you want and select the one you want.  (For French, choose French Canada). Then check the box ''Enable indicator on taskbar''. It will show on taskbar, where you can switch to your language of choice. 
Bonne chance*
I hope it helps.

Go to this site. You will find all the answers to your question about French accents for your keyboard.
http://www3.uakron.edu/modlang/french/keyboard.html


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## mignardise

Just as alisonp does, I too always use the ALT key codes to enter French accents. To get these combinations, just Google ALT key combinations and you'll find them. They usually work for any type of program.


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## Gutenberg

mignardise said:


> Just as alisonp does, I too always use the ALT key codes to enter French accents. To get these combinations, just Google ALT key combinations and you'll find them. They usually work for any type of program.



Yes, but good luke if you want to type French text only and you have one or two accents for each word...


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## mignardise

Gutenberg said:


> Yes, but good luke if you want to type French text only and you have one or two accents for each word...



Ouais, mais c'est pas si compliqué que ça... une fois que l'on appris par cœur les combinations, ça va vite.


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## alisonp

Yes, if you type them as regularly as I do, it takes less than ... ç ... yes, thought so, 1 second each time.  It just takes getting used to.


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## ElColorRojo

ALT combinations are very difficult if not impossible on most laptop keyboards, though. And maybe I'm blind, but I couldn't find the ç in the pop-up box in open office.


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## SwissPete

I have used the ALT+num combinations for years, because they work across all software (Word, Excel, e-mail of all sorts, WR posts), but I admit it's not easy unless you have a dedicated numeric keypad (plug in numeric keypads are available). I made a cheat sheet (see attached) which I attached to the side of my monitor. After a while, it's easy to remember the most used accented characters.


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## wildan1

GeorgesBrassens said:


> I have a QWERTY keyboard, and can testify to the fact that the standard Microsoft keyboard shortcuts for accented characters don't work in Open Office 2.1, to the best of my knowledge.


If you are used to a QWERTY keyboard but want accents for French, just select "Canadian Multilingual Standard" as your keyboard in Windows, and all the accent marks will be there in the keys without the bother of ALT+number keys and also without the pesky q-z-a-w mistakes when you use a keyboard for France.

You can put the keyboard choices on the control bar at the bottom of your Windows toolbar and change back and forth across different keyboards. Those accented characters seem to work in all the programs I use when that keyboard is selected. Other Microsoft shortcuts don't work however (Ctrl+C for copy, +V for paste, etc.)...


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## Kelly B

Moderator note: I've moved this thread to Comments and Suggestions. Please note that the question was posted in December '06, revived in February '07, and revived again today - I do not have the impression that the original questioners still need help. Still, your thoughts may help others with the same problems.

You'll also find help with typing accents in this thread at the top of the Comments and Suggestions forum:                            PLEASE READ: Forum features - FAQ, search, accented letters, sundry tweaking and questions you never ask although you should


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## fishwinker

I tried the trick of using the Canadian keyboard, and it sort of worked, but I'm used to the English Keyboard rather than American keyboard.  This means that although the letter keys are laid out in the same way, a lot of the punctuation is in different places, and it got very confusing.  So...  I went to Microsoft's website (sorry, not allowed to post a hyperlink) and downloaded their Keyboard Layout Creator, which allowed me to re-assign unicode codes to keys.  I chose two keys which I hardly ever use (the pair of square and curly brackets keys after "P"), which I turned in to "dead" keys, with acute, umlaut and cedilla on the first (plain, shift, AltGr) and grave and circumflex on the second (plain, shift).  As you can see, there are still 3 spaces left for other accents if you need them (AltGr on key 2 and Shift+AltGr on keys 1 and 2.)

This is a bit complicated (or fiddly), but if you're used to a particular keyboard layout and there are a couple of keys you never use, this seems to be the best way around.  Its actually better because these keys then allow you to write accents everywhere - même içi sur l'internet!

Hope this helps some people.


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## u_n_i_q_u_e

Bonjour..!

I have another question on the same theme -- I also use Open Office for its dictionary facilities but I'm having problems finding an option which will automatically correct unaccented words - at present mine doesnt register a spelling mistake if the accent is missed out, but it will if there is actually a letter missed out.
Does anyone know if there is a feature to autocorrect for accented words? (eg When I type "ca va" it becomes -> "ça va" . Or at least a feature which will notice the spelling mistake)

Merci beaucoup s'il ya des experts de Open Office là quelque part 

u_n_i_q_u_e


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## Nanon

I am not an Open Office expert but a plain and simple user. I however hope I will be able to help...
Have you downloaded the latest update of the French spelling dictionary? of OE?
There is an AutoCorrection feature (at least this is how it reads in my French version of OE) in the Tools menu. You can add "ca -> ça" in the "replace" section. The point is that like in MS Word, if a word exists in its unaccented and accented form, you will have to expect help... from yourself (ex. ou / où).
I use OE (mostly Writer) in several languages, with accented characters, Cyrillic etc... and I switch from AZERTY / French to Brazilian Portuguese or Russian quite often. I also add special characters from SC Unipad (virtual keyboard, courtesy Jana337, thanks!). It works with all...


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