Using Easy Unicode Paster

[BillSamuel]

Has anyone figured out how to use Easy Unicode Paster?  It comes without instructions or a help function.  It displays characters, but I can't figure out how to get them to paste into an application.

[Dormouse]

You just click on the character and it is sent to the application you are in.

[BillSamuel]

I'm sorry,  but clicking on a character does nothing other than highlight it in Easy Unicode Paster.  It does not send it to the application you are in.  I've tried it in several applications, and it does not work at all.  It is supposed to leave the focus on the application you were in, but instead it takes the focus, which may be why it does not work.

I'm using Windows XP, and it is supposed to work in XP.  Maybe it works in Vista, I don't know, but it doesn't work in XP.

[BillSamuel]

I've tried an extra step.  Open Easy Unicode Paster, then click on your original application.  Then clicking on a character in the Paster will paste something into your application, but it usually pastes a ? rather than the character you click.  Once in a blue moon it will actually paste the character you click on.

[VideoInPicture]

Hello,
I have tested Easy Unicode Paster on both XP and Vista and they both work. When you click on one of the characters in EUP,it sends it to the application with focus. EUP doesn't take focus when you click on one of the characters. Have you tried using EUP and Notepad, Word, or Firefox? Ensure that some textbox in the application you are working with has the cursor blinking so you know where the characters are being sent.

[VideoInPicture]

I've tried an extra step.  Open Easy Unicode Paster, then click on your original application.  Then clicking on a character in the Paster will paste something into your application, but it usually pastes a ? rather than the character you click.  Once in a blue moon it will actually paste the character you click on.

Can you see the characters displayed correctly in Easy Unicode Paster itself? It could be that you don't have the fonts for a particular character. Most computers won't have all the fonts to display all the characters that come with Easy Unicode Paster. Try selecting a different character set.

[BillSamuel]

In the applications where it would be most useful for me, the only characters it actually seems to work on are the ones that are on the standard keyboard.  Characters not on the keyboard show as something other than they are supposed to, usually as a ?.  For characters on a standard keyboard, it seems much easier just to use the keyboard.

It does work in Word, but Word has its own equivalent function anyway.  But EUP might be a bit easier to use, especially if you were using a lot of special characters in a document.

It does work in Firefox, so it is useful if you should need to use a special character in a Forum such as this.  I can't recall ever having such a need, but EUP would work well for this purpose.

[BillSamuel]

I'm only selecting characters that show correctly in EUP.  I have no idea what the others would be.  Probably well over 95% of characters just show as boxes, and I couldn't see any point in clicking on those.  Presumably they're only available in non-standard fonts.  But they are some useful characters available in standard fonts.

[VideoInPicture]

Which application displays the ? marks? If it's on the web, I can try downloading it and see what's wrong.

[BillSamuel]

UltraEdit
Eudora

[VideoInPicture]

UltraEdit
Eudora

I just tried out Eudora 7 from http://www.eudora.com/ on my computer and I can confirm that I get the displays ? for unicode characters that it can display no matter if I use Easy Unicode Paster or if I copy and paste unicode text from another text program. I found this thread: http://eudorabb.qualcomm.com/showthread.php?t=5980 that says that Eudora 7 doesn't support unicode so it's something that the Eudora developers need to fix and not a problem with EUP or your computer.

[VideoInPicture]

UltraEdit
Eudora

For UltraEdit, it does work with Easy Unicode Paster but you need to ensure that the file you are working with is encoded in either Unicode/UTF-8 or Unicode/UTF-16 when you save it using the "Save As" dialog. Normally, UltraEdit opens an editing area that only handles normal ANSI characters. It is explained in this UltraEdit support article on unicode: http://www.ultraedit.com/support/tutorials_power_tips/ultraedit/unicode.html

This also reminds me, I should try and find some links for fonts that have a large portion of the unicode characters encoded and put links to them on the Easy Unicode Paster website. It would probably make it easier for the casual user. I noticed that Windows Vista displays more of the unicode characters by default than XP does. For example, I can see the Arrows unicode characters fine in Vista but that font for it is missing in XP.

I will post an update to the EUP website in a little while for the fonts I find and a bug fix for Easy Unicode Paster that's unrelated to the troubleshooting in this thread.

[BillSamuel]

BTW, what is that first selector box - the one with the various keys in it - for, and how does it work?

[VideoInPicture]

The first selector box on the left is for the selecting the shortcut key that shows/hides the Easy Unicode Paster program when it's running. It turns red if some other program is already using the selected shortcut or white if it is ok.

[BillSamuel]

How do you select the key?

It would be great if you could do a readme file that would explain how to use the program.

[VideoInPicture]

The boxes at the top are drop down boxes. Click on the arrow pointing downwards in the drop down box and you will see the shortcut combinations you can select. Click on one of them and the shortcut will be changed to what is selected.