How do I create the degree symbol in Illustrator 7 in Windows?

[Melinda]

I am baffled at how to create the degree symbol in Illustrator 7 on Windows platform. I have searched the forums and most of the answers relate to Mac not Windows. I have searched the Symbol fonts, Wingdings, etc. and I cannot find it. How do I create a degree symbol???

[Philip Peterson]

Alt 0186 works (see charector map) for helvitica.

Or type an o (small o). Make a several points smaller then the rest of the text and use baseline shift to lift it to the proper location.

[Melinda]

Thank you Philip Peterson. The ALT gave me the clue. ALT 0186 is an underlined superscript o, but I found ALT 0176 and it is the degrees symbol which I desparately needed. Thanks again.

[Ian A. Wright]

Melinda:

Access to the "extended ANSI character set" in Windows can be done from the keyboard. Turn on the NUMLOCK, press the ALT-key, then type the four digit number of the character code. So for an é, for example, you type ALT-0233. Always use the numeric keyboard (numlock on) for the numbers. Typing character numbers won't work for this.

But if you want the easy way you can start CHARMAP.EXE which is a utility in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory and copy and paste the requisite symbol into your document. You'll find the extended Character Map applet in Start > Programs > Accessories > Character Map (in Win98 and later, add System Tools after Accessories). In CHARMAP.EXE if you click and hold any of the symbols, it'll zoom to better show it's look. When you click any symbol, its Alt number will show in the lower right box. Not all fonts have the same extended characters and some don't have any at all, so for accuracy, be sure to have the same font name in CHARMAP.EXE as you are using in your document.

This is the same for all Windows applications and has been since the start of Windows.

[Philip Peterson]

Glad you were able to figure it out Melinda. As Ian says, the Charector map is useful in finding these extended sort of things.