Macro to insert ascii character or special text?

[Grant]

Hi,  I am playing around with applying some bullet journal aspects to my tasks... in particular the bullets (duh).

Is there anyway to have a hotkey or such so that I can quickly insert a (ascii) dot, circle, etc at the start of the Task Name?  I prefer not to have to use a separate application, but if that is the only way, then let me know.

Cheers,

Grant

[Stéph]

If you use Markdown formatting in your MLO notes (which you can enable and disable via Tools --> Options --> Appearance), then typing a hyphen and space at the start of the line ("- ") will render as a bullet in view mode. However, many people don't like the complication of having to switch between view and edit modes in your notes to be able to see the Markdown formatting.

Another alternative, if you have a numberpad on your keyboard (on some laptops it's shown as a coloured block of numbers, accessed by holding down the function key), then you can write any character down by holding Alt and typing it's ASCII code. For a bullet point, you'd need to hold down (laptop Fn key +) Alt and type "0149" on the keypad.

(For another example: The accented é in my name is Alt+130 on the numberpad)

Stéphane

[Stéph]

The use of Alt codes is explained well on this site: https://fsymbols.com/keyboard/windows/alt-codes/laptop/

[Grant]

Thanks all.  I was aware of Alt-codes, but was hoping that MLO had a macro or progammable key combination that might work, so I do not have to memorize several 4 digit numbers, and which letter keys can be used for numbers.  Also, one of my laptops does not support Alnat-codes at all.  Right now I just have the symbols inserted in the Inbox title so I can copy and paste them. 

Steph: I was specifically needing this for the title names of tasks (where markup does not work), not the notes field.

Cheers, Grant

[Stéph]

Fair points. 

I use symbols at the start of some words, to tag them for my filters. However, I stick to the symbols available on my keyboard. For what you want to do, though, maybe you will have to resort to an external app. Various people have posted about doing some oretty clever things with “Autohotkey”, so it might be worth looking into that.