UMLAUTED LETTERS

[glalthouse 0]

How can I use umlauted letters in spelling surnames. Several of my German ancestors spelled their surnames with umlauted letters.

[Terry Reigel 0]

How can I use umlauted letters in spelling surnames. Several of my German ancestors spelled their surnames with umlauted letters.

There are several standard Windows methods that do this. If you have only a few, the easiest is probably to use the Windows Character Map. You can access it from TMG from the Tools > External Utilities menu, or from the Windows Start menu - I think by default it's in the Accessories group. In it, select the desired character, copy it to the clipboard, and then paste it in the TMG field where you want to enter it.

 

If you use one or a few repeatedly, you can note the "Keystroke" codes in the lower right corner of the Character Map. Holding the Alt key and using the numeric keypad, you can enter these characters directly by typing the code.

 

Or... If you do it often, you might want to change your Windows settings to the "International keyboard" which allows you to enter them with two strokes of the regular keys, generally a letter and another key that's suggestive enough of the desired accent to be easy to remember.

[Mick Mickelson 0]

How can I use umlauted letters in spelling surnames. Several of my German ancestors spelled their surnames with umlauted letters.

 

You might also want to check out the following website for a fantastic freeware program called "AllChars". It has just recently been released as OpenSource and is far better than the MS Character Map.

 

http://allchars.zwolnet.com/

[glalthouse 0]

Thanks for the help. Using the MS Character Map, I set up a Text Macro with the correct spelling for the name. I can now enter the name for new persons with the Macro.

 

To correct the existing mis-spelled names, I used John Cardnel's TMG Utility to set up a filter and make the corrections. TMG Utility is a real timesaver that every TMG user should have.

 

George