9

I am running Windows 7 on a computer with an Italian keyboard. Such a keyboard has keys for producing the lowercase accented grave characters à, è, ì, ò, ù, and it is also possible to produce the lowercase accented acute character é by pressing SHIFT + è.

However I would like to insert the uppercase accented characters À, È, É, Ì, Ò, Ù without recurring to the use of numeric ALT codes. How can this be achieved?

I would like a solution which works across all programs on the system, not just MS Word.

Thanks.

Here is the diagram of the standard Italian keyboard layout I am using:

Italian keyboard layout

John Sonderson
  • 3,496
  • 14
  • 49
  • 68
  • 1
    There should be some [dead keys](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_key) on your keyboard. For accuted É try `´` and then `Shift` + `e`. Also try iterate pressing keys on your keyboard while **holding** `Alt Gr` or (with the same effect) `Ctrl` + `Alt` – JosefZ Nov 23 '14 at 17:13
  • Thank you @JosefZ for your answer, but I've tried loading both the Italian as well as the Italian (142) keyboard (these are basically almost the same except for on the latter it is also possible to enter the backtick (`) and tilde (~) characters via the AltGr modifier, some other characters produced with AltGr+Character and AltGr+SHIFT+Character differ barely as to their position). Anyways, what I was trying to say is that neither of this layout provides any [dead keys](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_key). So, I could not get your answer to work. – John Sonderson Nov 23 '14 at 20:59
  • 1
    I found interesting [KbdKaz 500 - free keyboard layout for Windows](http://www.omega-com.pl/kbdkaz.htm): solves your problem with capitalised accented chars, although stems from standard keyboard with US layout labels... – JosefZ Nov 24 '14 at 01:22
  • Thank you for pointing out the program. It is quite unfortunate that native keyboards often do not provide fast or in some cases it seems do not provide any way of entering some specific native characters, despite being native keyboards. Such layouts could have easily assigned dead keys or special key combinations via AltGr as the `KbdKaz 500` program you pointed out does. – John Sonderson Nov 25 '14 at 18:58
  • My only problem with the solution you pointed out is that to use it the program must be installed, and if I am going to use a computer which is not my own where I do not have administrator rights then I may not be able to use it. Is there also another way of entering the sought characters which does not require installing a separate program? Thanks. – John Sonderson Nov 25 '14 at 18:59
  • Also, `KbdKaz 500` lets you enter the non-ASCII characters `à`, `è`, `ì`, `ò`, `ù`, `é`, `ó`, `ç`, `À`, `È`, `Ì`, `Ò`, `Ù`, `É`, `Ó`, `Ç` as pointed out on the link you posted. I was wondering, `ç` is not part of the Italian alphabet but for some reason is still included on standard Italian keyboards. However, to the best of my knowledge `ó` (o with acute accent) is also not part of the Italian alphabet (correct me if I am mistaken), and is also not included on standard Italian keyboards, so I wonder why it is included by `KbdKaz 500` as a special character for Italian. Thanks. – John Sonderson Nov 25 '14 at 19:03
  • 1
    Do you switch between keyboard layouts, e.g. `IT` and `US`? And _labels_ on your _physical_ keyboard are [Italian or standard US](http://www.terena.org/activities/multiling/ml-mua/test/kbd-all.html) or even other one? – JosefZ Nov 25 '14 at 19:19
  • Yes, my keyboard layout is the [standard 105-key Italian keyboard layout](http://www.terena.org/activities/multiling/ml-mua/test/kbd-all.html#Italian) as pointed out in your comment. I do switch between EN and IT layouts in Windows 7, as I know the positions of the standard US ASCII keyboard by heart. As you can see from the diagram ó is missing from this keyboard layout but AFAIK no Italian word has that character. Most important,I cannot figure out how to produce the capitalized accented vowels without changing the keyboard layout using an add-on program like `MSKLC` or `KbdKaz 500`. Thanks. – John Sonderson Nov 25 '14 at 19:30
  • 1
    As a last resort, I'd try remap e.g. `CapsLock` key or `ScrollLock` to behave like **dead key** using _Scan Code Mapper_. I _don't know_ whether it's possible with **dead key**, as I have only next remaps active myself: `CapsLock` behaves as `Shift` and `ScrollLock` as `CapsLock`. The scan code mappings for Windows are stored in the `Scancode Map` registry value. – JosefZ Nov 25 '14 at 20:23
  • 1
    `Scancode Map` continues: Remapping in itself is not difficult task, however [SharpKey](https://sharpkeys.codeplex.com/) could help essentially. Be cautious, as remappings in that way is computer-wide (or Windows-wide rather): stored under `HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE` in the registry, valid for all users and all (switchable) keyboard layouts. – JosefZ Nov 25 '14 at 20:25
  • Thank you for your replies, but I've never used `regedit.exe` to change the Windows 7 registry. How do I use it. I see an entry for `HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE` in it as you point out, but I'm not sure where to find the rest of the information and what do do with it. Besides, this solution seems to require admin privileges right? Thanks. – John Sonderson Nov 25 '14 at 22:45
  • 1
    Admin privileges rights = yes, but for setting up only, then nope. Do not use regedit, save most of hard work with SharpKeys tool mentioned above. – JosefZ Nov 25 '14 at 22:56
  • OK. Thanks. Too bad there does not seem to be an out-of-the-box no-privileges solution. Thanks. – John Sonderson Nov 25 '14 at 23:02

2 Answers2

5

It is very rare for italian words to start with a wowel that requires an accent in regular text documents (unless you consider sentences, and yet in that case 99% of the times it will be an È as in È possibile?), so maybe that is the reason of this design choice.

Or maybe to make CAPS LOCK look funny: ASDèàùUP. Who knows...

Anyways most people never need this because they incorrectly use E' (letter E followed by an apostrophe). Even newspapers do this.

But we can fix this in 5 lettere: MSKLC!

You can use the freely available Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator to remap (map, in this case) the combination SHIFT-é to get È, for example, or SHIFT-ALT-è to get É. Italian tutorial here.

This is probably the best solution as you are making a new keyboard layout file to use, so no additional programs are run (you only execute MSKLC once, to make the layout).

If you have Windows XP or lower, then it is time to upgrade as this requires at least windows Vista.

Update: Due to having to re-install Windows myself from time to time I feel it is better to put my own keyboard file here. Just copy & paste the following block of text in an empty file and name it "italian.klc". You can now open it with the MSKLC. Feel free to update this answer with your improvements.

KBD ItaBest "Italiano - Better"

COPYRIGHT   "(c) 2016 B9K"

COMPANY "Company"

LOCALENAME  "it-IT"

LOCALEID    "00000410"

VERSION 1.0

SHIFTSTATE

0   //Column 4
1   //Column 5 : Shft
2   //Column 6 :       Ctrl
6   //Column 7 :       Ctrl Alt
7   //Column 8 : Shft  Ctrl Alt

LAYOUT      ;an extra '@' at the end is a dead key

//SC    VK_     Cap 0   1   2   6   7
//--    ----        ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----

02  1       0   1   0021    -1  -1  -1      // DIGIT ONE, EXCLAMATION MARK, <none>, <none>, <none>
03  2       0   2   0022    -1  -1  -1      // DIGIT TWO, QUOTATION MARK, <none>, <none>, <none>
04  3       0   3   00a3    -1  -1  -1      // DIGIT THREE, POUND SIGN, <none>, <none>, <none>
05  4       0   4   0024    -1  -1  -1      // DIGIT FOUR, DOLLAR SIGN, <none>, <none>, <none>
06  5       0   5   0025    -1  20ac    -1      // DIGIT FIVE, PERCENT SIGN, <none>, EURO SIGN, <none>
07  6       0   6   0026    -1  -1  -1      // DIGIT SIX, AMPERSAND, <none>, <none>, <none>
08  7       0   7   002f    -1  -1  -1      // DIGIT SEVEN, SOLIDUS, <none>, <none>, <none>
09  8       0   8   0028    -1  -1  -1      // DIGIT EIGHT, LEFT PARENTHESIS, <none>, <none>, <none>
0a  9       0   9   0029    -1  -1  -1      // DIGIT NINE, RIGHT PARENTHESIS, <none>, <none>, <none>
0b  0       0   0   003d    -1  -1  -1      // DIGIT ZERO, EQUALS SIGN, <none>, <none>, <none>
0c  OEM_4       0   0027    003f    -1  0060    00b4        // APOSTROPHE, QUESTION MARK, <none>, GRAVE ACCENT, ACUTE ACCENT
0d  OEM_6       SGCap   00ec    005e    -1  007e    -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH GRAVE, CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT, <none>, TILDE, <none>
-1  -1  0   00cc        // LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH GRAVE
10  Q       1   q   Q   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER Q, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Q, <none>, <none>, <none>
11  W       1   w   W   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER W, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER W, <none>, <none>, <none>
12  E       1   e   E   -1  20ac    -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER E, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E, <none>, EURO SIGN, <none>
13  R       1   r   R   -1  00ae    -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER R, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER R, <none>, REGISTERED SIGN, <none>
14  T       1   t   T   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER T, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER T, <none>, <none>, <none>
15  Y       1   y   Y   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER Y, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y, <none>, <none>, <none>
16  U       1   u   U   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER U, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U, <none>, <none>, <none>
17  I       1   i   I   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER I, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I, <none>, <none>, <none>
18  O       1   o   O   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER O, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O, <none>, <none>, <none>
19  P       1   p   P   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER P, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P, <none>, <none>, <none>
1a  OEM_1       SGCap   00e8    00e9    001b    005b    007b        // LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH GRAVE, LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE, ESCAPE, LEFT SQUARE BRACKET, LEFT CURLY BRACKET
-1  -1  0   00c8        // LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH GRAVE
1b  OEM_PLUS    0   002b    002a    001d    005d    007d        // PLUS SIGN, ASTERISK, INFORMATION SEPARATOR THREE, RIGHT SQUARE BRACKET, RIGHT CURLY BRACKET
1e  A       1   a   A   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER A, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, <none>, <none>, <none>
1f  S       1   s   S   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER S, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S, <none>, <none>, <none>
20  D       1   d   D   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER D, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D, <none>, <none>, <none>
21  F       1   f   F   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER F, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER F, <none>, <none>, <none>
22  G       1   g   G   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER G, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER G, <none>, <none>, <none>
23  H       1   h   H   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER H, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER H, <none>, <none>, <none>
24  J       1   j   J   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER J, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER J, <none>, <none>, <none>
25  K       1   k   K   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER K, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K, <none>, <none>, <none>
26  L       1   l   L   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER L, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L, <none>, <none>, <none>
27  OEM_3       SGCap   00f2    00e7    -1  0040    -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH GRAVE, LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA, <none>, COMMERCIAL AT, <none>
-1  -1  0   00d2        // LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH GRAVE
28  OEM_7       SGCap   00e0    00b0    -1  0023    -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE, DEGREE SIGN, <none>, NUMBER SIGN, <none>
-1  -1  0   00c0        // LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH GRAVE
29  OEM_5       0   005c    007c    -1  007e    -1      // REVERSE SOLIDUS, VERTICAL LINE, <none>, TILDE, <none>
2b  OEM_2       SGCap   00f9    00a7    001c    -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH GRAVE, SECTION SIGN, INFORMATION SEPARATOR FOUR, <none>, <none>
-1  -1  0   00d9        // LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH GRAVE
2c  Z       1   z   Z   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER Z, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z, <none>, <none>, <none>
2d  X       1   x   X   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER X, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X, <none>, <none>, <none>
2e  C       1   c   C   -1  00a9    -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER C, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C, <none>, COPYRIGHT SIGN, <none>
2f  V       1   v   V   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER V, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER V, <none>, <none>, <none>
30  B       1   b   B   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER B, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B, <none>, <none>, <none>
31  N       1   n   N   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER N, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N, <none>, <none>, <none>
32  M       1   m   M   -1  -1  -1      // LATIN SMALL LETTER M, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER M, <none>, <none>, <none>
33  OEM_COMMA   0   002c    003b    -1  -1  -1      // COMMA, SEMICOLON, <none>, <none>, <none>
34  OEM_PERIOD  0   002e    003a    -1  263a    263b        // FULL STOP, COLON, <none>, WHITE SMILING FACE, BLACK SMILING FACE
35  OEM_MINUS   0   002d    005f    -1  2015    -1      // HYPHEN-MINUS, LOW LINE, <none>, HORIZONTAL BAR, <none>
39  SPACE       0   0020    0020    0020    -1  -1      // SPACE, SPACE, SPACE, <none>, <none>
56  OEM_102 0   003c    003e    001c    25c4    25ba        // LESS-THAN SIGN, GREATER-THAN SIGN, INFORMATION SEPARATOR FOUR, BLACK LEFT-POINTING POINTER, BLACK RIGHT-POINTING POINTER
53  DECIMAL 0   002e    002e    -1  -1  -1      // FULL STOP, FULL STOP, , , 


KEYNAME

01  Esc
0e  Backspace
0f  Tab
1c  Enter
1d  Ctrl
2a  Shift
36  "Right Shift"
37  "Num *"
38  Alt
39  Space
3a  "Caps Lock"
3b  F1
3c  F2
3d  F3
3e  F4
3f  F5
40  F6
41  F7
42  F8
43  F9
44  F10
45  Pause
46  "Scroll Lock"
47  "Num 7"
48  "Num 8"
49  "Num 9"
4a  "Num -"
4b  "Num 4"
4c  "Num 5"
4d  "Num 6"
4e  "Num +"
4f  "Num 1"
50  "Num 2"
51  "Num 3"
52  "Num 0"
53  "Num Del"
54  "Sys Req"
57  F11
58  F12
7c  F13
7d  F14
7e  F15
7f  F16
80  F17
81  F18
82  F19
83  F20
84  F21
85  F22
86  F23
87  F24

KEYNAME_EXT

1c  "Num Enter"
1d  "Right Ctrl"
35  "Num /"
37  "Prnt Scrn"
38  "Right Alt"
45  "Num Lock"
46  Break
47  Home
48  Up
49  "Page Up"
4b  Left
4d  Right
4f  End
50  Down
51  "Page Down"
52  Insert
53  Delete
54  <00>
56  Help
5b  "Left Windows"
5c  "Right Windows"
5d  Application

DESCRIPTIONS

0409    Italiano - Better

LANGUAGENAMES

0409    Italian (Italy)

ENDKBD
beppe9000
  • 631
  • 9
  • 21
  • I would argue that a starting accented vowel is not the only case when you would use a capitalized accented vowel, another common scenario is when the whole word is capitalized. – Marco Lackovic May 11 '20 at 15:03
  • Well, that too is true... when Italian people write rage comments in all caps :) – beppe9000 May 11 '20 at 17:55
1

There is also a shareware tool called keyxpat that can help you, under any windows software. It attaches the characters you want on the key you want, so there is no other keys to type at the same time. So to get À, you just type shift+A and wait one click of the metronome. This is straightforward and unobtrusive, and it allows you to type quickly.

Disclaimer: I'm the author of this tool. I did it for myself first because I need to write in french on a US qwerty keyboard all the time.

beppe9000
  • 631
  • 9
  • 21
Nicolas Cadilhac
  • 195
  • 1
  • 11