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By: Jamie Collins
Today, rather than attempting to write a semi-brilliant blog post because, quite frankly, I’m not feeling all that semi-brilliant, I’m sharing some incredibly cool keyboard hacks for savvy legal people everywhere.
Read them. Test them. Love them.
(I know I do…)
For the record, you are simply pressing and holding the “ALT” button, then entering the number code listed below for each of these hacks. DO NOT press the + key. (Just ALT and the number. Got it? Here goes…)
For the corporate and business law legal peeps:
ALT + 0153 = ™
ALT + 0169 = ©
ALT + 0174 = ®
(Please feel free to send Belgian chocolates or a big bag of Haribo gummy bears of gratitude my way, people. That’s “Collins” with two L’s.)
For those poor legal souls who spend countless hours typing or editing legal documents (which I’m pretty sure is ALL of us):
ALT + 0182 = ¶
ALT + 38 = &
(I’m not sure if you’ll ever use these, but they’re still pretty darn cool.)
For those who love social media the most:
ALT + 35 = #
ALT + 64 = @
(#SemiBrilliantBlogger @TPSparalegals. Believe. It.)
For those who talk a lot about currency and numbers:
ALT + 36 = $
ALT + 0162 = ¢
ALT + 37 = %
(In summary: You + this = cool.)
For the math and arrow lovers:
ALT + 24 = ↑
ALT + 26 = →
ALT + 27 = ←
ALT + 25 = ↓
ALT + 29 = ↔
ALT + 18 = ↕
ALT + 247 = ≈
ALT + 0176 = ° (degrees symbol)
ALT + 251 = √ (square root symbol)(because I have NO idea why…)
This is SO not my favorite area – with the exception of business math, as those of you who follow me on Facebook probably know all too well from reading my perpetual 3rd grade math “homework mom/hopeless helper” commentary. For the record, Common Core Math is the devil, but keyboard shortcuts are cool. And those directional arrows MAY come in handy for future legal arts and crafts projects prepared at the hands of a semi-brilliant blogger at the legal circus.
For those people who want to know how to do cute keyboard shortcuts because they CAN:
ALT + 3 = ♥
ALT + 6 = ♠
ALT + 5 = ♣
ALT + 4 = ♦
ALT + 1 = ☺
ALT + 2 = ☻
ALT + 15 = ☼
(Don’t judge. You know you’re totally trying ‘em.)
And lastly, cue the drum roll for my favorite one.
ALT + 21 = §
(Yes, there was really a keyboard shortcut for that ALL along. You’re welcome.)
Test ‘em out. As soon as you press those alt + number keys, remove your fingers from the keys promptly. You don’t have to sit there holding/willing the symbol to appear. After a momentary pause, it will appear on the screen like magic before your alt-button pushing eyes. I swear. (Kind of like those projects that keep appearing on your desk. It’s magic. Heh.)
Now get out there and wow ‘em with your mad keyboarding skills. And your dazzling smile. And your legal prowess. The legal trenches await, my friends.
☺
(Yes, I just used the keyboard shortcut to make that.)
(Because I can.)
(Because I’m cool like that.)
You could be, too.
Just print this off.
Share it with your friends.
#ThatIsAll
_____
The Paralegal Society is now on Twitter @TPSparalegals.
Follow us and we’ll follow you back.
I’ll see you on the flip side.
The Paralegal Society™ 
I’m disappointed. I was expecting keyboard shortcuts (like Ctrl+E for centering text), rather than alt codes. Not to mention that a few of the alt codes given can just as easily be achieved by doing something as simply as holding shift and pressing 2 on the number keys at the top of the keyboard, for example. Finally, this article forgets to mention that often to achieve alt codes, you must use the numbers on the numpad, NOT the numbers above the letters on the keyboard.
I am in awe of your hacking skills!
Just so you know, for those who may have to interact with people in other countries, there is a list of codes for foreign characters and currency symbols, etc. at symbolcodes.tlt.psu.edu/accents/codealt.html.
Now, where should I send those chocolates?
Leave it to Jamie Collins to make the use ASCII characters a humorous story!
Jamie :
Alt+21 doesnot always give me the section symbol (depending on what issue of Word I use), but Alt+0167 gives me the symbol everytime.😄
Printing this!! 🙂
(TM) creates the superscript trademark symbol / (R) creates the registration symbol and (C) creates the copyright symbol (a little shorter than the ALT + #### way) 🙂
Oh Jamie, you are a genius! That darn § symbol has always had me searching the insert symbol box. I had to go and try out a bunch of others just because. ☺
Depending on your version of Word, you can also choose shortcut keys of your choice using Insert / Symbol. Mine is Alt + S for the section symbol. Quick and Easy! 🙂
You can create your own shortcut key if you don’t like the current combo, or if you have a favorite symbol or special character that doesn’t have a shortcut key, by selecting the Symbol option and then “Shortcut Key.” You’ll see what the existing shortcut key is, if any, for every symbol or special character available.
Agree, Paralethal. I’ve assigned keyboard shortcuts to most of these years ago.
Ctrl+Shift+F3 will make an entire block of small text all caps and vice versa. Great for when you need to proofread a long legal description that’s in all caps and Word’s spellchecker won’t recognize anything because it’s not set to scan words in capital letters.
Good post. Thanks for the tips. I learned something new from this post and will visit your blog often.
Reblogged this on The Researching Paralegal and commented:
Great Word shortcuts. You can set these up yourself on Word, but why bother when these shortcuts are already there? -CCE
Oh boy, I’m remembering WordPerfect 4.0 function template which was mylar and fit on the keyboard right above those function keys back in the early 90’s…..