Special Characters

Special Characters are characters not found on the standard computer keyboard. For the sake of this discussion, we are going to divide special characters into three groups:

  1. Characters needed to produce text (Accented letters, or non-Roman scripts such as Cyrillic, Arabic, Tamil, or Korean).
  2. Characters needed to produce mathematics or technical text.
  3. Other Characters that may be needed for their graphical content.

For virtually all users, creating text is not difficult. Using Windows Region and Language Settings (especially the Keyboard Settings, you can have Windows (and especially Microsoft Word) use your choice for entering text. It is very easy to enter text, save it as a Microsoft Word file, and then import the completed Word file into Duxbury DBT.

What if you do not want to change your keyboard system but need to enter a small number of unusual characters into you text? You can do this in either Microsoft Word or in DBT

In terms of technical characters, be aware that you may want to use a Mathematics Editing Program such as MathType to help you. Duxbury DBT can import files created by MathType.

First, we should mention that while Unicode is used throughout the world, DBT uses its own internal system for enumerating unusual characters. This system is called DUSCI, and it is only found in Duxbury DBT. If you want to enter a character into Microsoft Word, you need to know the Unicode number. if you want to enter a character into Duxbury DBT, you need to know the DUSCI number. Of course, we are happy to help you locate special characters, but be aware that lists of characters can be tedious to review. Screen reader users should expect unusual results when viewing the accompanying tables, because they essentially provide a partial list of Unicode characters.

Entering Raw Unicode into Microsoft Word

Type in the 4 digit (hexadecimal) code for the Unicode value. Immediately afterwards, type Alt-X. The 4 digits go away and are replaced by the single Unicode character. If you repeat the command at the same position, the effect is reversed. So this command can be used to learn the Unicode number for an unknown character, or it can be used to input a Unicode character.

Entering Raw DUSCI into Duxbury DBT

Hold down the Ctrl key and press ] (Ctrl-]. In the dialog box which appears, type in the DUSCI 4 digit code. Like Unicode, DUSCI is written out in hexidecimal digits. So if the chart you are looking at says D+C036, then press Ctrl-] for the dialogue box, C036<Enter> to enter the character "Devanagari AA" into DBT. To enter this same character into Microsoft Word, you would use the Unicode number, which is 0906.

Clipboarding Into DBT does not Work for Special Characters

If you need to clipboard some material, you need to clipboard it into Microsoft Word, and then import the Word file into DBT.

Han or Chinese Characters

DBT will not display Chinese characters. Instead DBT displays an appropriate substitute based on the language.

In the Global Settings, Word Import Menu, you can choose how Chinese characters are imported. The four choices are:

  1. Mandarin
  2. Cantonese
  3. Japanese
  4. Korean

Your choice controls how Chinese characters are imported into DBT:

Language DBT Characters
Mandarin Pinyin Romanization with accent
marks for the tones
Cantonese Romanization with superscript
numbers for the tones
Japanese Unicode U+30xx characters
Korean Unicode U+11xx characters
Arabic and Hebrew Characters

Both Arabic and Hebrew inkprint are written from right to left. DBT displays the inkprint Arabic and Hebrew text from right to left as well. At this point, the DBT Print editor cursor does not accommodate the right to left flow within a line.

For these scripts, it is best to go straight from Microsoft Word into braille, using DBT as the translation engine. If you need to, you can clipboard whole lines from Word into DBT as a way of making changes within a line.

Hangul or Korean Characters

Hangul compacts 2 or 3 characters into a single symbol. When DBT imports a file, this process is reversed. DBT breaks down a single Hangul character into its basic parts. In technical terms, all Hangul characters from U+AC00 through U+D7AF are redirected into Hangul Jamo characters U+11xx. DBT uses a mono-spaced font to display the inkprint characters. The result can be difficult to read, and is certainly jaring to those who are used to reading conventional inkprint. For many languages, it is best to go straight from Microsoft Word into braille, using DBT as the translation engine.


Table of Unicode Ranges supported by DUSCI Characters
Script Unicode and Link Type
Latin U+00xx Language
Latin Extended U+01xx Language
Latin Extended U+02xx Language
Greek U+03xx Language
Cyrillic U+04xx Language
Armenian and Hebrew U+05xx Language
Arabic U+06xx Language
Hindi and Bengali U+09xx Language
Gurmukhi and Gujarati U+0Axx Language
Oriya and Tamil U+0Bxx Language
Telegu and Kannada U+0Cxx Language
Malayalam and Sinhala U+0Dxx Language
Thai and Lao U+0Exx Language
Tibetan U+0Fxx Language
Myanmar and Georgian U+10xx Language
Korean U+11xx Language
Ethiopic U+12xx Language
Ethiopic U+13xx Language
Khmer (Cambodian) U+17xx Language
IPA 1 U+1Dxx IPA
IPA 2 U+1Exx IPA
Misc Symbols U+20xx Symbols
Arrows, etc. U+21xx Math
Math Operators U+22xx Math
Misc Technical U+23xx Math
Box Drawing U+25xx Math
Dingbats U+27xx Symbols
Math Arrows U+29xx Math
Math Operators U+2Axx Math
Japanese U+30xx Language
Table of all Unicode Ranges U+0000-U+FFFF

This is a table of all of the Unicode Ranges (for 4 digit hexidecimal). If the last column is blank, then there is no support for these characters in Duxbury DBT. If the last column is "Word™ import", it means that these characters are imported into other Duxbury supported characters. If that last column is "DUSCI supported" then that Unicode range is in the previous table.

Unicode Range Name and Wikipedia Link Support Level
U+0000-007F Basic Latin DUSCI supported
U+0080-00FF Latin-1 Supplement DUSCI supported
U+0100-017F Latin Extended-A DUSCI supported
U+0180-024F Latin Extended-B DUSCI supported
U+0250-02AF IPA Extensions DUSCI supported
U+02B0-02FF Spacing Modifier Letters DUSCI supported
U+0300-036F Combining Diacritical Marks DUSCI supported
U+0370-03FF Greek and Coptic DUSCI supported
U+0400-04FF Cyrillic DUSCI supported
U+0500-052F Cyrillic Supplement DUSCI supported
U+0530-058F Armenian DUSCI supported
U+0590-05FF Hebrew DUSCI supported
U+0600-06FF Arabic DUSCI supported
U+0700-074F Syriac
U+0750-077F Arabic Supplement
U+0780-07BF Thaana
U+07C0-07FF N'Ko
U+0800-083F Samaritan
U+0900-097F Devanagari DUSCI supported
U+0980-09FF Bengali DUSCI supported
U+0A00-0A7F Gurmukhi DUSCI supported
U+0A80-0AFF Gujarati DUSCI supported
U+0B00-0B7F Oriya DUSCI supported
U+0B80-0BFF Tamil DUSCI supported
U+0C00-0C7F Telugu DUSCI supported
U+0C80-0CFF Kannada DUSCI supported
U+0D00-0D7F Malayalam DUSCI supported
U+0D80-0DFF Sinhala DUSCI supported
U+0E00-0E7F Thai DUSCI supported
U+0E80-0EFF Lao DUSCI supported
U+0F00-0FFF Tibetan DUSCI supported
U+1000-109F Myanmar DUSCI supported
U+10A0-10FF Georgian DUSCI supported
U+1100-11FF Hangul Jamo DUSCI supported
U+1200-127F Ethiopic (Ge'ez) DUSCI supported
U+1380-139F Ethiopic Supplement DUSCI supported
U+13A0-13FF Cherokee
U+1400-167F Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics
U+1680-169F Ogham
U+16A0-16FF Runic
U+1700-171F Tagalog (Baybayin)
U+1720-173F Hanun?'o
U+1740-175F Buhid
U+1760-177F Tagbanwa
U+1780-17FF Khmer DUSCI supported
U+1800-18AF Mongolian
U+18B0-18FF Extended Canadian Aboriginal syllabics
U+1900-194F Limbu Word™ import
U+1950-197F Tai Le
U+1980-19DF New Tai Lue
U+19E0-19FF Khmer Symbols
U+1A00-1A1F Buginese (Lontara)
U+1A20-1AAF Tai Tham
U+1B00-1B7F Balinese
U+1B80-1BBF Sundanese
U+1C00-1C4F Lepcha
U+1C50-1C7F Ol Chiki
U+1CD0-1CFF Vedic Extentions
U+1D00-1D7F Phonetic Extensions Word™ import
U+1D80-1DBF More Phonetic Extensions Word™ import
U+1E00-1EFF Latin Extended Additional DUSCI supported
U+1F00-1FFF Greek Extended Word™ import
U+2000-206F General Punctuation DUSCI supported
U+2070-209F Superscripts and Subscripts DUSCI supported
U+20A0-20CF Currency Symbols DUSCI supported
U+20D0-20FF Combining Diacritical Marks for Symbols
U+2100-214F Letterlike Symbols DUSCI supported
U+2150-218F Number Forms DUSCI supported
U+2190-21FF Arrows DUSCI supported
U+2200-22FF Mathematical Operators DUSCI supported
U+2300-23FF Miscellaneous Technical DUSCI supported
U+2400-243F Control Pictures Word™ import
U+2440-245F Optical Character Recognition Word™ import
U+2460-24FF Enclosed Alphanumerics Word™ import
U+2500-257F Box Drawing DUSCI supported
U+2580-259F Block Elements DUSCI supported
U+25A0-25FF Geometric Shapes DUSCI supported
U+2600-26FF Miscellaneous Symbols Word™ import
U+2700-27BF Dingbats DUSCI supported
U+27C0-27EF Miscellaneous Mathematical Symbols-A DUSCI supported
U+27F0-27FF Supplemental Arrows-A DUSCI supported
U+2800-28FF Braille Patterns Word™ import
U+2900-297F Supplemental Arrows-B DUSCI supported
U+2980-29FF Miscellaneous Mathematical Symbols-B DUSCI supported
U+2A00-2AFF Supplemental Mathematical Operators DUSCI supported
U+2B00-2BFF Miscellaneous Symbols and Arrows
U+2C00-2C5F Glagolitic
U+2C60-2C5F Latin Extended-C
U+2C80-2CFF Coptic
U+2D00-2D2F Georgian Supplement
U+2D30-2D7F Tifinagh
U+2D80-2DDF Ethiopic Extended
U+2DE0-2DFF Cyrillic Extended
U+2E00-2E7F Supplemental Punctuation
U+2E80-2EFF CJK Radicals Supplement
U+2F00-2FDF Kangxi Radicals
U+2FF0-2FFF Ideographic Description Characters
U+3000-303F CJK Symbols and Punctuation
U+3040-309F Hiragana DUSCI supported
U+30A0-30FF Katakana DUSCI supported
U+3100-312F Bopomofo DUSCI supported
U+3130-318F Hangul Compatibility Jamo Word™ import
U+3190-319F Kanbun
U+31A0-31BF Bopomofo Extended
U+31C0-31EF CJK Strokes
U+31F0-31FF Katakana Phonetic Extensions
U+3200-32FF Enclosed CJK Letters and Months
U+3300-33FF CJK Compatibility
U+3400-4DBF CJK Unified Ideographs Extension A Word™ import
U+4DC0-4DFF Yijing Hexagram Symbols
U+4E00-9FFF CJK Unified Ideographs Word™ import
U+A000-A48F Yi Syllables
U+A490-A4CF Yi Radicals
U+A4D0-A4FF Lisu (Fraser alphabet)
U+A500-A59F Vai
U+A6A0-A6FF Bamum
U+A700-A71F Modifier Tone Letters
U+A720-A7FF Latin Extended-D
U+A800-A82F Syloti Nagri Word™ import
U+A830-A83F Common Indic Number Forms
U+A840-A87F Phags-pa
U+A880-A8DF Saurashtra Word™ import
U+A8E0-A8FF Devanagari Extended
U+A900-A92F Kayah Li
U+A930-A95F Rejang
U+A960-A97F Hangul Extended
U+A980-A9DF Javanese
U+AA00-AA5F Cham
U+AA60-AA7F Myanmar Extended
U+AA80-AADF Tai Viet
U+ABC0-ABFF Meitei Mayek
U+AC00-D7AF Hangul Syllables Word™ import
U+D800-DB7F High Surrogates
U+DB80-DBFF High Private Use Surrogates
U+DC00-DFFF Low Surrogates
U+E000-F8FF Private Use Area
U+F900-FAFF CJK Compatibility Ideographs
U+FB00-FB4F Alphabetic Presentation Forms Word™ import
U+FB50-FDFF Arabic Presentation Forms-A Word™ import
U+FE00-FE0F Variation Selectors
U+FE10-FE1F Vertical Forms
U+FE20-FE2F Combining Half Marks
U+FE30-FE4F CJK Compatibility Forms
U+FE50-FE6F Small Form Variants Word™ import
U+FE70-FEFF Arabic Presentation Forms-B Word™ import
U+FF00-FFEF Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms Word™ import
U+FFF0-FFFF Specials