SOLVED: How to Work With a Different Language In Windows and Office

Windows Vista / 7 /8 / 10 and Office 2007 through 2016 have the capacity to work in languages other than English to accommodate your customers needs.

Sometimes, just writing THANK YOU in a clients/vendors local language will show you appreciate them and may advance our relationship.  Other times we need more precise translations and more serious options.

There are at least five ways to work with non-English in Windows and Office and this video may help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LnzIt3wyFc

1. Keyboard Shortcuts for non-English Characters – See the NOTE below this list and click HERE for instructions
2. Change Windows to Operate in a Different Language
3. Change Keyboards to a Different Language
4. Install Language Packs For Office Spelling & Grammar – Click HERE for this pack
5. Translation Features in Office

NOTE: One issue the Keyboard Shortcuts in option 1, is they do not work in PowerPoint (yes, they work in Word… boy, is that stupid).  Anyway, the solution is to use the following ALT key combinations.

é = ALT + 130
á  = ALT + 160
í  = ALT + 161
ó = ALT + 162
ú  = ALT + 163
ñ = ALT + 164
Ñ  = ALT + 165
¿ = ALT + 168
¡ = ALT + 173

The full ANSI table can be found http://ascii-table.com/ansi-table.php

The keyboard shortcuts for Word are:

à, è, ì, ò, ù, À, È, Ì, Ò, Ù         CTRL+` (ACCENT GRAVE), the letter
á, é, í, ó, ú, ýÁ, É, Í, Ó, Ú, Ý  CTRL+’ (APOSTROPHE), the letter
â, ê, î, ô, û, Â, Ê, Î, Ô, Û          CTRL+SHIFT+^ (CARET), the letter
ã, ñ, õ, Ã, Ñ, Õ                          CTRL+SHIFT+~ (TILDE), the letter
ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ, Ä, Ë, Ï, Ö, Ü, Ÿ CTRL+SHIFT+: (COLON), the letter
å, Å                                             CTRL+SHIFT+@, a or A
æ, Æ                                          CTRL+SHIFT+&, a or A
œ, Œ                                         CTRL+SHIFT+&, o or O
ç, Ç                                             CTRL+, (COMMA), c or C
ð, Р                                          CTRL+’ (APOSTROPHE), d or D
ø, Ø                                           CTRL+/, o or O
¿                                                 ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+?
¡                                                  ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+!
ß                                                 CTRL+SHIFT+&, s
The Unicode character for the specified Unicode (hexadecimal) character code. For example, to insert the euro currency symbol (  ), type 20AC, and then hold down the ALT key and press X. The character code, ALT+X
The ANSI character for the specified ANSI (decimal) character code. For example, to insert the euro currency symbol, hold down the ALT key and press 0128 on the numeric keypad. ALT+the character code (on the numeric keypad)