User Guide

Virtual Keyboard

Learn how to use the virtual keyboard for special character input.

Virtual Keyboard

This guide covers using the virtual keyboard for entering special characters, diacritics, and symbols in LAREX.

Overview

The virtual keyboard provides on-screen character input for:

Diacritics: Accents, umlauts, tilde marks
Special Characters: Historical symbols, ligatures
Punctuation: Quotes, dashes, ellipses
Symbols: Currency, mathematical, technical symbols

When to Use

Entering characters not on physical keyboard
Working with historical or foreign language texts
Adding special punctuation (quotes, dashes)
Inputting symbols (currency, mathematical)

Opening the Virtual Keyboard

Methods

Method	Action
Toolbar Button	Click keyboard icon in toolbar
Keyboard Shortcut	Press `Ctrl + K`
Menu	View > Virtual Keyboard

Window Options

Position	Description
Floating	Draggable window
Docked Bottom	Fixed at bottom of editor
Docked Right	Fixed at right of editor

Keyboard Layout

Default Layout

The virtual keyboard displays characters organized by category:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Diacritics │  Punctuation │  Symbols   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  A-Z Lower  │  a-z Lower   │  Numbers   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Currency   │  Math        │  Technical │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Character Categories

Category	Description	Example Characters
Diacritics	Accented letters	à, é, ñ, ü, ø
Punctuation	Quote marks, dashes	", ', –, —, …
Special	Historical symbols	⁂, ¶, §, †
Currency	Monetary symbols	€, £, $, ¢
Math	Mathematical symbols	+, −, ×, ÷, =
Superscript	Superscript numbers	⁰, ¹, ², ³
Subscript	Subscript numbers	₀, ₁, ₂, ₃

Character Sets

Latin Diacritics

Accents (Acute)

Character	Name	Input
á	a acute	Click or type `a` then `'`
é	e acute	Click or type `e` then `'`
í	i acute	Click or type `i` then `'`
ó	o acute	Click or type `o` then `'`
ú	u acute	Click or type `u` then `'`
Á	A acute	Click or type `A` then `'`
É	E acute	Click or type `E` then `'`
Í	I acute	Click or type `I` then `'`
Ó	O acute	Click or type `O` then `'`
Ú	U acute	Click or type `U` then `'`

Accents (Grave)

Character	Name	Input
à	a grave	Click or type `a` then `
è	e grave	Click or type `e` then `
ì	i grave	Click or type `i` then `
ò	o grave	Click or type `o` then `
ù	u grave	Click or type `u` then `

Accents (Circumflex)

Character	Name	Input
â	a circumflex	Click or type `a` then `^`
ê	e circumflex	Click or type `e` then `^`
î	i circumflex	Click or type `i` then `^`
ô	o circumflex	Click or type `o` then `^`
û	u circumflex	Click or type `u` then `^`

Umlauts

Character	Name	Input
ä	a umlaut	Click or type `a` then `"`
ë	e umlaut	Click or type `e` then `"`
ï	i umlaut	Click or type `i` then `"`
ö	o umlaut	Click or type `o` then `"`
ü	u umlaut	Click or type `u` then `"`
ÿ	y umlaut	Click or type `y` then `"`
Ä	A umlaut	Click or type `A` then `"`
Ö	O umlaut	Click or type `O` then `"`
Ü	U umlaut	Click or type `U` then `"`

Tilde

Character	Name	Input
ã	a tilde	Click or type `a` then `~`
ẽ	e tilde	Click or type `e` then `~`
ĩ	i tilde	Click or type `i` then `~`
õ	o tilde	Click or type `o` then `~`
ũ	u tilde	Click or type `u` then `~`
ñ	n tilde	Click or type `n` then `~`
Ñ	N tilde	Click or type `N` then `~`

Other Diacritics

Character	Name	Input
å	a ring	Click or type `a` then `*`
ø	o slash	Click or type `o` then `/`
þ	thorn	Direct click
ð	eth	Direct click
æ	ae ligature	Click or type `a` then `e`
œ	oe ligature	Click or type `o` then `e`

Historical Punctuation

Character	Name	Usage
"	Left double quote	Opening quotation
"	Right double quote	Closing quotation
'	Left single quote	Opening apostrophe
'	Right single quote	Closing apostrophe
–	En dash	Ranges (1900–2000)
—	Em dash	Interruptions, asides
…	Ellipsis	Omitted text
‡	Double dagger	Marginal note reference
§	Section sign	Section reference
¶	Pilcrow	Paragraph mark
⁂	Asterism	Break in text

Superscript and Subscript

Superscript

Character	Input	Normal
⁰	0 + `super`	0
¹	1 + `super`	1
²	2 + `super`	2
³	3 + `super`	3
⁴	4 + `super`	4
⁵	5 + `super`	5
⁶	6 + `super`	6
⁷	7 + `super`	7
⁸	8 + `super`	8
⁹	9 + `super`	9

Subscript

Character	Input	Normal
₀	0 + `sub`	0
₁	1 + `sub`	1
₂	2 + `sub`	2
₃	3 + `sub`	3
₄	4 + `sub`	4
₅	5 + `sub`	5
₆	6 + `sub`	6
₇	7 + `sub`	7
₈	8 + `sub`	8
₉	9 + `sub`	9

Mathematical Symbols

Character	Name	Usage
+	Plus	Addition
−	Minus	Subtraction
×	Multiply	Multiplication
÷	Divide	Division
=	Equals	Equality
±	Plus-minus	Uncertainty
≠	Not equal	Inequality
≈	Approximately	Approximation
∞	Infinity	Limit
√	Square root	Root

Currency Symbols

Character	Name	Region
€	Euro	Europe
£	Pound	UK
$	Dollar	US, many others
¢	Cent	US
¥	Yen/Yuan	Japan, China
₹	Rupee	India

Using the Virtual Keyboard

Basic Input

Click on a character in the virtual keyboard
The character is inserted at the cursor position
Continue typing

Quick Input Mode

Type a base character then a modifier:

Modifier	Example	Result
`'`	a'	á
`	a`	à
`^`	a^	â
`"`	a"	ä
`~`	a~	ã
`/`	o/	ø

Character Search

Search for characters:

Click the search icon in the virtual keyboard
Enter search term (name or character)
Matching characters appear
Click to insert

Recent Characters

Recently used characters are stored:

Access via "Recent" tab
Click to reuse
Cleared on session end

Favorites

Save frequently used characters:

Right-click a character
Select "Add to Favorites"
Access from "Favorites" tab
Reorder or remove favorites

Customization

Layout Options

Option	Description
Compact	Show fewer categories
Full	Show all available characters
By Script	Group by writing system

Theme

Choose keyboard theme:

Light
Dark
High Contrast

Position

Dock position:

Floating (draggable)
Bottom
Right

Language Presets

Presets for different languages:

Language	Included Characters
German	ä, ö, ü, ß
French	à, â, æ, ç, é, è, ê, ë, î, ï, ô, œ, ù, û, ü, ÿ
Spanish	á, é, í, ó, ú, ü, ñ, ¿, ¡
Italian	à, è, é, ì, ò, ó, ù
Nordic	å, ä, æ, ø, ö
Polish	ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź, ż
Czech	á, č, ď, é, ě, í, ň, ó, ř, š, ť, ú, ů, ý, ž