Using ASCII with XPS 9300

Question

I have an XPS 9300 with english keyboard layout, but my mainly language is spanish as I need to write 'ñ' and accented characters. I have always had an english layout with my previous laptop (Dell Latitude E5450) but changed the layout in Windows configuration and there was a 'secondary' numpad over the keyboard, so I could use Alt+Fn+Key in order to introduce ASCII characters. With the XPS I haven't found a way to do that. Anyone know any way to use ASCII characters directly with the keyboard?

DELL-Cares · Answer

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jnonino · Answer

Hi, I have the same issue, why don't you post the solution to everyone?

Ashley Powell · Answer

Here's a pretty easy and streamlined solution if you're willing to download autohotkey. Autohotkey is very stable and safe, and used by admins and coders everywhere. It's small, not bloatware, not spyware, and easy to install and use.

This will allow you to Alt-click the plain number keys(not the numpad-which you don't have) at the top of your qwerty keyboard and enter the alt code of whatever symbol you need. https://www.alt-codes.net/

1. Download and install autohotkey https://www.autohotkey.com/

2. rightclick on your desktop and select new>autohotkey script, name it whatever you like

3. right click the new icon on your desktop and select "edit script"

4. copy/paste the following 11 lines under the existing text that's already there

!0::Numpad0
!1::Numpad1
!2::Numpad2
!3::Numpad3
!4::Numpad4
!5::Numpad5
!6::Numpad6
!7::Numpad7
!8::Numpad8
!9::Numpad9
return

5. type ctrl+s to save

6. double click the file icon to start the script. Nothing obvious happens, but you can check for the green "H" icon in your systray to make sure it's running.

7. Now you can hold the Alt key to type the number code for whatever symbol you need- just like with a numpad

You can turn off the autohotkey script by rightclicking the icon in your systray, but there probably are not many other reasons to ever use your Alt keys with your number keys, so there probably isn't any harm in just leaving it running all the time. In fact, I've set mine to load automatically when windows starts up.

https://www.howtogeek.com/208224/how-to-add-programs-files-and-folders-to-system-startup-in-windows-8.1/

XPS

Using ASCII with XPS 9300

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