Use international characters in Microsoft Office Word 2007

Learn how to use international characters, local language translation, and more with Microsoft Office Word 2007.

Video: Use international characters in Microsoft Office Word 2007

Microsoft Office 2007 is available in 35 languages. The English version has Spanish and French proofing tools, spelling, grammar, and autocorrect. Installable language packs can help you switch among multiple languages. Watch the video

Insert international characters using shortcut keys

Microsoft Office Word 2007 comes with spelling and grammar checkers and other proofing tools for Spanish and French.

You can quickly insert international characters that are not available on the Standard English language keyboard by pressing combinations of keys. For example, to add an accent over the "a" in the Spanish word estan:

Select the "a".
Press Ctrl+Apostrophe (') simultaneously.
Release the keys, and press "a". The character "á" is inserted.

For a complete list of international characters and their key combinations, see Keyboard shortcuts for international characters in Office Help.

Insert international characters using the Symbol dialog box

The Symbol dialog box contains many characters that are not available as default shortcut keys. In the dialog box, you can also create your own shortcut keys.

In your document, click where you want to insert an international character.
On the Insert tab, in the Symbols group, click Symbol, and then click More Symbols.
Select a character or symbol, and then click Insert.

Use the installed proofing tools to insert international characters

If you are using the English language version of Office Word 2007, you can use Spanish and French proofing tools to insert characters automatically.

Click the Microsoft Office button. Click Word Options. In the left pane, click Proofing, and then make sure that the Check spelling as you type check box is selected. Note that the proofing tools can also check grammar.
Type the Spanish or French words, and then select the words.
On the Review tab, in the Proofing group, click Set Language.
In Mark selected text as, select a language, and then click OK. Word analyzes the highlighted text using the selected language.
Right-click each misspelled word (words with a wavy red underline), and select the word with the correct international characters.