Word overrides special characters such as brackets with other functions.

[amosch]

Hello everyone

As the title states, Word overrides some special characters I type in, sometimes with functions, sometimes not.
I have a German keyboard so my layout is different, and I also checked that Word is using German keyboard layout when typing.

Example
I type: "[" which requires me to use CTRL + ALT + 8.
I get: A decrease in the font size.

I type: "{" which require me to use CTRL + ALT + 7
I get: Nothing. Nothing shows up or visually changes in the document or settings.

These are just two examples of several that happen.
I have reinstalled Word already, but the problem persists.
I also verified that this is an isolated Word problem as other programs I tested this with, even the ones that are natively in English, correctly display the characters typed.

I also have checked the keyboard shortcuts option in Word to see if, for some reason, Word has created different shortcuts than usual. This is not the case. In fact, Word displays that shrinkfont actually has a different keyboard shortcut, so even if I wanted to go through everything manually and change the shortcuts, I can't.

Windows 10
Word 2016

Any ideas?
Thanks

[gmayor]

I am unable to reproduce this issue with Windows 10/Word 2016 using a German keyboard.

The only things I can think of that may affect it are that you have automatic language detection selected in Word language options, or the font you are using does not have the glyphs in question.

[eNGiNe]

In case you have some unexpected keyboard shortcuts set up, have you tried the Alt+ nnnn numeric keypad options? there's a list of codes at http://www.theasciicode.com.ar

For [ you would hold down Alt and enter 0091 on the numeric keypad; for { it would be Alt + 0123. Works on my laptop, too, with Alt + Fn to access the numeric.

[amosch]

Originally Posted by gmayor

The only things I can think of that may affect it are that you have automatic language detection selected in Word language options, or the font you are using does not have the glyphs in question.

I have checked, but the detection is turned off. The font is Calibri and even when switching to other fonts, like TNR, the problem persists.

Originally Posted by eNGiNe

In case you have some unexpected keyboard shortcuts set up, have you tried the Alt+ nnnn numeric keypad options? there's a list of codes at http://www.theasciicode.com.ar

For [ you would hold down Alt and enter 0091 on the numeric keypad; for { it would be Alt + 0123. Works on my laptop, too, with Alt + Fn to access the numeric.

I have not as I don't have an actual Numpad and the combinations are not working with the numbers up top. Besides, I'd rather not remember every combination for a simple bracket.

[amosch]

As it turns out I am able to use the Alt GR to create those symbols, but not the normal Alt button. I have no idea why that is, but it solves the problem more or less.
Thanks for your help!