Today you will

• put fadas like á and é into Irish names
• add the euro sign € to prices
• use an en dash (–) for times and dates

By the end, your own page {{code:sm1_special_characters}} will be saved in {{code:09_specialism/sm1/}}.

Warm-up

Think of one word from your project that needs a special character. It could be a name with a fada, a euro price or opening hours like Monday–Friday.

Key words

• A fada is the accent on an Irish letter, like á, é, í, ó or ú.
• A currency symbol is a mark for money, like € for the euro.
• An en dash (–) is a short line that shows a range, like 09:00–13:00. It is a bit longer than a hyphen (-).
• Insert Symbol in Word, or Special characters in Google Docs, lets you pick any mark when you don't know the shortcut.

Example

Supervisor: Seán Ó Murchú
Placement rate: €11.30 per hour
Hours: Monday–Friday, 09:00–13:00

You will type a short contact note for Aoife, a Work Experience student. Follow the steps in the box below. When you finish, your note should look like this.

Common snags

• I can't find the symbol. Search for its name, like euro, en dash or acute. In Google Docs you can also draw it.
• My shortcut does nothing. That's normal on some keyboards. Use Insert Symbol or Special characters instead.
• My time range still looks wrong. You probably typed a hyphen (-). Swap it for an en dash (–).