Word 2007 symbols.

Hi, are there any symbol packs for word 2007? for example, i am gonna be using a lot of math/statistics type symbols which are common, but annoying to find (stuff like sigma/part of/etc) symbols. I know word 2007 has only so many mathematical operator symbols, and there are symbols i need that aren't part of them, so i have to fish through the entire symbol database it has to find what i want.

 

'Symbols' are typically part of font sets, either a whole font set (think wingdings, etc, etc) or an upper part of a completely mapped (unicode and others) font set. To make sure that you have access to your symbols you need to have those font sets loaded on each machine you are going to access/distro that document on or save the doc in a format that allows for embedded font sets (pdf and odf come to mind).

For some printers, embedded printer font sets may also be a consideration.

There are huge numbers of specialist symbol-specific ttf/otf font sets available, some free, many payware. Bing search is your friend.

Also look up how to call for special characters via the alt-numpad trick or the character map applet still available on win7 machines.

There are also a large number of font manager/utility software that lets you visually compare fonts (including symbol sets) which might make it easier for you to find a font or three of symbols to settle on.

Look around for TeX-specific font sets that may have been converted from Metafont or Adobe Type I (postscript) to ttf/otf. If you are really looking for mathematical symbols and they can't be found in a conventional font, those are a good bet to start with.

 

In Vista (and most likely Windows 7 as well) you have a huge number of math + other scientific symbols located in Math AutoCorrect. These can be used in a Word doc the same way as a symbol taken from a symbols list.

To access them, from any MS Word doc click on the MS icon, and at the bottom of the screen select: Word Options. From the drop-down menu, select Proofing, and then AutoCorrect Options. All of the math and other scientific symbols are found in Math AutoCorrect. And of course you can edit and change when they appear, to suit your own purposes.