€

There's no need to throw out a perfectly good old keyboard just because yours doesn't seem to have the new Euro sign - the symbol for the single European currency. The Euro symbol looks like a letter 'C' with an equals sign superimposed on it. It's supposed to look a bit like an E for Euro and the Greek letter epsilon to represent the influence of Ancient Greek culture on Europe.

The following information is for Windows systems only.

European

• Just press Ctrl+Alt then the number 4 (Option-shift-2 on a Macintosh).
• This is what you will get: €

One Researcher said, 'I find that 'Ctrl+Alt+E' works for me. It works in preview, too'.

Non-European

Windows 95 was not Euro-compliant. There was no way of typing and displaying the Euro symbol, and the fonts provided did not include it. For those of you still using Windows 95, Microsoft provides a download at their website which updates the system to be Euro-compatible. Once you run this, everything works fine.

Some non-European Researchers had these pearls of wisdom to offer:

The AltGr key. This key is to the right of the space bar on my keyboard. It normally works the same as the Alt key, but for some reason, it works differently for the Euro symbol.

I tried it on an IBM-compatible in Microsoft Word and it didn't work. My Character Map¹ says Alt+0128² though, and that worked.

Alt+0128 € works for me on a New Zealand made and assembled PC - and NZ is about as far away from Euroland as you can get.

Hold down the Alt key. Now, using the numeric pad on the right-hand side of your keyboard and while still holding down the Alt key, type 0128. It may help at this stage if you screw your nose up a bit and cross your legs. Hey presto this will miraculously give you - € - the Euro sign. I'm running Windows 98 and using a Logitech Internet keyboard.'

Mac Info

To find the Character Map on a Mac: Apple - Key Caps.

Internet Explorer

Old browsers like 5.50 may not support the Euro at all.

Opera info

Some more advice from Researchers:

€ - AltGr+4 works for me in Opera.

€ - Ctrl+Alt+e works for me in Opera as well.

Windows '98-2000

Some fonts on Word 98 won't produce the Euro sign, but they will produce it in Word 2000.

Further Reading

• The Practical Side of the Euro Changeover