# Button for custom symbols on toolbar in the message composer

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/button-for-custom-symbols-on-toolbar-in-the-message-composer/52793
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [11.Ноябрь.2016 06:56:08 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/button-for-custom-symbols-on-toolbar-in-the-message-composer/52793 "2016-11-11T06:56:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![meglio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/meglio/32/71444_2.png) [@meglio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/meglio)
#### Post date: [11.Ноябрь.2016 06:56:08 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/button-for-custom-symbols-on-toolbar-in-the-message-composer/52793/1 "2016-11-11T06:56:08Z")

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In Ukrainian and Russian language, there are a few symbols that are not easy to type on all keyboards.

For example:

- `—` should be used instead of `-`
- `«these quotes»` are the correct ones instead of `"these"`

It would be very useful if we were able to list custom symbols in admin panel. They would then be shown in a dropdown list under a single button in the composer toolbar:

 ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/9/3/93b0ecbf06da76aadd518f6eb1f2dfe554b17992.png)

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### Author: ![Mittineague](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/mittineague/32/114259_2.png) [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [11.Ноябрь.2016 07:24:53 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/button-for-custom-symbols-on-toolbar-in-the-message-composer/52793/2 "2016-11-11T07:24:53Z")

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You’re saying that when someone types « on their keyboard Discourse changes it to " ??

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### Author: ![meglio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/meglio/32/71444_2.png) [@meglio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/meglio)
#### Post date: [11.Ноябрь.2016 07:29:55 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/button-for-custom-symbols-on-toolbar-in-the-message-composer/52793/3 "2016-11-11T07:29:55Z")

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> [@Mittineague](#):
>
> You’re saying that when someone types « on their keyboard Discourse changes it to " ??

No. The issue is that the keyboard does not type «, it types ". It would be extremely difficult for most of people to reconfigure their keyboard.

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### Author: ![Mittineague](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/mittineague/32/114259_2.png) [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [11.Ноябрь.2016 08:11:41 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/button-for-custom-symbols-on-toolbar-in-the-message-composer/52793/4 "2016-11-11T08:11:41Z")

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Ah, I see.

I mistakenly assumed that someone would have a keyboard that was appropriate for their language.

I know if my native language wasn’t English and I needed to use non-English characters I would prefer to not have an English QWERTY keyboard but one with the characters I would use.

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### Author: ![meglio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/meglio/32/71444_2.png) [@meglio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/meglio)
#### Post date: [11.Ноябрь.2016 08:36:41 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/button-for-custom-symbols-on-toolbar-in-the-message-composer/52793/5 "2016-11-11T08:36:41Z")

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99% of our 900+ Russian and Ukrainian speaking members, with all the  
varieties of their keyboards, laptops, desktops and mobile phones, have a "  
typed. Still, in Russian Wikipedia, for example, you will definitely find  
the correct version of the quotes.

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### Author: ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [11.Ноябрь.2016 08:54:26 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/button-for-custom-symbols-on-toolbar-in-the-message-composer/52793/6 "2016-11-11T08:54:26Z")

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This would need to be a plugin.

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### Author: ![Falco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/falco/32/179432_2.png) [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [11.Ноябрь.2016 13:28:40 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/button-for-custom-symbols-on-toolbar-in-the-message-composer/52793/7 "2016-11-11T13:28:40Z")

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On Portuguese some words need the `Ç` character (common words like sugar, head and tuesday are açúcar, cabeça e terça), and people who don’t have an appropriate keyboard learn fast that you can type either '+C or Alt+, to get it, because you can’t use your PC to write without it.

And I never saw a software interface with shortcuts to this character.

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### Author: ![erlend\_sh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/erlend_sh/32/119475_2.png) [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [11.Ноябрь.2016 14:02:34 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/button-for-custom-symbols-on-toolbar-in-the-message-composer/52793/8 "2016-11-11T14:02:34Z")

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> [@Falco](#):
>
> people who don’t have an appropriate keyboard learn fast that you can type either '+C or Alt+, to get it

Yeah, I’m sure there will always be similar “hacks” to solve this problem on the desktop as opposed to in the app. They can remap their keyboards, use some sort of macro software etc., so the solution here is **educate your users**.
