Does anyone know of a simpler way to add accents to Cyrillic vowels than what is typically found online?

Question

Not too long ago, I found a web page that gave instructions for adding accent marks to Cyrillic vowels. Unlike many other instructions I have seen, these were beautifully simple in that you typed the Cyrillic vowel first and then you used a key combination (of your own choosing) that would magically add the accent mark to the vowel. There was no need to set up some complicated macro or even use a key combination with a predesignated number code for a particular letter or symbol. It was incredibly simple and easy.

For some strange reason, I did not favorite that page and have not been able to find it since. I think it might have been a part of someone's personal blog, but either way, I would be grateful for anyone who might know what it is I am talking about and can either supply the instructions in an answer or provide the link to pages that do. I'm looking for a solution that works for Windows 7.

Answer 1

In addition to the previous answer, I'd like to suggest the method described in this blog. This method doesn't use a separate program (MS Word) but uses a pre-installed software available on any Windows PC:

1. Open a program called Character Map (Navigate to: Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools).
2. Group the character map by Unicode Subrange and Select Combining Diacritical Marks.
3. Locate the Combining Accute Accent symbol and insert it after your letter.

Answer 2

This method only requires 5 keystrokes and no mousing around. You'll need a keyboard with a numeric keypad to use it. Make sure NumLock is ON.

1. Type the vowel e.g. а.
2. Press and hold the left Alt key.
3. Type 769 on the numeric keypad.
4. Release the Alt key. You should get: а́.

If you get a smiley face or any other character instead, try using a different program. It worked for me in Word and in Charmap, but not in Notepad or Chrome unfortunately.

If you need a grave accent, use 768: фо̀тоотчёт, гѝдроэлѐктроста́нция.

Answer 3

Use this tool to have accent marks added to whole paragraphs of text automatically: http://russiangram.com

Disclaimer: I created it.

Answer 4

I wonder if you know of this site.

It has lots of features including automatic accents:

Answer 5

The easiest way to be able to put the accent marks is to install Ilya Birman's typography layout. Go there and press the big orange button "Скачать для Виндоуса" (Download for Windows). When you install it, putting the accent marks becomes very easy: you type a vowel letter, and then while holding the Right Alt and Shift keys you press the ? / key twice and the accent mark appears above the vowel letter: а́, е́, и́, о́, у́, ы́, э́, ю́, я́.

If you enter a Latin vowel letter in you English layout and then switch to Ilya Birman's typography layout, hold Right Alt and Shift keys and press the ? / key twice, you get Latin letters with the acute accent as single symbols: á, é, ó, ý.

Besides the accent/acute mark, that typography layout allows you to enter other diacritics: ä, à, â, ă, å, ã, ç, č.

Answer 6

Like something on the tip of your tongue that you just can't stop thinking about, I continued to search for an answer to this. Though I never found the page that had made everything so simple, I found a couple of pages that gave me enough hints to cobble together what I had in mind. I'd add at least one of the links here, but since it isn't directly related to Russian or the Cyrillic alphabet, I'll just provide an explanation here. If you are using Windows 7, you should be able to access "Symbols" from your Insert tab. I'll add some screenshots so you can know what I mean. Key sections have been highlighted in green.

First, you'll want to go to your Insert tab and click on the dropdown box for "Symbols":

From there, you'll want to click on "More Symbols..."

This will open up a window for you that looks like this:

Notice how the "Combining Diacritical Marks" in the dropdown "Subset" menu has been highlighted. You may find other accent marks that look like an acute accent mark, but this is the one you want. (It is number 0301, if you just want to type it into the field for character code to bring it up.) You should already find that it has been given a predesignated shortcut key, but if you prefer another, select the button for Shortcut key and create your own. ALT+Ctrl+э is what I chose for my shortcut. You can choose any you like as long as it isn't already assigned to another character.

Now you are ready to begin typing. Make sure you are using the keyboard you want. This will likely look different on different computers, but if you're using Windows 7 and MS Office 7, it might look something like the following at the bottom left and right of your screen (depending, of course, on how you have things configured):

If you feel certain you're about to use the correct keyboard, you can begin typing ...

Once you've typed the letter that you'd like to put an accent on, press your shortcut key combination ...

and an accent should appear over the last letter you typed. You can continue typing without making any additional keyboard strokes ...

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You'll have to do this a bit differently in PowerPoint (at least the MS Office 2007 version). You won't be able to use a shortcut key, but you can access the same group of symbols, including the aforementioned #0301 character. What you will need to do is position your cursor immediately after the letter you want to accent and then insert it the long way -- pull up the Symbols box, find the character you need, and insert it. The character immediately preceding the cursor will become accented. If you want to preserve formatting inside of the textboxes you've created in PowerPoint, this is likely the best way to do it. I do not recommend copying and pasting a previously accented letter from Word, but go ahead and try it if you really want to. I think you'll see what I mean.

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So, there you have it. Hope this helped someone out there.

Answer 7

Google documents makes is relatively easy, although I don't like that Google docs doesn't seem to like ё. To add accent marks to your vowels, position the cursor after the vowel in question, select "Special Characters" from the "insert" drop down menu. Then select "latin" where you see "Symbol" and then scroll down to the accent marks need the bottom. Once you have selected your first accent mark a button will appear for categories; select "recent" and you will have the accent mark you just used (I use the combining acute accent mark). Then you can use the mouse to move the table out of the way then just move your cursor to the next vowel and click on the accent mark again. You can move pretty quickly through the document one word at a time.

Answer 8

With grammatica.eu you simply cut and paste text and stress marks are automatically (and nearly instantaneously) placed. The program is not free, but definitely worth the price.

Answer 9

(I came across this recently when trying to find my own solution to this problem. It took me a while, but I found a simple set-up - hope this helps someone in the future)

Here is a one-keystroke solution that works on Windows 7 and up.

Summary: create a custom keyboard and set the "\" (right side, under "backspace") key to the acute accent (U+0301). To type an acute accent, type the vowel and then the "\" key.

It works in OpenOffice, Anki, Mnemosyne, Notepad and Google Docs. It works in Notepad++ if you type the accent first and the character second. I can't test MS Word, unfortunately, though I think it should work. It won't work in LaTeX.

Steps:

1. Download and run the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (this does work on new Windows 7, 8, and 10, even though they are not listed): https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/906c31e4-d5ea-7988-cb39-7b688880d7cb (if the exact link is no longer good, just search that site for “Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator”).
2. Go to File > Load Existing Keyboard... and select Russian.
3. Click on the "\" key and then click "All..." to see the default mappings.
4. Set the value to "U+0301" (no quotes). I left the slash (U+002f) at the shift state and moved the backslash (U+005c) to the ctrl+alt state. You can arrange the order however it is most convenient for you.
5. Test your mapping by going to Project > Test Keyboard Layout... and typing a character followed by the modified key.
6. Go to Project > Build DLL and Setup Package. This will ask you to set the layout properties (name and description). You will likely get a warning about compatibility issues in non-Unicode applications.
7. Navigate to the directory where the package was set up and run the setup.exe to install your new layout.
8. Add your layout by going to your computer settings > Time and Language > Language. If Russian is not added, click Add a language, select Russian, and select your new keyboard layout. If Russian is already added, click Options, Add a keyboard, and select your new layout (you can remove the existing one).
9. Restart your computer. Your new layout should be an option on your language bar (if you don't have the language bar on your taskbar, go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Turn system icons on or off and set Input indicator to On).

Answer 10

Execute the following AutoHotkey-Script:

^]::send, {U+0301}

On my german keyboard ] is the * key, but for your keyboard you might need to find it out by pressing your key with russian layout. Now when I press CTRL+] the last typed letter gets an accent. This is for me the fastest way to add an accent.

Explanation of the script:

^ = CTRL
] = ]
send, = send the following as input
{U+nnnn} = any unicode letter which can be seen in the Windows charmap

This method is for me the most convenient, because I already use AutoHotkey for a few things (hotkey for closing any window, hotkey for opening browser, hotkey for opening terminal...).

Answer 11

As I understood the question was about automatically adding the stress accent mark on the stressed vowel in the word. The is a great answer from @ACKA But in case someone looks for a way to add them manually, use Win+. on Windows 10 or Command+Control+Spacebar on macOS.