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What applications and operating systems support Unicode?
NOTE: This archived documentation has not been updated recently and may contain information that is no longer relevant
Unicode Support Information
Support for Unicode varies among applications. Most applications today provide support for the Unicode character set, although some applications do not support the entire range. This page is an attempt to provide basic information on which applications and operating systems support Unicode.
Please visit The Unicode Home Page for more information about Unicode.
Operating Systems
Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, & Windows 7
Provide support for the entire Unicode character set, including support for supplementary plane characters (the characters above U+FFFF).
Windows NT
Provides support for characters under U+FFFF (the basic multilingual plane).
Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME
Provide very limited Unicode support. Keyman improves on this support by including the WM_UNICHAR message, which allows conformant applications such as the MS Office RichEdit control to accept Unicode input in Windows 95/98. However, unless stated, it is unlikely that you will be able to use Unicode fully on these operating systems.
Applications
Microsoft Office 2007
Supports the complete Unicode range, including the supplementary plane characters.
Microsoft Office XP and Microsoft Office 2003
Supports the supplementary plane characters. Supports Unicode under Windows NT and newer. Also supports Unicode under Windows 95/98/ME with the WordLink add-in.
Microsoft Office 2000
Like Office 97, supports Unicode characters in the basic multilingual plane (under U+FFFF) reasonably well. Unicode support is dependent on the operating system. Under Windows NT and newer, Office applications handle Unicode without trouble. Otherwise, supports Unicode input with Keyman and the WordLink add-in under Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME.
Microsoft Office 97
Supports Unicode characters in the basic multilingual plane (under U+FFFF) reasonably well. Unicode support is dependent on the operating system. Under Windows NT and newer, Office applications handle Unicode without trouble. Otherwise, Word 97 supports Unicode input with Keyman and the WordLink add-in under Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME.
WordPad/Write
Current versions support Unicode input in all operating systems, using Keyman. The RichEdit control must be version 3.0 or later. Older versions support Unicode plane 0 input under Windows NT, 2000.
UltraEdit-32, EmEditor
These two editors, available from www.ultraedit.com and www.emurasoft.com respectively, support Unicode input from Keyman under all the above operating systems using WM_UNICHAR.
Applies to:
- Keyman 5.0
- Keyman 6.0
- Keyman 6.2
