I want to insert a fermata into a document. It is a musical symbol, commonly also known as a birdseye. I can’t find it in the Insert > Special Character list. I don’t know if it’s in that huge list and I missed it. I also have not been able to find a solution. I tried some Alt-codes I found online that claimed to be a fit and it did insert a symbol, but it wasn’t a fermata. Advise if you know a solution.
EDIT: Windows 10, Libre version 7.5.8.2
Special characters, such as the specific character you mentioned, depend on the font.
You will find an COMBINING FERMATA (U352), for example, in the font “Liberation Sans”
When asking here, it helps when OP mentions OS name, LO version and save format. Consequently, I answer only in general terms. Adapt to your specific case.
All I could find in the huge Unicode repertoire is:
ERRATUM: Warning! in the initial version of this post, hexadecimal for last too was faulty!
The first one behaves like an accent and needs a “supporting” character to be visible. The latter two don’t live in the Unicode Basic Multilingual Plane. Expect then problems with common fonts which very likely don’t provide them. They display on my Fedora Linux box but due to the system substitution engine, I don’t know from which font they were extracted (I search for them in the OS not in Writer).
Inserting them in Writer is quite easy: type “U+…” (without the quotes) where … stands for one of the hexadecimal codes above, immediately followed by Alt+X. If they are not present in your current font or a substituted associated one, you’ll get the “missing symbol” for the font, usually an empty rectangle.
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You must type literally a letter U (upper- or lower case), a plus sign +, the hexadecimal code, then simultaneously Alt and X.
Thank you both for your answers. When you write “type U…”… what is this “U?” If I type a “U”, it will, literally, type a “U.” Sorry if this is elementary but I am not following what you describe.
Yes you write first literally something like U+1D110 wich is replaced by the actual Unicode symbol, when you hit Alt-Key and x at the same time. (x is the letter, not the symbol on numeric keypads.)
Hexadecimal encoding fixed by ajlittoz (because I made a mistake in my post)
In Windows 10 in LibreOffice, if you open the Special Characters dialogue, type fermata as you did and then change the font to Segoe UI Symbol you will see upper and lower versions.
This extension, OOoLilyPond » Extensions , and its associated programme might be interesting.
Well, your method worked! I have not been able to make the “U+” method work. The only issue with the fermata obtained via your method is that the fermata is not as good as one I simply copied and pasted off the web in an experiment to see if that would work. I think that is where I got it. It is a little bit larger and more exact regarding how a fermata is styled on a musical score… the diameter of the line that makes semicircle part thins as it gets to the end. The one I get via your method has a semicircle line that is uniform diameter, stroke, thickness, whatever that is called. Doesn’t matter as much as the actual size of the fermata, because I have be able to read it with aging eyes!
EDIT: Actually, I can use your method and just enlarge the pt size for the fermata and make it larger and it will probably work ok.
The mentioned OOoLilyPond extension… that does look interesting. Don’t know if I am astute enough to install whatever is needed! Thank you for your info!
For both licensing and aesthetic reasons, you might prefer the Noto Music fermata. The font might already be installed but it can be freely downloaded from Noto Music - Google Fonts
Maybe create a little document with this copied character and upload it here, so we can check on font / size / unicode
After I did a quick search, visit:
Music Fonts: The Ultimate Guide
By Joy Morin @
She talks about several fonts and how to use them.
Thanks everyone, there are some good suggestions here. I even got the u+1d110 method to work. I don’t know why it failed previously. The Music Fonts lady mentioned above has some techniques that might work out, will have to look deeper into that. I actually have a need to create custom symbols that I could somehow insert into a document that I have yet to find in any font. The solution does not have to be font-related, any method that works decently easy could provide a solution. The Music Fonts lady has an article about using her customer .png symbols that I guess she created with some art/drawing program. (link: Make Music Worksheets Using My FREE png Files – Color In My Piano) Also, my brother has programming skills… need to ask him if he could write a program… don’t know if that would work but will ask. Again, this is to be used in Libre Writer or some program that I can create text (such as a document) and insert symbols here and there.
If you need/prefer custom symbols not present in Unicode, any image (with suitable dimensions) will do. Insert it like any other image and anchor is As character. You can even create a frame style with ad hoc anchor so that you only need to apply this style after insertion. Look at built-in Formula frame style which has anchor mode As character.
