I'm using an HP laptop with Windows 10, so there's a mouse pad but no actual mouse.
I keep seeing lovely little emoticons/emojis in people's posts, but I can't find a way of making them appear in mine. I know how to make a but that's it. I don't know the key strokes for other emoticons, and things like rainbows and thumbs up signs or flowers are way beyond me.
Some of us are using Macs, which have them included. I believe they are offered as an option if you're running an Android phone, but frankly it's hard work on my hands to hold a mobile phone, much less scroll up and down to find them, and posting on a mobile phone would be a nightmare - back to one-finger typing, half an hour to make a post, only to lose it all just before posting and have to start again!
There must be a straightforward way of inserting or finding emoticons in our posts made using a laptop. Would anyone be able to enlighten me, please?
(I'm cross-posting this to other boards I'm a member of as well as this one, and if I get answers somewhere, I'll cross-post those as well - so the most people possible get the answer.)
Thank you!
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Thank you, mrmonk. I was able to make them appear that way. But sadly, I couldn't find a way of making them "stick" when I clicked on the individual emoticons. I could highlight an individual emoticon, but not transfer it from the selection to the text box.
So I'm further forward, thanks to you - and grateful! - but still not quite there yet.
Nothing, unfortunately. I've left clicked once and twice; I've right clicked; I can highlight the emoticon I want, but clicking Enter doesn't make it transfer a copy to the text box.
If the text box is for plain text only. then you won't be able to include any pictures.
In future, if you worry that you might lose what you have already typed, just select all and save the text onto the clipboard first before you leave the screen.
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Thank you so much for replying to me, superhealer.
How would I know or find out if the text box is for plain text only? Wouldn't my smiley face emoticon (which I can succeed in posting) remain in plain text as the colon dash bracket that I put in originally?
I have to assume that mine is the same as everyone else's who *can* post them. So we're back where I started with: if so, how can they post emoticons/emojis but I cannot? I need to find a Windows 10 user who is a member and who can tell me if they can post them and how, I suppose.
As for worrying about losing what I've already typed, if I had a long post to make I would probably write it in Word and then copy/paste. I simply wouldn't do it on a mobile phone, as explained. It's happened once or twice that I've lost something I'd laboured over, but I don't need to learn that lesson more often than that.
I'm a trained touch-typist and it's beyond frustrating to do things one finger at a time on a mobile phone when I have a laptop on which I can communicate much faster. So, if using a mobile phone is the only way a person who does not have Apple/Mac devices can make emoticons, I guess I'm destined to make very unemotional posts in future, LOL!
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Long ago, the HU text box included an HTML panel so we could easily add them. I think they have since removed the facility. You can write directly to the HU support to enquire about this.
As you know, you can also use your phone to add them.
To achieve what you ask on this post ...
I have found an old post where an HU administrator included a useful site
She also included a list of "text converted icons"
colon shift0
colon shift9
semi-colon shift0
colon forward slash
colon capital D
colon capital P
colon capital O
colon dash shift0
and one to be used to show frustration
colon capital X
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Thank you, superhealer. It's very kind of you to have gone to all that trouble on my behalf. I'll keep a note of it and hopefully I will be able to express more feeling in my future posts!
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but that's it. I don't know the key strokes for other emoticons, and things like rainbows and thumbs up signs or flowers are way beyond me.
semi-colon shift0
colon forward slash
colon capital D
colon capital P
colon capital O
colon dash shift0
colon capital X
Being able to maintain mental and physical well-being 
Having a bad day
Lucky Black cat!
I hope i'm not going batty...but
Advice please