Here I describe a technique to type special characters in Ubuntu with the keyboard if you use a few special symbols occasionally.
- First, learn the hexadecimal value for the character. One way to do this is to open the Character Map application, find the character and check the unicode value at the bottom of the window. Close Character Map when done. Assuming the character you want to type is é then unicode values is 00e9
- Type Ctrl + Shift + U, then type the unicode value of the character. You may omit leading zeros. So for é that will be Ctrl + Shift + U + e9. Then press Enter. Note after pressing Ctrl + Shift + U, an underlined u will appear behind the cursor to signify you are in unicode entry mode.