AIPEU Gr C, Solapur: Best way to Use Rupee Symbol in Windows

Friday, February 10, 2012

Best way to Use Rupee Symbol in Windows – Easy steps

We are very happy to know this, within three months of selection the new Indian Rupee Symbol has been incorporated as UNICODE standard with the efforts of our Govt. of India.

In a press release on 11th Oct, 2010 Unicode Consortium announced that the Indian Rupee symbol has been made part of the official Unicode standard and the same is available at code point U+20B9 in the currency Symbols block of Unicode version 6.0. Regarding the placement of Rupee Sign on the keyboard, consensus has been arrived among the stakeholders to use combination of ‘AltGr’ and numeral ‘4’ for typing the sign.

There are many solutions available in the internet to use the rupee symbol in windows operating systems.

Here we are going to discuss the what are the solutions available, thier usage and the advantages and disadvantages.

Method 1 : Using Rupee Foradian Font (old method):

How to Install :
Step 1 : Just download the Rupee Foradian font installer from
http://blog.foradian.com/rupee-font-version-30

Step 2 : Double click the Rupee font installer (or) copy the Rupee_Foradian.ttf to your windows font folder
OS Applicable : All (Both windows & Linux)

How to use:

1. Just select the Rupee Foradian font from your Applications (e.g.MS – word) font drop down list
2. Type the Grave accent key (`) symbol in your keyboard

Advantages :

Easy to install

We can use it in any OS

Disadvantages :

Not mapped to Unicode standard

You have to send the font along with your document when you are distributing to others

You can’t use it in web pages, to use, they providing a javascript based service to replace with the rupee symbol.

Method 2 : Using Rupee Foradian Standard with Keyboard layout

How to install :

Step 1 : Download the Rupee font installer from the below link and extract the contents

Download Rupee Foradian Standard

Step 2:

(i) Install the fonts by double clicking the Rupee Installer.exe
It will install four new fonts to your computer with support for new rupee symbol in Unicode recommended code position
(ii) Install the keyboard layout by double clicking the Keyboard Install.exe

How to use:

Step 1 : Now the language bar to select keyboard layout appear as bellow

If not appearing you have to enable it (XP).
Go to Control Panel -> Open Regional and Languages Options

Select Languages -> Details option in the dialog box

Now the installed keyboard layout will appear.

Now click Language bar, and check the option show language bar in task bar.
Step 2: Just select the “Rupee Foradian Standard” font from your Applications (e.g. MS – word) font drop down list
Step 3: Just press Grave Accent (`) key to type Rupee symbol

Advantages :

Rupee symbol is placed in Unicode standard position

We can use all windows operating systems (XP, Vista, Windows 7)

Hence, Unicode standard we no need to distribute font along with the document.

We can use it in web pages

Disadvantages:

Not available for other operating systems such as Linux

Distributed or shared document or webpage can be viewed exactly if they have the latest updated fonts in their system, else have to distribute the Rupee Foradian Standard font along with.

If we want to use any other font types, we have to switch over each time.

Method 3 : Using Microsoft Update (not for windows xp)

Microsoft has also released an update to support the new currency symbol for the Indian Rupee in Windows Vista, in Windows Server 2008, in Windows 7 and in Windows Server 2008 R2. And it is available on
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2496898.

How to install :
1. Download the above update and install
2. Enable the keyboard layout in Control panel
Control Panel => Region and Language
Keyboard Layouts => Change keyboards

Click Add Keyboard and select English(India) => India
Click the ok button to add.

Now the keyboard layout selection option will appear in Language bar and task bar
Select India (English) keyboard as a default one.

How to use:

Press ‘AltGr’ and numeral ‘4’ for typing the sign.
i.e., (Right) Alt + `(Grave Accent) + 4

Advantages:

Unicode standard

Available almost in major fonts coming with windows (such Arial, Times New Roman etc.,)

Renders the Rupee symbol Unicode web pages correctly.

Forth coming operating systems will include it as default.

And similarly RedHat also released a package which is available on https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHEA-2011-0203.html,

Disadvantages :

Update not available for Windows XP

Some may feel hardly to press 2 more keys. (but it’s the standard one)

Method 4: Using TDIL - DC (CDAC) Rupee Symbol Typing tool

TDIL (Indian Language Technology Proliferation and Deployment Centre ) DataCenter has released a tool to type Rupees Symbol along with updated “SakalBharati” font. Sakal Bharati is a Unicode based Open Type font which includes 11 scripts in one font i.e. Assamese, Bengali, Devanagari, Gujarati, Kannada Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil & Urdu. It has used Mono thick (Equal thickness of horizontal stems and vertical stem) glyphs for all scripts. This tool enables you to type Rupees Symbol in your documents using ALT + GR + 4 combinations on QWERTY keyboard. After Installation of the tool, “SakalBharati” font gets installed on the machine.

How to install :-
1. Download the Rupee symbol typing tool from the below link
Download Here
(You have to register in that site for download)

2. Extract and run the setup to install. It will install, SakalBharati” font with a small application.
3. After restarting windows, the following application window will appear at start up
You can enable or disable rupee symbol typing through this window.

How to use:

Select “SakalBharati” or any other Unicode font having Rupees Symbol.

Press ALT (Placed on Right hand side of the keyboard) + Accent Grave(`) + 4.

Advantages :

We can use all windows operating systems (XP, Vista, Windows 7)

Hence, Unicode standard we no need to distribute font along with the document.

We can use it in web pages

FAQ:
How to use Unicode standard Rupee symbol in web pages?
Just type the below characters in html where you need the rupee symbol.
₹
If you are viewing the below, your operating system renders the Unicode rupee symbol correctly.