Can't Use Alt Codes in Word 2010 on Surface Pro 2?

Type cover won't work.

The on-screen keyboard will give you an option to show a 10-key on the far right, but from my experience, this did not work either.

The alt-codes are mapped to the 10-key series of number buttons (the right block of numbers on a big keyboard, not the top numbers above the letters).

Essentially there are two solutions:

1. When you need to enter in special chars with alt codes, you can use a full size keyboard, just plug it into your USB port, and the alt codes will work.
2. Find a Windows key-mapper. A key mapper program (there are many), will allow you to change, or remap what your keys are. So, you can go into the mapper program, and change your numbers above your letters (the only number series on the Type keyboard), to the 10-key numbers on the right. The key mapper should show you a picture layout of a fullsize keyboard. You simply click it and tell it to assign the 10-key #1 to the #1 above the letter Q... and so on, for all numbers 0-9. Then, the alt should work, because when you hit the top numbers, you're actually hitting the 10 key numbers on the right (that technically don't exist on the Type cover).

Personally, I worked around the alt codes, I don't use them anymore. But if I did, I found it a lot easier to just have a full size keyboard to plug in when I needed it. It's cumbersome, and obviously not very mobile... but it works.

Good luck to you!

I am also having this problem. I am writing an on-line French course, but of course the Surface Pro 2, and my husband has the 3, external keyboard does not have neither Num Lock keypad nor a function keypad built into the keyboard. So I thought my USB keypad that I use for entering grades on a laptop would be the answer, but alas, no. It does not work either.

So beside creating some kind of keystroke combo to insert French accents into my text, does anyone know a way to make my external Num Lock keypad work with my computer like an internal keypad?

The combinations in the International Characters section of the article at:

http://wordfaqs.mvps.org/InsertSpecChars.htm#ShortcutKeys

work with the Type Cover on a Surface and also the on-screen keyboard.

I realize this is an old question, but here's a full answer, not just a workaround: Hold down Alt on your Type Cover while using the number pad of the On-Screen Keyboard (not the Touch Keyboard).

If you'd like the step-by-step,

1. Press Start and type Keyboard. Then click "On-Screen Keyboard" in the search results. (This brings up the Accessibility keyboard, NOT the Touch Keyboard that there may be a button for on your taskbar.)
2. Press the "Options" button along the bottom of your On-Screen Keyboard. Ensure the checkbox for "Turn on numeric keypad" is checked, and press OK.
   
3. On your On-Screen Keyboard, make sure NumLock (bottom-right) is on. When it is, you'll see a grid of number keys instead of arrow keys above it.
4. To enter an Alt+Numpad code, hold down Alt on your Type Cover (your physical keyboard) while entering numbers on the keypad of the On-Screen Keyboard. It won't work to use the Alt key of the On-Screen Keyboard, as Alt holds itself down only long enough to

Workarounds didn't work for me, as I was looking to enter a "Carriage Return" character (Alt+010) in Excel's Find & Replace dialog, while using the Type Cover of a Surface Pro 3. Carriage Return isn't an option in Character Map or Symbols, and can't be copied-and-pasted in.