Special Symbols in Procedure Write-Up

Chemists commonly need to use non-standard characters during procedure write-up, which may include Greek characters in chemical names and ‘as’ symbols for reaction conditions. Many text editors support these but the functionality is often hidden away, requiring the use to change the font type to ‘Symbol’ font and look for an individual character, or try to remember some arcane combination of Alt keys and digits to access their desired ASCII symbol.

In the E‑WorkBook for Chemistry ELN, we wanted to make use of symbols easily accessible, so that a user can quickly insert these into a procedure write-up, simply by clicking on the required symbol. The symbol icons are conveniently sized and spaced, facilitating use of these on tablets as easily as on a desktop PC, making it easy to complete your write-up in the lab or back at your desk.