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I would like to insert a circumflex on a letter as in latex \hat{X} in Adobe Illustrator.

I searched so many web pages but I couldn't find a quite decent solution.

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  • Which layout (language) does your keyboard have? I can just hit the ^-key on my keyboard followed by the letter to add the hat. It only works if the font contains that symbol - can't be used on any letter.
    – Wolff
    Apr 11, 2019 at 15:48
  • Thanks for your comment. However the "^" symbol should be placed at the top of the letter X.
    – mgokhanbakal
    Apr 11, 2019 at 15:52
  • Also, what OS? On Mac [UK Eng] it's opt/i then space [or option/i + any letter that can take a circumflex accent] eg ^ â ê î ô û
    – Tetsujin
    Apr 11, 2019 at 15:52
  • To add it to any letter, such as X̂, you need the combining diacritical, which is U+0302 - method again will depend on OS
    – Tetsujin
    Apr 11, 2019 at 15:56
  • I am using Windows OS
    – mgokhanbakal
    Apr 11, 2019 at 16:05

1 Answer 1

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I think there's no way in Illustrator unless you have installed the language where it's used. Copy/pasting the symbol from Wikipedia the result is a simple X.

This image is the character X with -450 pt tracking followed by the circumflex, same size as the X, with these character parameters:

enter image description here

Making two character styles can accelerate the process:

enter image description here

Insert after the comments:

This is the special character copy/paste result from Wikipedia to InDesign in Arial, Helvetica, Times and Avenir fonts:

enter image description here

The same in Illustrator:

enter image description here

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  • Is there no way to do combining diacriticals on Windows? I can copy/paste the wikipedia letter to here & it works X̂ - it's built of 2 elements, X and the combiner ̂, which does its own tracking shift.
    – Tetsujin
    Apr 11, 2019 at 16:23
  • I'm a Mac user, maybe that's the difference, I will try with other fonts or applications
    – user120647
    Apr 11, 2019 at 16:27
  • I'm Mac too, copy/paste works, as does typing X then just digging out the right diacritical from the character viewer & double-clicking it.
    – Tetsujin
    Apr 11, 2019 at 16:29
  • @Tetsujin Are you trying in Illustrator? I updated the answer with my attempts
    – user120647
    Apr 11, 2019 at 16:37
  • I don't have Illustrator; hmmm...I can do it anywhere else, but not in anything Adobe :\
    – Tetsujin
    Apr 11, 2019 at 16:40

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