Special Character Picker

WHAT IT DOES

Special Character Picker gives you instant access to hundreds of special characters, Unicode symbols, mathematical operators, currency signs, arrows, punctuation marks, and emoji. Instead of memorizing Alt codes or searching the web for that one symbol you need, you get a floating panel right in your browser. Click any character and it inserts directly into the text field, contenteditable element, or textarea you are currently editing. The tool tracks your recently used characters and lets you build a favorites list for symbols you use regularly. A live search filter helps you find characters by their visual appearance or by their name.

WHERE IT RUNS

This script runs on every website you visit. Whether you are writing an email, editing a document in a web app, composing a social media post, filling out a form, or working in an online code editor, the panel is available whenever you need it. It works with standard input fields, textareas, and modern contenteditable editors including rich text editors and WYSIWYG interfaces.

HOW TO USE

Open the panel by clicking the floating bubble or toolbar icon. Browse characters by category using the dropdown menu, or type a search term to filter the entire character set. Click any character button to insert it at the cursor position in the active text field. Characters you insert are automatically added to your recent list for quick access. Click the star icon on any character to add it to your favorites. Use the Clear Favorites button to reset your saved list.

THE INSERTION MECHANISM

Most browser extensions and userscripts fail to insert characters reliably because modern JavaScript frameworks like React and Vue intercept and override direct DOM manipulation. Special Character Picker uses a dual-strategy approach: it sets the native value property first, then dispatches both "input" and "change" events with the bubbles flag enabled. This forces framework change detectors to recognize the update and re-render the component state. For contenteditable elements, the script preserves the current selection range, deletes any selected content, inserts the character as a text node, and restores the cursor position. This ensures the character appears exactly where you intended, not at the end of the field or lost in a framework state reset.

THE PANEL

The panel is fully draggable and remembers its position per site. It collapses to a small floating bubble when minimized to stay out of your way. All settings persist across browser sessions using GM_setValue storage. Press the Escape key to close the panel. The panel automatically focuses the search box when opened for keyboard-first workflows.

PLEASE NOTE

This script requires the free BotGentz extension to run. Websites change their structure and behavior over time; if a particular text editor stops working, the script may need an update. No user data is sent anywhere — all settings, favorites, and recent character lists are stored locally in your browser. Characters are inserted only into fields you actively focus; the script never reads or modifies password, hidden, or file input fields.