# Character Conversion

## What is character conversion?

BibDesk automatically converts many accented characters into their TeXequivalents when it writes a BibTeX file. For instance, a u with umlaut is converted to `{\"u}` when your file is saved, but presented as-is in theinterface. There are some limitations on this process; conversion only works when a `{\` sequence is encountered, as in the above example, and it only works if BibDesk has the conversion stored in its internal dictionary.

## Accented characters and TeX

The following table was taken from The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX2e> (Oetiker et al., 1999). Depending on your TeX distribution, it may be available at lshort.pdf, or it is available from CTAN.

Many of the accents listed in this table can be applied to characters other than o, as well.

ó |  | `\'o` |  | ò |  | `\`o` |  | ô |  | `\^o` |  | õ |  | `\~o`
ō |  | `\=o` |  | ȯ |  | `\.o` |  | ö |  | `\"o` |  | ç |  | `\c c`
ŏ |  | `\u o` |  | ǒ |  | `\v o` |  | ő |  | `\H o` |  | ǫ |  | `\c o`
ọ |  | `\d o` |  | o̱ |  | `\b o` |  | o͡o |  | `\t oo`
œ |  | `\oe` |  | Œ |  | `\OE` |  | æ |  | `\ae` |  | Æ |  | `\AE`
å |  | `\aa` |  | Å |  | `\AA`
ø |  | `\o` |  | Ø |  | `\O` |  | ł |  | `\l` |  | Ł |  | `\L`
ı |  | `\i` |  | ȷ |  | `\j` |  | ¡ |  | `!'` |  | ¿ |  | `?'`

Note: for BibTeX, it is also necessary to enclose the accent sequence in braces (see the TeX FAQ).