There’s this promising stuff at Insert ASCII or Unicode Latin-based symbols and characters - Microsoft Support
But this part makes no sense to me:
Inserting Unicode characters
To insert a Unicode character, type the character code, press ALT, and then press X. For example, to type a dollar symbol ($), type 0024, press ALT, and then press X. For more Unicode character codes, see Unicode character code charts by script.
What does “press ALT, then press X” mean? If I “type 0024, press ALT, and then press X” I get “0024”, even if I use the numkeypad. Typing chars FIRST will get you those chars regardless of whether you press the ALT key afterward. And holding ALT while typing X0024 does nothing.
Important: Some of the Microsoft Office programs, such as PowerPoint and InfoPath, cannot convert Unicode codes to characters. If you need a Unicode character and are using one of the programs that doesn’t support Unicode characters, use the Character Map to enter the character(s) that you need.
Notes:
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If ALT+X converts the wrong character code into Unicode, select the correct character code before pressing ALT+X.
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Alternatively, precede the correct character code with the text “U+”. For example, typing “1U+B5” and pressing ALT+X will always return the text “1µ”, while typing “1B5” and pressing ALT+X will return the text “Ƶ”.
Finally, Wikipedia has this to say at Unicode input - Wikipedia
See also: Charmap
Hexadecimal Unicode input can be enabled by adding a string type (REG_SZ) value called EnableHexNumpad to the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Input Method and assigning the value data 1 to it. Users will need to log off and back in after editing the registry for this input method to start working. (In versions earlier than Windows Vista, users needed to reboot for it to start working.) Unicode characters can then be entered by holding down Alt, and typing + on the numeric keypad, followed by the hexadecimal code, and then releasing Alt.[2] This may not work for 5-digit hexadecimal codes like U+1F937. Some versions of Windows may require the digits 0-9 to be typed on the numeric keypad or require NumLock to be on.
So, I made that registry change but haven’t logged out and in again, and it doesn’t work yet as stated. Not ready to log out just yet…
One more thing: per the Wikipedia page, I CAN use the “2185” followed by Alt and X to enter an aleph char in LibreOffice! So that’s something.
In some applications (Office, Notepad and LibreOffice programs) Alt+X will replace the hexadecimal number to the left of the cursor with the matching Unicode character. Unless it is six hexadecimal digits long, the code must not be preceded by any digit or letters a–f as they may be treated as part of the code to be converted. For example, entering af1 followed by Alt+X (or Alt+C if using a French version) will produce U+0AF1 ૱ GUJARATI RUPEE SIGN, but entering a0000f1 followed by Alt+X will produce ‘añ’ (U+0061
I guess this method was what the MS article was trying to explain above.
