Greetings Oktaeder,

Agreed, the methods Overlord and Razonar proposed (refer to the spoiler above) are very tedious, but we should be grateful that such solutions are supported in SMAth.

However, there are ways to make Razonar's approach 'less tedious' and the are as follows:

1. Create a Plugin/addon: This would the the most ideal solution. Such a feature can easily be accomplished by being assigned a shortcut key and/or accessible from a toobar. To that effect, I did write code in vb.net that serves this purpose for variables with macron/underline attributes: (https://en.smath.com/for...Shortcuts.aspx#post79990) Although daunting, you have the ability to deploy/create your own addins; do not feel the need to 'wait' until someone else develops/deploys tools that best serve your purposes.
   
   
2. Copy and Paste: Although your browser may not acknowledge theses characters, copying and pasting the special characters into SMath will deliver the result you are after:
   
   For ⃑ (OverArpoon); Copy and Paste into SMath:
   Code:

    ⃑

   
   For ⃗ (OverVector); Copy and Paste into SMath:
   Code:

    ⃗

   
   
   
3. Enter Special Characters via hexadecimal code: This technique saves you the hassle of having to copy/paste the special characters into your document, but it is none the less tedious. REQUIRES EnableHexNumpad TO BE ENABLED WITHIN CPU REGISTRY
   
   • EnableHexNumpad within your cpu registry (NOTE: If you do not understand/feel comfortable with editing your cpu registry, do not attempt this method as you can really mess up your computer)
     
   • Once enabled, you can insert those characters while defining your variables:
     Pres and Hold down ｢Alt｣ as you hit/type the following keypresses, one character at a time:
     
     For ⃑ (OverArpoon):
     Code:

     ｢+｣numpad & 20D1 

     
     For ⃗ (OverVector):
     Code:

     ｢+｣numpad & 20D7

     
     
   • Reference those items associated with keyword hex in the following document: [v0.99] SMath Keyboard Shortcuts.pdf (593kb) downloaded 372 time(s). Dated: 2022-12-09
   
   
4. Create a Snippet: Saving these characters/variables with a SNIPPET might be the solution you are after. You can say that you will still need to copy and paste, but the special characters will at least be saved within the SMath application (can be easily retrieved in a new worksheet).          
   

Just a few notes with regards to Razonar's method:

• really only 'effective' with single character variables (leaves something to be desired when using longer variable names).
  
• After you define a variable with the arrow above it, you can easily retrieve it via the dynamic assistant (without the need to copy/paste it). That is: once you define ｢y⃑｣, you just need to type in ｢y｣ and select your variable from the dynamic assistant dropdown without the need to copy/paste the variable:
  
  

Finally, I want to inform you of a method that you should not use: Redefining the Special Function ｢vectorize()｣. Since vectorize is a function, you technically can overwrite it. I will admit, this "looks" like the perfect solution; it is easy to type, looks nice, and is easy to manipulate! However, you will notice two things:

1. You loose the ability to use the Special Function vectorize() as it is designed for, &
   
   
2. This work-around only redefines the 'arrow,' the text below the arrow is effectively just a place holder (this just leads to needless confusion, as shown below):
   

Hope this helps!

-Kenny Lemens, P.E. ᵂᴵ