BabelMap (Unicode Character Map for Windows)
Overview
BabelMap is a free character map application for Windows that allows you to browse through the entire Unicode character repertoire of nearly 150,000 characters, or search for a particular character by name or by code point. Characters can then be copied to the clipboard for use in any Unicode-aware application. It also provides many useful features and special utilities. BabelMap supports the most recent version of the Unicode Standard, currently Unicode 15.1 (released 12 September 2023).
Summary of Features
These are some of the key features of BabelMap. For more information see the BabelMap Help pages.
- Browse through the entire Unicode code space block by block and character by character.
- Tabbed display for Unicode planes (BMP, SMP, SIP, TIP, SSP, SPUA-A, SPUA-B), with options to display unassigned planes 4 through 13, and show unassigned ranges within assigned planes.
- Display all characters using a single font, or define a composite font with different fonts used to display different Unicode blocks.
- Two rendering modes: Glyph mode renders characters as individual glyphs, with no shaping or joining behaviour, and glyphs laid out in logical order; Text mode uses the standard Windows rendering system to render characters with appropriate shaping and joining behaviour, and with appropriate directional layout (NB shaping and joining support for particular scripts may vary depending upon the version of Windows BabelMap is run on).
- Supports polychromatic glyphs with COLR/CPAL format fonts. Check the "Colour Glyphs" checkbox below the edit buffer to enable display of polychromatic glyphs for single characters and characters sequences where supported by the selected font.
- Search for any Unicode character by character name; or go to a specified code point.
- Paste any unknown Unicode character into the edit buffer and hit F2 to locate the character.
- Edit buffer supports drag-and drop editing and the user-defined composite font.
- Color code characters in the character grid by Unicode properties or version or script.
- Advanced character search utility which allows you to find all Unicode characters that match specified criteria.
- Character lookup tools for finding Han (CJKV) characters by radical/stroke or by Mandarin or Cantonese readings.
- Character lookup tool for finding Yi (Nuosu) characters by radical/stroke.
- Character lookup tool for finding Tangut characters by reference code.
- Various tools providing detailed information about Unicode versions, scripts, planes, blocks.
- Emoji data tool that lists data about all Unicode-defined emoji, and select single or composite emoji.
- Show all Unicode properties for the selected character.
- Show additional non-Unicode data for Han (CJKV), Tangut and Egyptian Hieroglyph characters.
- Show summary information for all fonts installed on your system.
- Show detailed information about any font on your system, including coverage of Unicode characters.
- Export glyphs for any font to file as images.
- Test framework for OpenType fonts.
Download
BabelMap is free to download and use for personal or commercial purposes. This free version is fully-featured, with no functional or time limitations, no adverts, no in-app purchases, and no malicious features. BabelMap is distributed as a single executable file (no installer). Simply download and unzip the single executable file (BabelMap.exe), and then run it from the desired location on your computer (recommended to run it from a subfolder of the "Program Files" directory). BabelMap runs on Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, and 11. For support, bug reports, or feature requests, please email me (Andrew West) at the email address given in BabelMap's About box. Please do not download BabelMap from any site other than babelstone.co.uk. I do not provide support for third-party distributions of BabelMap, such as BabelMap Portable from PortableApps.com.
The latest version of BabelMap runs on Windows 2000 or later. An unsupported old version of BabelMap (supporting Unicode 5.1) that runs on Windows 95/98/Me is available for download here.
An unsupported version of BabelMap (supporting Unicode 4.1) that is localized for French, with French character names and Unicode data, is available for download here. A version of BabelMap Online (supporting Unicode 7.0) with French interface and French Unicode data is available here. My great thanks to Patrick Andries, Alain LaBonté, and Francois Yergeau for creating the French Unicode data and for help in translating the user interface for BabelMap and BabelMap Online.
BabelMap Help Pages
BabelPad
BabelStone Home Page