diff --git a/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml b/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml
index a953da8f6..3cfd2c194 100644
--- a/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml
+++ b/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 
     <changes>
         <release version="3.9-beta1" date="2012-??-??">
+          <action dev="poi-developers" type="add">53943 - added method processSymbol() to allow converting word symbols   </action>
           <action dev="poi-developers" type="fix">53763 - avoid style mess when using HSSFOptimiser  </action>
           <action dev="poi-developers" type="fix">52972 - preserve leading / trailing spaces in SXSSF </action>
           <action dev="poi-developers" type="fix">53965 - Fixed XmlValueOutOfRangeExceptio calling getDataValidations for custom validations with XSSFSheet </action>
diff --git a/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/converter/AbstractWordConverter.java b/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/converter/AbstractWordConverter.java
index 819e68191..64a1900ab 100644
--- a/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/converter/AbstractWordConverter.java
+++ b/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/converter/AbstractWordConverter.java
@@ -520,6 +520,13 @@ public abstract class AbstractWordConverter
                     processOle2( doc, characterRun, block );
                     continue;
                 }
+                if ( characterRun.isSymbol()
+                        && ( wordDocument instanceof HWPFDocument ) )
+                {
+                    HWPFDocument doc = (HWPFDocument) wordDocument;
+                    processSymbol( doc, characterRun, block );
+                    continue;
+                }
             }
 
             if ( text.getBytes()[0] == FIELD_BEGIN_MARK )
@@ -1003,6 +1010,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractWordConverter
             return false;
         }
     }
+    
+    protected void processSymbol( HWPFDocument doc, CharacterRun characterRun,
+            Element block )
+    {
+        
+    }
 
     @SuppressWarnings( "unused" )
     protected boolean processOle2( HWPFDocument wordDocument, Element block,