diff --git a/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml b/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml
index 8793b5e98..94691ec8f 100644
--- a/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml
+++ b/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 
     <changes>
         <release version="3.7-beta4" date="2010-??-??">
+           <action dev="poi-developers" type="fix">49908 - support for processing of symbols in HWPF</action>
            <action dev="poi-developers" type="fix">50022 - support for retrieving pictures from HSSF workbooks</action>
            <action dev="poi-developers" type="fix">50020 - Avoid IllegalStateException when creating Data validation in sheet with macro</action>
            <action dev="poi-developers" type="fix">50033 - Improved rounding in MOD</action>
diff --git a/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/usermodel/CharacterRun.java b/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/usermodel/CharacterRun.java
index 2b6d41bb3..076b0029a 100644
--- a/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/usermodel/CharacterRun.java
+++ b/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/usermodel/CharacterRun.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 package org.apache.poi.hwpf.usermodel;
 
 import org.apache.poi.hwpf.model.CHPX;
+import org.apache.poi.hwpf.model.Ffn;
 import org.apache.poi.hwpf.model.StyleSheet;
 import org.apache.poi.hwpf.sprm.SprmBuffer;
 
@@ -557,5 +558,50 @@ public final class CharacterRun
 
     return cp;
   }
+  
+  /**
+   * Returns true, if the CharacterRun is a special character run containing a symbol, otherwise false.
+   *
+   * <p>In case of a symbol, the {@link #text()} method always returns a single character 0x0028, but word actually stores
+   * the character in a different field. Use {@link #getSymbolCharacter()} to get that character and {@link #getSymbolFont()}
+   * to determine its font.
+   */
+  public boolean isSymbol()
+  {
+    return isSpecialCharacter() && text().equals("\u0028");
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the symbol character, if this is a symbol character run.
+   * 
+   * @see #isSymbol()
+   * @throws IllegalStateException If this is not a symbol character run: call {@link #isSymbol()} first.
+   */
+  public char getSymbolCharacter()
+  {
+    if (isSymbol()) {
+      return (char)_props.getXchSym();
+    } else
+      throw new IllegalStateException("Not a symbol CharacterRun");
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the symbol font, if this is a symbol character run. Might return null, if the font index is not found in the font table.
+   * 
+   * @see #isSymbol()
+   * @throws IllegalStateException If this is not a symbol character run: call {@link #isSymbol()} first.
+   */
+  public Ffn getSymbolFont()
+  {
+    if (isSymbol()) {
+      Ffn[] fontNames = _doc.getFontTable().getFontNames();
+
+      if (fontNames.length <= _props.getFtcSym())
+        return null;
+
+      return fontNames[_props.getFtcSym()];
+    } else
+      throw new IllegalStateException("Not a symbol CharacterRun");
+  }
 
 }
diff --git a/src/scratchpad/testcases/org/apache/poi/hwpf/usermodel/TestRangeSymbols.java b/src/scratchpad/testcases/org/apache/poi/hwpf/usermodel/TestRangeSymbols.java
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..bc1d9979a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/scratchpad/testcases/org/apache/poi/hwpf/usermodel/TestRangeSymbols.java
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+/* ====================================================================
+   Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+   contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+   this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+   The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+   (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+   the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
+==================================================================== */
+
+package org.apache.poi.hwpf.usermodel;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+import org.apache.poi.hwpf.HWPFDocument;
+import org.apache.poi.hwpf.HWPFTestDataSamples;
+
+/**
+ * API for processing of symbols, see Bugzilla 49908
+ */
+public final class TestRangeSymbols extends TestCase {
+
+    public void test() throws IOException {
+        HWPFDocument doc = HWPFTestDataSamples.openSampleFile("Bug49908.doc");
+
+        Range range = doc.getRange();
+
+        assertTrue(range.numCharacterRuns() >= 2);
+        CharacterRun chr = range.getCharacterRun(0);
+        assertEquals(false, chr.isSymbol());
+
+        chr = range.getCharacterRun(1);
+        assertEquals(true, chr.isSymbol());
+        assertEquals("\u0028", chr.text());
+        assertEquals("Wingdings", chr.getSymbolFont().getMainFontName());
+        assertEquals(0xf028, chr.getSymbolCharacter());
+    }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test-data/document/Bug49908.doc b/test-data/document/Bug49908.doc
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..6a89732e7
Binary files /dev/null and b/test-data/document/Bug49908.doc differ