How to Type Letters with Accents on Windows, Mac and Linux

Communicate better in your native tongue

Although the English language doesn’t use letters with accents (also called diacritics) often, many other languages like Spanish and Vietnamese do. If you are writing words in Roman characters that require accents, it can be hard to know the exact keystrokes.

Don’t be caught by surprise again. This guide will show you how to type letters with accents on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

How to Type Letters With Accents on Windows 10

These instructions refer specifically to Microsoft Word andOutlook, but also other native Windows 10 applications. With the right combination of keystrokes, you can type letters with a wide range of accents.

These letters are common in a lot of different languages. The good news is they are easy to type. In order to place an accent mark above a vowel, typeCTRL+Accent Grave+Letter.For reference, the accent grave key is also the tilde (~) key.

Acute accent marks are commonly used in the French language. To type these letters, typeCTRL+Apostrophe (‘)+Letter.Do not press and hold — strike the keys in quick succession or you will inadvertently type an apostrophe.

The accent that looks like a carat is called a circumflex mark. It appears commonly in both French and Italian. TypeCTRL+SHIFT+Carat (^)+ Letter. Note that these keys must be hit in quick succession, and it can take a little bit of practice.

Entering the keystrokes like this results in uppercase letters. To type lowercase letters, enterCTRL+SHIFT+Carat,release those keys, and then enter the letter.

Diacritics with a tilde above the letter are commonly used in Spanish. In order to type one of these, enterCTRL+SHIFT+Tilde (~)+Letter.This works only with the letters A, N, and O.

Like with Circumflex diacritics, you must typeCTRL+SHIFT+Tildeand release them before typing the letter in order to get lowercase letters.

Umlauts appear commonly in both German and Hungarian. To type an umlaut, enterCTRL+SHIFT+Colon (:)+Letter.This method works with all standard vowels, as well as Y.

The letters are all capital unless you typeCTRL+SHIFT+Colonand release the keys before entering the letter.

The single dot that appears over the letter A in Danish and Norweigian is sometimes called a ring. To type this, enterCTRL+SHIFT+@+Aora.

How to Type Letters With Accents on Mac

There are two ways to add diacritic marks on Mac: through aseries of keystrokes, or through the press-and-hold method. We will cover how to use both methods.

A note about typing accent marks on Mac: the press-and-hold method offers more options for letters than for others. For example, the letter A includes the option for a dot over it, while the letter E does not.

Grave accents can be added by pressing and holding down the relevant key. For example, press and hold the A key and a series of options will appear above it. Select the grave accent and it will take the place of the single character you typed.

While pressing and holding is an easy method, it isn’t the fastest. There’s another option that is faster than the press-and-hold method.

If you want to make the letter uppercase, pressShiftbefore you type the letter.

Acute accents can be typed through the press-and-hold method, or by entering the following.

If you want to capitalize the letter, pressShiftat the same time you type the letter.

Circumflex accents can be typed through the press-and-hold method or through the following key combination.

As before, simply pressShiftbefore you type the letter to capitalize it.

Tildes can be added to letters through the press-and-hold method. You can also add a tilde to a letter with the following key combination.

The tilde diacritic can be added to the letters a, n, and o. To capitalize the letter, pressShiftbefore pressing the letter key.

You can type an umlaut through the press-and-hold method. You can also type an umlaut with the following series of commands.

Again, to capitalize the letter, pressShiftbefore typing the letter key.

You can add a dot above certain letters like A through the press-and-hold method, or with the following keystrokes.

You can capitalize it by pressingShiftbefore you release the keys. You can also type an umlaut with the following series of keystrokes.

You can capitalize the letter by pressing Shift before pressing the letter key.

How to Type Letters With Accents on Linux

Linuxprovides users with multiple options for entering special characters.

Linuxhas a built-in application called Characters that provides users with several pieces of important information. First, you can search for specific diacritics and copy those characters for easy pasting. Second of all, the Characters application provides the Unicode code point for each of these characters.

To enter this code point, you must hit the following keys in order.

While this is a complicated process, it’s the easiest method if you need to use uncommon diacritic accents on a regular basis.

Similar to typing accents with a series of keystrokes, the Compose key allows you to quickly enter accent marks with just a few keystrokes. The catch is that you need Ubuntu along with theGnomedesktop in order to take advantage of the Compose feature.

After you have set a compose key, entering specific diacritics becomes as easy as entering the right series of keystrokes.

For a full list of Compose key sequences, check out thededicated Wiki page.

Patrick is an Atlanta-based technology writer with a background in programming and smart home technology. When he isn’t writing, nose to the grindstone, he can be found keeping up with the latest developments in the tech world and upping his coffee game.Read Patrick’s Full Bio

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How to Type Letters with Accents on Windows, Mac and Linux#

How to Type Letters With Accents on Windows 10#

How to Type Letters With Accents on Mac#

How to Type Letters With Accents on Linux#