Accented Characters

To use a language setting for the keyboard:

Windows 7 (all applications)

From the Start Menu, open the Control Panel, double-click on Region and Language*, and go to the Keyboards and Languages tab. Click on Change Keyboards... and there click on Add. Under Input Language select "Spanish (Traditional Sort)" or "French (Canada)" or "German (Germany)" or any other language. Click OK, then again and again until you exit the language settings.

You should now have a language tab showing as either ES (Spanish), or EN (English), or FR (French) on the right side of your taskbar at the bottom of your screen. To switch between keyboard layouts, either left click on the tab and select the language or press Left Alt + Shift.

Example: In the Spanish layout, to type the character "é", strike what in the North American keyboard would be the apostrophe key and then, afterwards, the "e" key: é. Do the same for all of the accented vowels.

Windows 10:

To add a new keyboard layout on Windows 10, use these steps:

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Click on Time & Language.
  3. Click on Language.
  4. Select your default language from the list.
  5. Click the Options button.
  6. Under the "Keyboards" section, click the Add a keyboard button.
  7. Select the new keyboard layout that you want to add.

Once you complete the steps, the new layout will installed on your device, and you can start using it with the steps below

Windows 10 allows you to add as many keyboard layouts as you need. If you require even more keyboards, simply repeat the above instructions.

 

Keyboard shortcuts for international characters:

For keyboard shortcuts in which you press two or more keys simultaneously, the keys to press are separated by a plus sign (+) in Word Help. For keyboard shortcuts in which you press one key immediately followed by another key, the keys to press are separated by a comma (,).

To type a lowercase character by using a key combination that includes the SHIFT key, hold down the CTRL+SHIFT+symbol keys simultaneously, and then release them before you type the letter.

To insert this

Press

à, è, ì, ò, ù,
À, È, Ì, Ò, Ù

CTRL+` (ACCENT GRAVE), the letter

á, é, í, ó, ú, ý
Á, É, Í, Ó, Ú, Ý

CTRL+' (APOSTROPHE), the letter

â, ê, î, ô, û
Â, Ê, Î, Ô, Û

CTRL+SHIFT+^ (CARET), the letter

ã, ñ, õ
Ã, Ñ, Õ

CTRL+SHIFT+~ (TILDE), the letter

ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ,
Ä, Ë, Ï, Ö, Ü, Ÿ

CTRL+SHIFT+: (COLON), the letter

å, Å

CTRL+SHIFT+@, a or A

æ, Æ

CTRL+SHIFT+&, a or A

œ, Œ

CTRL+SHIFT+&, o or O

ç, Ç

CTRL+, (COMMA), c or C

ð, Ð

CTRL+' (APOSTROPHE), d or D

ø, Ø

CTRL+/, o or O

¿

ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+?

¡

ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+!

ß

CTRL+SHIFT+&, s

The Unicode character for the specified Unicode (hexadecimal) character code

The character code, ALT+X

For example, to insert the euro currency symbol Euro currency symbol , press 20AC, and then hold down the ALT key and press X.

The ANSI character for the specified ANSI (decimal) character code

ALT+the character code (on the numeric keypad)

Note: Make sure that NUM LOCK is on before you type the character code.

For example, to insert the euro currency symbol, hold down the ALT key and press 0128 on the numeric keypad.