How to Type Accent Marks Above Letters on a Keyboard

To type a letter with an accent in Windows 11, press Windows key + . (period), select the Symbols tab (the Ω icon), open Latin symbols, and pick the letter. If you type accents often, add the US-International keyboard, which lets you press an accent key followed by a letter. On a Mac, press and hold the letter key and choose the accented version.

This guide covers the Windows symbols panel, the US-International keyboard, Word and Outlook shortcuts, Alt codes and Unicode, Character Map, Mac methods, and phones. Pick the method that matches how often you type accents and which app you’re in.

Method 1: The emoji and symbols panel (any Windows app)

1. Click where you want to type.
2. Press Windows key + . (period).
3. Select the Symbols tab (Ω).
4. Choose Latin symbols and select the letter, such as é or ñ.

The letter appears at your cursor. The panel remembers recent symbols, so the next time the letter is quicker to find.

More about this panel: how to open the emoji keyboard in Windows 11.

Method 2: US-International keyboard (best if you type accents often)

1. Go to Settings > Time & language > Language & region.
2. Next to your language, select … then Language options.
3. Under Keyboards, select Add a keyboard and choose United States-International.
4. Switch to it with Windows key + Space.

The accent keys become “dead keys.” Type ‘ then e for é, ` then a for à, ~ then n for ñ, ^ then o for ô, and “ then u for ü. To type the plain apostrophe or quote, press the key and then Space. This works in nearly every app. See how to change the keyboard layout.

On Windows 10, go to Settings > Time & Language > Language. Select your language under Preferred languages, choose Options > Add a keyboard, and pick United States-International. The dead keys work the same way. Our Windows 10 keyboard layout steps cover switching layouts.

Method 3: Word and Outlook shortcuts

Press the shortcut, release it, then type the letter. These come from Microsoft’s Keyboard shortcuts to add language accent marks in Word.

• Ctrl + ‘, then a letter: acute accent (é).
• Ctrl + `, then a letter: grave accent (è).
• Ctrl + Shift + ^, then a letter: circumflex (ê).
• Ctrl + Shift + ~, then a letter: tilde (ñ).
• Ctrl + Shift + :, then a letter: umlaut (ü).
• Ctrl + , (comma), then c: cedilla (ç).
• Ctrl + Shift + @, then a: å. Ctrl + Shift + &, then a: æ. Ctrl + /, then o: ø.
• Alt + Ctrl + Shift + ? for ¿ and Alt + Ctrl + Shift + ! for ¡.

The accented letter replaces the shortcut. For a capital, type the letter in uppercase (or turn on Caps Lock) after the shortcut.

Unicode with Alt + X (Word)

In Word you can also type a letter’s Unicode value and press Alt + X. For example, type 00E9 then press Alt + X to get é, or 00F1 for ñ. Press Alt + X again to turn the letter back into its code.

Method 4: Alt codes (keyboards with a number pad)

1. Turn on Num Lock.
2. Hold Alt and type the four-digit code on the number pad, including the leading zero.
3. Release Alt.

The character appears when you let go of Alt. Codes are case-sensitive: Alt + 0233 is é and Alt + 0201 is É; Alt + 0241 is ñ and Alt + 0209 is Ñ; Alt + 0225 is á. The number row above the letters won’t work, which is why Alt codes are awkward on most laptops.

Method 5: Character Map

Select Start, type Character Map, and open it. Select the letter you want, select Select and then Copy, and paste it with Ctrl + V. The bottom right corner also shows the letter’s Alt code, such as Alt+0233 for é.

On a Mac

Apple’s Mac guide lists two ways:

• Press and hold a letter key, such as e, to open the accent menu. Click the version you want, or press the number shown under it.
• Dead keys: press a key combination for the accent, then the letter. On the standard ABC layout, Option + E then a vowel gives an acute accent (é), Option + ` gives a grave (è), Option + I a circumflex (ê), Option + U an umlaut (ü), and Option + N a tilde (ñ). Option + C types ç.

Apple notes the accent menu isn’t available in every app, and suggests the Keyboard Viewer to see which dead keys your layout uses.

On a phone or tablet

On iPhone, iPad and Android keyboards, touch and hold a letter and slide to the accented version. The same gesture on the 0 key is how to type a degree symbol on iPhone. If you write in another language often, adding that language’s keyboard can also offer accented letters as suggestions. See how to add a Spanish keyboard on iPhone.

Type Accented Letters With the Windows Touch Keyboard

On Windows 11, right-click the taskbar and choose Taskbar settings. Under System tray icons, set Touch keyboard to Always if you need its icon while a physical keyboard is attached. Microsoft documents this Windows 11 control. Select a text field, open the taskbar’s touch-keyboard icon, and press and hold a letter such as e on a layout that has accented versions; select é, è or ê and check the text. On Windows 10, the taskbar’s right-click menu instead offers Show touch keyboard button. The Accessibility On-Screen Keyboard opened with Windows+Ctrl+O is a separate tool and may not have the same long-press popup. Use Character Map above if the letter you need is missing. Close the keyboard and change the icon setting back if you want.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which method works in every Windows app?

The symbols panel (Windows key + .) and the US-International keyboard work in almost all apps. The Ctrl shortcuts and Alt + X work in Word and Outlook.

Why don’t my Alt codes work?

Make sure Num Lock is on, use the number pad rather than the top row, and include the leading zero (0233, not 233).

How do I type an accent mark by itself?

On the US-International keyboard, press the accent key and then Space.

Does the US-International keyboard change anything else?

Yes. The apostrophe and quote keys wait for the next key, so you press Space after them when you want a plain apostrophe. You can switch back to your usual layout with Windows key + Space.