Typing Accented Letters and other Foreign Characters
See the tables below for instructions on how to type non-English characters while using the U.S. International keyboard layout on Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7, or download the PDF.
The following tables show sample characters, along with the keyboard shortcuts used to type them with the U.S. International keyboard layout. Note that RightAlt refers to the Alt key on the right-hand side of the keyboard.
Accented Letters
The keyboard shortcuts listed below will work with any vowel (referred to below as "V"), with some exceptions listed in the notes column. To use the keyboard shortcuts, enter the key or key combination listed before the comma, and then press the final key. Hold down the Shift key when typing the final key if a capital letter is needed.
Note: When you press the apostrophe ( ' ) key, quotation mark ( " ) key, accent grave ( ` ) key, tilde ( ~ ) key, or accent circumflex, or caret key, ( ^ ), nothing is displayed on the screen until you press a second key. If you press a letter that can take an accent mark, the letter appears with an accent. If you press the space bar, the symbol (apostrophe, quotation mark, accent grave, tilde, accent circumflex or caret) will appear by itself.
Accent | Example | Keyboard Shortcut | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Acute |
ó Ó |
', V |
' = apostrophe key |
Circumflex |
ô Ô |
Shift+^, V |
|
Grave |
ò Ò |
`, V |
|
Tilde |
ñ Ñ |
Shift+~, V |
Only with n,N,o,O,a,A |
Umlaut |
ö Ö |
", V |
" = quote key |
Other Foreign Characters
To produce an uppercase symbol, hold down the Shift key when typing the final character in the key combination.
Character | Name | Keyboard Shortcut |
---|---|---|
¡ |
Beginning exclamation mark |
RightAlt+1 |
¿ |
Beginning question mark |
RightAlt+? |
Ç,ç |
French C cedille |
RightAlt+< or '+C, |
Œ,œ |
French oe liagature |
Alt-0140 & Alt-0156, or Ctrl+Shift+&,o in MS Word |
ß |
German Sharp/Double S |
RightAlt+S |
Ø,ø |
O slash |
RightAlt+L |
Å,å |
A with ring/Angstrom Sign |
RightAlt+W |
Æ,æ |
AE ligature |
RightAlt+Z |
Þ,þ |
Icelandic/Old English Thorn |
RightAlt+T |
Ð,ð |
Icelandic/Old English eth |
RightAlt+D |
« » |
Spanish style quote mark |
RightAlt+[, RightAlt+] |
Currency Symbols
Character | Name | Keyboard Shortcut |
---|---|---|
¢ |
Cent sign |
Shift+RightAlt+C |
£ |
British Pound |
Shift+RightAlt+4 |
¥ |
Japanese Yen. |
RightAlt+- |
€ |
Euro Sign. |
RightAlt+5 |
¤ |
Generic Currency |
RightAlt+4 |