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- Student Computing Labs
- Activate the International Keyboard
- Codes for Letters with Accents – (e.g. ó, ò, ñ)
- Other Foreign Characters – (e.g. ç, ¿, ß)
- Currency Symbols – (e.g. ¢, £, ¥)
- Math Symbols – (e.g. ±, °, ÷)
- Other Punctuation – (e.g. &, ©, §)
- Links to External References
NOTE: For these codes, it is important to distinguish the Alt key (LeftAlt) key on the left side of the keyboard from the Alt key (RightAlt) on the right side of the keyboard.
Student Computing Labs
Follow the instructions below to activate different keyboards as needed. They will remain active in your profile between logins, although you will need to reactivate the Language Bar in the Control Panel each time you log in. See the Windows Computing Lab page to see which operating system is in the labs.
Activate the International Keyboard (Windows 7)
Windows10 | Windows XP | Macintosh
Windows 7/Vista
- Go to the Start (Windows icon) menu on the lower left and select Control Panel.
- Click Clock, Language and Region, then Regional and Language Options.
- While in the Regional and Language Options control panel, click on the Languages tab, then the Details button.
- Click the Add button and select English from the Input Language pull down menu.
- Place a check in the Keyboard layout/IME box and select one of the following from the dropdown menu.
- United State International
- You can also select the U.K., Canadian or Dvorak keyboards from this menu.
See Detailed Windows 7/Vista Instructions for complete instructions with screen capture images.
- In the top dropdown menu, you have the option of selecting the international keyboard as the default keyboard for all Windows applications.
- Click the OK buttons until you have exited the control panels – this will save the changes in your Profile.
- To use the International keyboard, open any Windows application then make sure the Language Bar menu on te top is set to EN and that the secondary keyboard menu is set to United States International.
Note: If you do not see a secondary menu, click the option for Language Bar. The switcher will be relocated to the top of the page.
Codes for Letters with Accents
This table is organized by Accent type. The sample shows a letter with that accent, and the Notes present any special comments about using that accent.
For the Template, the symbol "V" means any vowel.
| ACCENT | SAMPLE | TEMPLATE | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acute | ó Ó | ‘, V | ‘ = apostrophe key |
| Circumflex | ô Ô | Shift+^, V | |
| Grave | ò Ò | `, V | |
| Tilde | ñ Ñ | Shift+~, V | Only works with n,N,o,O,a,A |
| Umlaut | ö Ö | ", V | "= quote key |
Example 1: To type the letter ó – Type the apostrophe key (‘), then O For capital Ó, type the apostrophe, then capital O.
Other Foreign Characters
For most of these, you will use the RightAlt key on the right side of the keyboard, not the LeftAlt key.
| SYMBOL | NAME | CODE |
|---|---|---|
| ¡ | Upside-down exclamation point | RightAlt+1 |
| ¿ | Upside-down question mark | RightAlt+? |
| Ç,ç | FrenchC cedille (caps/uppercase) | Shift+RightAlt+< RightAlt+< OR ‘, C and ‘, Shift+C |
| Œ,œ | French oe liagature – there is no code. Use the combination "oe" instead. | — |
| ß | German Sharp/Double S | RightAlt+S |
| Ø,ø | Oslash (caps/lowecase) | Shift+RightAlt+L RightAlt+L |
| Å,å | A with ring/Angstrom Sign (caps/lowercase) | Shift+RightAlt+W RightAlt+W |
| Æ,æ | AE ligature (caps/lowercase) | Shift+RightAlt+Z RightAlt+Z |
| Þ,þ | Icelandic/OldEnglishThorn(caps/lowercase) | RightAlt+T Shift+RightAlt+T |
| Ð,ð | Icelandic/Old English eth | RightAlt+D Shift+RightAlt+D |
| « » | This is Spanish style quote mark. | RightAlt+[ RightAlt+] |
Example 1: To input Spanish upside down exclamation point ¡
(RightAlt+1), hold down the RightAlt, then the 1 key. Release both keys, and the ¡ punctuation will appear.
Example 2: To input capital French C cedilla Ç (Shift+RightAlt+<), hold down the Shift key, then the RightAlt key, then the < key. Release all three keys, and the letter will appear.
Example 1: To input Spanish upside down exclamation point ¡ (RightAlt+1), hold down the RightAlt, then the 1 key. Release both keys, and the ¡ punctuation will appear.
Example 2: To input capital French C cedilla Ç (Shift+RightAlt+<), hold down the Shift key, then the RightAlt key, then the < key. Release all three keys, and the letter will appear.
Currency Symbols
| SYMBOL | NAME | CODE |
|---|---|---|
| ¢ | Cent sign | Shift+RightAlt+C |
| £ | British Pound | Shift+RightAlt+4 |
| ¥ | Japanese Yen. – = minus key | RightAlt+- |
| € | Euro Sign. | RightAlt+5 |
| ¤ | Generic Currency | RightAlt+4 |
Math Symbols
| SYMBOL | NAME | CODE |
|---|---|---|
| ÷ | Division sign | Shift+RightAlt++ Shift, RightAlt, then the plus key. |
| ° | Degree symbol | Shift+RightAlt+: Shift,RightAlt,thenthecolonkey. |
| ¬ | Not symbol | RightAlt+\ |
| µ | Micro | RightAlt+M |
Other Punctuation
| SYMBOL | NAME | CODE |
|---|---|---|
| © | Copyright symbol | RightAlt+C |
| ® | Registered symbol | RightAlt+R |
| ¶ | Paragraph Symbol. | RightAlt+; |
| § | Section Symbol | Shift+RightAlt+S |
Links to External References
These are links to alternate instructions for inputting accents and other characters with the International Keyboard.
- Microsoft (switch to International Keyboard)
- Windows 10
- Bowdoin University (Codes and Installation)
- Washington State U (Codes)
Top of Page
Windows Setup
- ALT Codes
- International Keyboard Codes
- Non-English Keyboards
- Character Map
Mac Setup
- Option Accent Codes
- Extended Accent Codes
- Non-English Keyboards
- Symbol/Character Viewer
