How to type accent marks

[Tomisimo]

Dealing with accent marks
~ a.k.a. How to type accent marks on the computer ~


On Windows

Option one: "Alt Codes"
Learn the "Alt codes" or ASCII codes for each accented letter that you need to type. This is kind of clumsy, but when I was taking Spanish classes, and needed to type my papers and stuff on different computers, knowing these codes was a lifesaver at times. The codes are:

Hold down Alt and type the number on the numpad


{||}Code | Letter it produces
{|}Alt + 160 | á
{|}Alt + 130 | é
{|}Alt + 161 | í
{|}Alt + 162 | ó
{|}Alt + 163 | ú
{|}Alt + 164 | ñ
{|}Alt + 129 | ü
{|}Alt + 0193 | Á
{|}Alt + 144 | É
{|}Alt + 0205 | Í
{|}Alt + 0211 | Ó
{|}Alt + 0218 | Ú
{|}Alt + 165 | Ñ
{|}Alt + 154 | Ü
{|}Alt + 168 | ¿
{|}Alt + 173 | ¡


Option two: Typing in Word
If you do your word processing in Word, there are some built-in shortcuts.

For the letters with an accent mark, (áéíóú)

Ctrl + ‘, then the letter
That is, Hold down Ctrl and press the apostrophe key, then release them and press the letter you want

For the capital letters with an accent mark, (ÁÉÍÓÚ)

Ctrl + ‘, then Shift + the letter
That is, Hold down Ctrl and press the apostrophe key, then release them and hold down shift and press the letter you want.

For the umlaut (üÜ)

Ctrl + :, then u => ü
Ctrl + :, then U => Ü

There are also menu options for inserting special characters into a Word document.

Option three: Install a Spanish Keyboard on your computer
This is by far the best option and the one I use, and it's not hard to do. This allows you to easily type all the special characters in any program.

Basically just go to Start => Settings => Control Panel => Keyboard and double-click on Keyboard. This will open up the Keyboard properties dialog box where you can add an "input locale", choose ES Spanish International
Now you will be able to type the chars by simple pressing the single apostrophe key once (nothing will happen/appear), and then press the vowel you want an accent mark over. the ñ is produced with the semi-colon key, and to produce the umlauted u (ü), hold down shift while pressing the apostrophe key and then press the u.

[Zach]

I was thinking about typing this up myself but you beat me to it (and did a better job than I would ;))

Well done, and thank you!

[Tomisimo]

I had a lot of fun with the formatting, but man, I spent over 30 minutes doing it. Anyways, I hope it helps someone. I used to carry a little card I printed in my wallet with the Alt codes. Something like this:

http://img304.imageshack.us/img304/4268/altcodes7zs.gif

Anyway, I'm sure there's a lot of things I missed too. :)

[Neophyte]

Thanks tomisimo, that's really cool. I'm going to print out the codes to carry with me now.

[shruti]

It doesn't do anything. D:

Whyever not?

Press and hold alt, and then type in order the numbers? It isn't working. *sigh*

I'll just copy-'n'-paste from Word (like always), then.

[Tomisimo]

It doesn't do anything. D:

Whyever not?

Press and hold alt, and then type in order the numbers? It isn't working. *sigh*

I'll just copy-'n'-paste from Word (like always), then.

Are you trying to use them, for example in the text field to post here? I know if Firefox they don't work because when you press Alt Firefox thinks you are using the keyboard shortcuts for the menus. In internet Explorer it does work, as well as in Word/Notepad etc. Where we you trying to use the alt codes when they didn't work?

[Zach]

You have to use the keypad on the right for the alt codes to work, it won't work with the numbers above the letter keys. I use firefox and it works just fine. Make sure Num Lock is on too.

[Tomisimo]

OK, my problem was I had the Google toolbar installed in Firefox and with Alt + Numbers it jumped up to the search box. Without the toolbar it should work fine. :)

[shruti]

Oh, num lock must be on, eh? I think that's where my difficulties were. Let's try this again...

á

Yay! How exciting.

[Tomisimo]

Oh, num lock must be on, eh? I think that's where my difficulties were. Let's try this again...

á

Yay! How exciting.
If you know how to modify your computer's BIOS settings, there's usually a setting to have the numlock be on when the computer boots up. :)

[atnbueno]

I've found that in several keyboards AltGr+4 and a space inserts a "~". If instead of a space I press "n", I get a "ñ".

I have accents and Ñs, even çs, in my keyboard, but no ~ :P

[Tomisimo]

I've found that in several keyboards AltGr+4 and a space inserts a "~". If instead of a space I press "n", I get a "ñ".

I have accents and Ñs, even çs, in my keyboard, but no ~ :P
Good trick, hadn't seen that one before.


And for those of you who don't have the AltGr key on your keyboard, just use the Alt key to the right of the spacebar. :)

[Neophyte]

What's the Altgr key? Why is it called that?

[atnbueno]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AltGr

[redbeard]

I didn't understand the Alt Gr + 4 business, but here's a semi-useful tip that should work in both Windows and Linux systems. If you hold down the Alt Gr key and then type a vowel, you'll get the vowel with an accent over it. If you do this with the Caps Lock on, or in combination with the Shift key, you'll get an accented capital vowel. Thus [Alt Gr] + [o] should give you ó.

Doesn't seem to work with other letters, though! :(:)

[redbeard]

I didn't understand the Alt Gr + 4 business
Maybe it doesn't work for me because on UK keyboards Alt Gr + 4 is what you type for the euro symbol (€)?

[Tomisimo]

Thanks for the tip redbeard, I´ve been playing around with Ubuntu Linux a bit, and one of the things I still need to figure out is how to easily type the Spanish characters.

[Jessica]

my laptop doesn't have those num key pad things.

[chileno]

my laptop doesn't have those num key pad things.

does your laptop have numbers on the u i o j k l keys?

If yes then you also have an Fn key somewhere around the CRTL ALT keys.

If you press and keep pressed that Fn and the ALT keys while typig the u i o j k l keys, you'll have accented letters.

[CrOtALiTo]

my laptop doesn't have those num key pad things.

But you can get them in any informatics's store where you live.

It's very easy to install even you have turn on the laptop, because it's for USB's ports.