WD: How to Type Accented International Characters from the Keyboard (120085)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 95
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 95 7.0a
This article was previously published under Q120085

For a Microsoft Word 2000 version of this article, see 269750.
For a Microsoft Word 97 version of this article, see 196842.

SUMMARY

Microsoft Word provides a way to type international characters that contain a grave (`), acute ('), circumflex (^), umlaut (:), or tilde (~) directly from your keyboard.

For example, the following are some of the characters that can be typed with an accent directly from your keyboard:

? à Á á , â f ã " ä ^ è ? é S ê < ë O ì Í í Z î Ï ï

NOTE: The names of the various accents may be different, depending upon your language.

MORE INFORMATION

To type an accented international character, follow these steps:

Windows

  1. While holding the CTRL key, type the character that will appear above the letter.

    NOTE: To add the tilde, colon, or caret character, press CTRL+SHIFT and then type the character that will appear above the letter.

    The status bar displays "CTRL+key" where key is the key that you pressed, but nothing appears on the screen.
  2. Type the letter that you want. The accented character will appear in the document.
If you type a legitimate symbol and an ineligible letter, you hear a beep. If you press CTRL plus a symbol that is invalid, you see just the character with no symbol above it.

Macintosh

  1. While holding the OPTION key, type the character that will appear above the letter.
  2. Type the letter that you want. The new combination appears in the document.
If you type a legitimate symbol, but type an ineligible letter, the symbol and letter will be placed in the document as separate characters.

REFERENCES

Word 98 Macintosh Edition

For more information about this topic, click the Help button on the Standard toolbar and search on accent. Click the Insert symbols or special characters topic, and then click Type international characters.

Word 7.0

For more information about this topic, double-click the Help button on the Standard toolbar and search (Show Topics) on accent, or international. Select the "Creating international letters with a U.S. keyboard" topic and click the Go To button.

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/16/2005
Keywords:kbhowto kbinfo kbualink97 kbusage KB120085
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