WD: How to Enter Accented Characters from the Keyboard

• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
• Microsoft Word for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.1a

SUMMARY

Word provides a way to enter characters that take an accent grave, apostrophe, caret, colon or tilde directly from the keyboard.

For example, you can use the keyboard to type an accented "a" (an "a" with an apostrophe above it).

MORE INFORMATION

To create these combinations on screen, you can use the following symbols:

   accent acute (')
   accent grave (`)
   tilde (~)
   caret (^)
   colon (:)

   A, a, E, e, I, i, O, o, U, u, Y, y

Windows

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

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

   The status bar shows "CTRL+<key>" where <key> is the key you pressed, but nothing appears on the screen.

2. Type the desired letter.

   The new combination appears in the document.

Macintosh

1. While holding the OPTION key, type the character that will appear above the letter as indicated by the following table:

      Character above letter          Press this key
      ----------------------          --------------
   
        accent acute (')                `
        accent grave (`)                e
        tilde (~)                       n
        caret (^)                       i
        colon (:)                       u
   
   

2. Type the desired letter.

   The new combination appears in the document.

REFERENCES

Word 97 for Windows

For more information about this topic, click the Help button on the Standard toolbar and search on "accent" (without the quotation marks). Select "Insert symbols or special characters" topic and then click "Type international characters."

Word 6.x (Windows and Macintosh), 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" (without the quotation marks). Select the "Creating international letters with a U.S. keyboard" topic and click the Go To button.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q97728
   TITLE     : Using US-Int'l Keyboard Layout to Type Accented Characters