Filed under: Mac 101
Mac 101: Typing accents, remember the option key
Apple has a nice tip up this week on typing letters with non-English accent marks. As they point out you can use the Character Palette, but there's a much easier way that many of us often don't remember to use via the option key. To type an accent you just need to hit an option key combo then the letter that you want to take the accent. So for example, to type an umlaut hit option+u then the u to get ü. To type an acute it's option+e then e to get é; for a grave it's option+` then a to get à. The Apple tip lists all of these handy key combos plus a bunch more.
If you often find yourself typing accented characters you'll end up saving a lot of time by memorizing these combos. And even if you don't remember them exactly, you can probably figure out the one you need if you just experiment with the option key.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tom Waterhouse said 2:17PM on 9-29-2007
Bring back KeyCaps! I'm sure there's an alternative around, but I used it to learn these handy tips long ago
Reply
Andre said 2:20PM on 9-29-2007
That's the one thing I missed the most from switching from Windows to Mac almost two years ago - no alt+### accents. I am amazed that this is the first time I've ever heard of such a feature...
Reply
Adam said 2:38PM on 9-29-2007
Tom, if you have the Input menu turned on in the "International" system preference, you can easily access Keyboard Viewer, which gives you a mini-representation of your keyboard. Hold down the option key and look at all the options!
Now if only there were a way to user-define these so I can have easy access to logic symbols…
Reply
serenity said 3:04PM on 9-29-2007
Shift+Option+ gives a bunch of nice characters as well (mostly science-related stuff rather than text, though).
Reply
hourog said 3:35PM on 9-29-2007
Is there any way to input a "control" function? i.e. cntrl-F
With control functions, Google Docs, ZOHO, and editgrid can be used as repositories for information which can then be accessed from Safari.
Reply
Cameron said 3:49PM on 9-29-2007
Popchart still works wonders... http://www.macility.com/products/popcharx/
Reply
chief said 4:14PM on 9-29-2007
Why the hell do they give examples like "übermensch" and "götterdämmerung" for the German umlaut? These are words typically used by Wagner-loving nazis 60 years ago. Bad examples!
Reply
Andres said 4:26PM on 9-29-2007
What about fractions?
I know there's a shortcut to convert plain (1/2) fractions to one like ¾, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.
Also, does anyone know the shortcuts to subscript and superscript?
Reply
Galley said 4:58PM on 9-29-2007
My favorite band is Blue Öyster Cult.
My favorite movie is Amélie.
My favorite city is Montréal.
All hail the option key!
Reply
Joey said 5:46PM on 9-29-2007
Ah yes, I found this out by accident when I first switched last year, and since then, typing in French has been très facile. I remembered my teacher giving out sheets of paper with the windows keyboard shortcuts on them (eg. Alt+0234), and I've never been happier typing out accents on a Mac as it's definitely more intuitive than a bunch of random numbers.
@chief: People still use the word Götterdämmerung, as it is the name of Wagner's opera. What else would you suggest we call it? G*************g??
Reply
MacBookOwner said 7:19PM on 9-29-2007
Nice. The new iPhone update also allows for accented characters now-just hold down the key, and you get a popup with choices.
Reply
mare said 9:33PM on 9-29-2007
If you own (or buy) a Matias keyboard you don't have to remember the Option key combos for accented characters, since they are printed right on the keys. Just as the Option-Shift shortcuts. very handy when you live in a bi-lingual city like Montréal.
Reply
mare said 9:36PM on 9-29-2007
Oops, the URL didn't work, I shouldn't have used html.
Matias Tactile Pro keyboard
http://matias.ca/tactilepro2/index.php
Reply
Tyler G said 9:42PM on 9-29-2007
don't forget opt+n for ñ!!! very important for spanish, right along with á é í ó ú and ü (yes ü is used in spanish)!
Reply
Yayo said 12:28AM on 9-30-2007
I found ages ago when I switched a keyboard layout for English international that allows you to use your keyboard like god intended! to type é you just tipe '+e è is just `+e ü is shift+'+u
Much much simpler than option e plus e for é or whatever... google it, its English international keyboard layout for mac.
Reply
Alancito said 3:41AM on 9-30-2007
There's a free, handy CharacterPal widget here:
http://www.tacowidgets.com/widgets/characterpal/
...mouseover the character and the key combo appears.
Reply
Guillaume said 5:30AM on 9-30-2007
Hi,
Perhaps I'm stupid, but on my 2 macs this doesnot work. I
typecontrol key, then with the control key still pressed, I type e,
but I get a greek letter. What is wrong? How can you do it ?
Reply
mentalsticks said 5:43AM on 9-30-2007
@Yayo i am very interested in what you are writing but I can't seem to find what you mean or what i should do on google... could you please elaborate a bit?
Reply
pierre said 6:13AM on 9-30-2007
I am still disappointed with the Unix/Linux/OSX way of working with accents. Microsoft simply does a much better job: hit the accent key and immediately after hit the required character to be combined with the accentkey. It's almost the same as with the old typing machines we used ages ago. By this means you don't need to remember anything, just select the proper character set like US international, dutch, german, ...
I definetly prefer Apple/OSX but still don't understand why people keep on strugling with the accents while a perfect approach is available for years already with Microsoft. I am sure lots of people would be willing to pay a couple of bucks to get the same working with OSX.
Reply
HandyMac said 9:11AM on 9-30-2007
@Guillaume: Not sure what you're trying to do with the control key. If you want accented letters with the standard U.S. keyboard, you use the option key, e.g. option-e + e = é, and so on. Open Mac Help and search for "accent" to get an explanation. The ability to type common Western European accented letters on the standard U.S. keyboard using the option key has been part of the Mac OS since the original Mac in 1984. For more in-depth information about international Mac use, see "Unleash Your Multilingual Mac":
http://homepage.mac.com/thgewecke/mlingos9.html
Reply