How to Type Accent Marks
Accent marks and diacritics are essential for proper spelling in many languages including French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese. Here's how to type accented characters on every platform.
Last reviewed on October 3, 2026.
Quick Reference
Windows
Hold Alt and type the code on the numeric keypad, or use the International Keyboard.
é = Alt + 0233
Or: Right Alt + vowel
Mac
Hold Option + accent key, then type the letter.
é = Option + E, then E
Or: Long-press letter key
Linux
Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type the Unicode hex code, press Enter.
é = Ctrl + Shift + U, 00E9, Enter
HTML
Use HTML entities for accented characters.
é = é, à = à
Mac: Option Key Combinations
Acute accent (é): Option + E, then the letter
Grave accent (à): Option + `, then the letter
Circumflex (â): Option + I, then the letter
Umlaut/diaeresis (ü): Option + U, then the letter
Tilde (ñ): Option + N, then the letter
Cedilla (ç): Option + C
Windows: Common Alt Codes
á Alt + 0225
à Alt + 0224
â Alt + 0226
ä Alt + 0228
ã Alt + 0227
é Alt + 0233
è Alt + 0232
ê Alt + 0234
ë Alt + 0235
í Alt + 0237
ì Alt + 0236
î Alt + 0238
ï Alt + 0239
ñ Alt + 0241
ó Alt + 0243
ò Alt + 0242
ô Alt + 0244
ö Alt + 0246
Microsoft Word Accent Shortcuts
These work in Word and Outlook on Windows: press the first combination, release, then type the letter. Add Shift to the letter for capitals.
| Accent | Shortcut | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Acute | Ctrl + ' , then letter | á é í ó ú |
| Grave | Ctrl + ` , then letter | à è ì ò ù |
| Circumflex | Ctrl + Shift + ^ , then letter | â ê î ô û |
| Umlaut | Ctrl + Shift + : , then letter | ä ë ï ö ü |
| Tilde | Ctrl + Shift + ~ , then letter | ã ñ õ |
| Cedilla | Ctrl + , , then c | ç |
US-International Keyboard (Windows)
Windows includes a United States-International layout (Settings → Time & language → Language & region → your language → Keyboards). The quote, backtick, tilde and caret keys become "dead keys": press one, then a letter.
'thene→ é- backtick key then
a→ à "thenu→ ü~thenn→ ñ^theno→ ô- AltGr + , → ç; AltGr + s → ß
- To type a plain apostrophe or quote, press the key followed by Space.
More Alt Codes
| Char | Alt code | Char | Alt code |
|---|---|---|---|
| ú | Alt + 0250 | Ú | Alt + 0218 |
| ù | Alt + 0249 | û | Alt + 0251 |
| ü | Alt + 0252 | Ü | Alt + 0220 |
| ç | Alt + 0231 | Ç | Alt + 0199 |
| É | Alt + 0201 | Ñ | Alt + 0209 |
| ß | Alt + 0223 | œ | Alt + 0156 |
The complete table, including capitals and other symbols, is on the Alt codes list.
Phones & Press-and-Hold
- iPhone / iPad and Android: press and hold a letter (e, a, u, n, c…) and slide to the accented version.
- Mac: press and hold a letter key in most apps to get the same accent menu; press the number shown to choose.
Common Languages Using Accents
- French: é, è, ê, ë, à, â, î, ï, ô, ù, û, ü, ç
- Spanish: á, é, í, ó, ú, ü, ñ
- German: ä, ö, ü, ß
- Portuguese: á, â, ã, à, ç, é, ê, í, ó, ô, õ, ú
- Italian: à, è, é, ì, ò, ó, ù
Technical Details
é Unicode: U+00E9 (Latin Small Letter E with Acute)
à Unicode: U+00E0 (Latin Small Letter A with Grave)
ü Unicode: U+00FC (Latin Small Letter U with Diaeresis)
ñ Unicode: U+00F1 (Latin Small Letter N with Tilde)
Range: Most common accents are in Unicode Latin-1 Supplement (U+0080 to U+00FF)