How to Type Tildes and Other Accent Marks on a Windows Computer

Trying to type a sentence or even just a single word in another language on your computer can seem difficult. Most languages, other than English, have tildes and other accent marks over some of their letters. These accent marks are not only important for pronunciation, they are important for the meaning. Many of the words will have a completely different meaning without the accents. It can cause you to be misunderstood or to even come across as insulting, if you are unable to type the accents. Even though they are not visible on your basic QWERTY keyboard, you can still type them with a few simple keys.

Make sure your number lock key is on. Most computers have a little light that lights up to signify the number lock is on.

If you have a laptop, don't worry. Many laptops have a slightly hidden number lock keypad. You do not need to go out and buy a separate number lock pad. The number lock keypad is usually hidden in your M, J, K, L, U, I, O, 7, 8, 9, keys. Those keys hold the numbers of the number lock pad keys. Look at your keyboard and look for the aforementioned keys on your keyboard. You should see numbers on the top, next to your normal keyboard letters, or they may be shown on the front side of the keys. After you become familiar with your number lock keypad on your laptop, follow the following instructions anytime you need to type accent marks.

With the number lock key on, hold down the Alt. key and type the necessary codes that follows.

For capital letters:

à - 0195

ѐ - 165

Õ - 0213

Á - 0193

É - 0201

Í - 0205

Ó - 0211

Ú - 0218

Ü - 154

For lower case letters:

ã - 0227

ñ - 164

õ - 0245

á - 160

é - 130

í - 161

ó - 162

ú - 163

ü - 129

Punctuation:

¿ - 168

¡ - 173

After you type the necessary code, release the Alt. key and the letter shown before the code will appear on your screen.

If you type often in languages that use accent marks, it could be a bit of a hassle to turn off and on your number pad and type codes. You can set your keyboard to an International keyboard for the times you need accented letters more often than just a word or two.

To set your keyboard to an International Keyboard: Open up your Control Panel and double click to open the Regional and Languages option (Clock, Language, Region in Windows Vista.) In the new window click the Languages tab, then click the details button. This will bring up another window. Click the add button. In the window it brings bring down the Keyboard IME bring down menu, select United States - International. Select ok, then apply. This will apply a little bar on your computer screen which will allow you to switch between your normal default and the International keyboard.

When the International keyboard is running, you will need to hit the space bar after you hit the apostrophe key, to be able to type an apostrophe. The apostrophe key will now act as a quick key, that will help you quickly type accent marks, without codes.

To type most of the accents you do not need to hold down the keys, with the exception to punctuation.

To type an á: press the apostrophe key, release, then press the letter 'a' key.

á: type ' then a

é: type ' then e

í: type ' then i

ó: type ' then o

ú: type ' then u

ñ: hold shift, press ~ then n

ü: hold shift press " then u

To type capitals, you only need to use the caps lock key, like you normally would.

Punctuation:

¡: hold Alt. press !

¿: hold Alt. press ?