In Mac OS X, how can I type foreign language characters?
In Mac OS X, to type many common diacritics and accent
marks, you can use the Option key. For others, you may
need to switch keyboard layouts or install additional fonts. You can
use the Keyboard Viewer with both methods to see what characters you
can currently type.
On this page:
Option key combinations
This table shows the most common keystrokes for typing accented
characters. Keystrokes with the [letter] placeholder
require two sets of keypresses; first, type the Option key
combination, and then type the letter you want to modify.
| Keystroke | Character |
|---|---|
Option-e [letter] |
acute (e.g., á) |
Option-` [letter] |
grave (e.g., è) |
Option-i [letter] |
circumflex (e.g., î ) |
Option-u [letter] |
umlaut (e.g., ï ) |
Option-q |
oe ligature ( ) |
Option-c |
cedilla ( ç ) |
Option-n n |
the Spanish "enyay" ( ñ ) |
Option-Shift-/ (forward slash) |
upside-down question mark ( ¿ ) |
Option-1 (the number 1) |
upside-down exclamation point ( ¡ ) |
Keyboard layout configuration
To configure additional keyboard layouts in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard):
- From the Apple menu, select
System Preferences....
- In System Preferences, from the
Viewmenu, selectInternational.
- From the
Input Menutab, in the list of languages and keyboard layouts, check the ones you would like to use. If you would like to use the Keyboard Viewer, check it near the top of the list. For details, see Using the Keyboard Viewer.
- Close System Preferences.
Once you have chosen other keyboard layouts, a flag will appear on the right side of the menu bar representing the current layout. To use a different layout, click the flag, and then select it from the pull-down menu.
Using the Keyboard Viewer
You can use the Keyboard Viewer to see how modifier keys and different keyboard layouts affect the characters you type:
- From the Apple menu, select
System Preferences....
- In System Preferences, from the
Viewmenu, selectInternational.
- Select the
Input Menutab, and then check the box next toKeyboard Viewer. A flag should appear in the menu bar in the upper right corner of your screen. The type of flag you see depends on the language you selected to be your default.
- Click the flag icon in the menu bar, and from the menu that drops
down, select
Show Keyboard Viewer.
The Keyboard Viewer window
contains a virtual keyboard that shows the characters associated with
different keys. You can see what characters are created when you
hold down modifier keys like Option, Shift,
and Cmd. To see the effect using different
fonts, in the Keyboard Viewer window, select the font
from the pop-up menu next to "Font:".
Many fonts in OS X contain special characters for additional
diacritics. To access these special characters, within the application
you are currently using, open the Font panel (usually from a
Show Fonts option in the application's menus), and in the
window that opens, look for the gear widget button. This button has an
image of a small round gear with a downward-pointing triangle next to
it. Click this button, and from the menu that appears, select
Characters... .
You can also download the PopChar utility, which displays a drop-down sheet containing all the current font's characters when you click an icon in the menu bar. For more, see the Ergonis PopChar X page.
Also see:
Last modified on May 13, 2009.






