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
• Keyboard layout configuration
• Using the Keyboard Viewer

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.

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Keyboard layout configuration

To configure additional keyboard layouts in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard):

1. From the Apple menu, select System Preferences... .
   
   
2. In System Preferences, from the View menu, select International.
   
   
3. From the Input Menu tab, 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.
   
   
4. 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.

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Using the Keyboard Viewer

You can use the Keyboard Viewer to see how modifier keys and different keyboard layouts affect the characters you type:

1. From the Apple menu, select System Preferences... .
   
   
2. In System Preferences, from the View menu, select International.
   
   
3. Select the Input Menu tab, and then check the box next to Keyboard 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.
   
   
4. 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.

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Also see:

• What are character sets?
• In Mac OS X, how do I install fonts?