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How to Type Accents on Windows 11
The quickest ways are to use the Emoji Panel or the virtual keyboard
5 min. read
Updated onOctober 5, 2023
updated onOctober 5, 2023
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Key notes
When you’re writing in English and have an English keyboard, every character you’re using is right there but if you want to type accents or special characters in other languages such as French or Spanish, things are a bit more complicated.
A Windows 11 special characters keyboard is the emoji board that you can also use for inserting kaomoji symbols and special characters.
The article below will show you a lot of options to type accents on Windows 11 and how to add any special characters you may need.
How do you type special characters on Windows 11 keyboard?
1. Using the Emoji Panel
We chose the Latin symbols category, but you may also select punctuations, currency symbols, geometric symbols, math symbols, and other special language symbols, etc.
If you just want to add some French accent letters in Windows 11, the emoji keyboard might be the quickest way, without installing any software or update. However, if you’re looking for other ways how to type French accents on Windows 11, continue with the solutions below.
2. Using the virtual keyboard
For instance, right-clicking and holding on the letter n is how to type ñ in Windows 11. There are a lot of special language characters, symbols, and letters with diacritical marks on the screen keyboard but not all of them have some.
3. Using the character map
4. Install a different keyboard layout
If you need to write a lot in other languages such as French, Spanish, German, or even Chinese, you need to install its keyboard layout and the language.
We have a complete guide on how toinstall a new keyboard layout on Windows 11and new languages that will help you with that.
After you install the language and keyboard, you’re still stuck with your English physical keyboard but on it, you will find the special character from the new keyboard layout.
For instance, probably the most annoying part when you install a French keyboard layout on an English physical keyboard is that the letters Y and Z are in reversed positions.
Common Spanish accents on Windows 11
If you want to know how to type Spanish ñ on Windows or letters with a circumflex accent, note that you can also do so with shortcuts on your keyboard:
Common French accents on Windows 11
The circumflex French accent is identical to the one from Spanish, presented above.
We also have a very useful article listing a lot ofWindows 11 keyboard shortcutsyou may use.
Typing accents using their Alt codes on Windows 11
Above, in Solution 3, we explained how to add the special characters from the Character Map.
However, if you noticed, every character has its own Alt code. That means you can add it directly by pressing theAltkey and typing the code fast on your numeric keypads.
For instance, to type à from French, you may also pressAlt+0224. This way, you can learn the key codes for some of the special characters you are using more often and insert them directly from your keyboard.
We conclude here and we hope that our guide helped you learn how to type accents on Windows 11 and a lot more.
You may also be interested in reading our guide onhow to type accents in Windows 10.
If you have any questions or might want to suggest different approaches, the comments section below will help you leave us a note.
More about the topics:keyboard,Windows 11
Claudiu Andone
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Oldtimer in the tech and science press, Claudiu is focused on whatever comes new from Microsoft.
His abrupt interest in computers started when he saw the first Home Computer as a kid. However, his passion for Windows and everything related became obvious when he became a sys admin in a computer science high school.
With 14 years of experience in writing about everything there is to know about science and technology, Claudiu also likes rock music, chilling in the garden, and Star Wars. May the force be with you, always!
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Claudiu Andone
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Oldtimer in the tech and science press, with 14 years of experience in writing on everything there is to know about science, technology, and Microsoft
