Accents and Foreign Characters in Word
Wether it’s a name like Siân or a word like résumé there are many occassions when we need to add an accent or a foreign character. Of course, we could use Insert|Symbol but it gets a bit tedious if you need to add an accent or foreign character frequently.
There is a quicker, easier way using the keyboard as follows:
NB the “+” denotes hold down keys together not press the plus/equals key
Acute accent such as é or á – ctrl + ‘ (apostrophe) then the letter.
Grave accent such as è or ù – ctrl + ` (the key to the left of 1) then the letter.
Circumflex such as â – ctrl+shift+^ then the letter.
Cedilla as in garçon – ctrl+, then the letter
Umlaut such as ü – ctrl+shift+; (semi-colon) then the letter
Tilde such as ñ – ctrl+shift+~ then the letter
This may seem like a daunting list but, like most keyboard shortcuts, those who need to use them frequently will soon use them almost unconsciously.
