When typing in Spanish – use the following tips to insert Spanish accents on your Mac or PC
I used to use a PC and when I was typing Spanish characters into a Word document it was a cinch. I had it all figured out with a special [Ctl + Alt + ‘ + vowel] keyboard combination that would produce accented vowels. It was more complicated for producing the upside down punctuation like: the exclamation point ¡, and the question mark ¿, but this trick only worked when typing in a Word document, it didn’t help if I needed to insert a special character into Excel, or somewhere online within a browser.
We’re beginning to offer some Spanish courses online, so we knew we needed to have an easy explanation for our clients. So, here is how you can insert special characters into almost any document or program online with just a few quick keystrokes:
Spanish characters for MAC users
Mac users: No estrés, this is pretty simple. You’re going to use your Option key to make special characters:
- Any accented vowel (á, é, í, ó, ú): [Option “e” + vowel]
- Making the ñ: [Option “n” + “n”]
- Making the uncommon ü: [Option “u”, u]
- Making the upside down exclamation point ¡: [Option 1]
- Making the upside down question mark ¿: [Option ?]
Spanish characters on Windows 10 / 11:
PC users Respire profundo – this is a little complicated. You have to make sure your computer’s language is set to “United States International” or a Spanish language keyboard before you can type special characters in Spanish super quickly. Here is how you can do it:
- Click on Start and open settings (gear icon)
- Click “time & language”
- Click “region & language”
- Click on the language that your device is currently set at
- Click “options”
- Click + to add a new keyboard; you can add either “United States International” or a Spanish language keyboard (ie: “Spanish Mexico” or “Spanish Latin America”)
- Close out of settings
- Choose the language pack you chose (ie: ENG INTL or ESP) in your Window’s task bar on the bottom right.
- Now use the ‘ (apostrophe) key on the Spanish keyboard, which will be where these [{ symbols on a physical American keyboard. Type it simultaneously with any vowel to get an accented vowel:
- á = ‘ + a
- é = ‘ + e
- í = ‘ + i
- ó = ‘ + o
- ú = ‘ + u
- ñ = ~ + n
- ü = ” + u
It’s been two years now. I still have not mastered this Spanish keyboard concept, which adds endless frustration and delays my replies in the class, as I must go outside to Spanish.typeit.org to create my reply, then copy and paste. Rory says “Now use the ‘ (apostrophe) key on the Spanish keyboard, which will be where these [{ symbols on a physical American keyboard. Type it simultaneously with any vowel to get an accented vowel:” . . . . . I have enough trouble figuring out the verb tenses. Can you refer me to a Spanish keyboard for dummies YouTube video or something?
Puedo type special characters en mi laptop (una PC) pero el proceso no sirve cuando estoy en linea. Por ejemplo, si quiero poner un acento en “está” y uso ctrl+acento +a o alt+0225 no regresa nada. Siempre debo escribir en Word y luego copiar y pegar en email o aquí. ¿Cómo puedo escribir aquí o en email directamente usando los caracteres especiales?
Hmmm, es raro lo que está sucediéndote, Jeanie… ¿Qué navegador estás usando? Desde Chrome probé los códigos en mi PC y funcionó, pero tendría que chequear por qué no te permite …
Gracias por su repuesto. Uso Chrome. En mi PC, no uso códicos, sino uso CTRL+’ y luego la letra. Traté a usar codicos y no sirve. Ahora, descargué el teclado de español y sirve bien pero es un poco molesto a cambiarlo depende en que idioma estoy escribiendo. Por ahora, está bien. Voy a pedir la ayuda de los maestros cuando llegamos a Costa Rica.
Thank you for the resource. I have the Spanish keyboard, but I struggle with the ñ, but not anymore, because I´ve memorized alt+0241
yay! that’s great!😁
i have windows 11 on this PC, which instructions should I follow?
¡Hola, Natalie!
It’s similar to Windows 10.
You can use this shortcuts as well:
á: Alt + 0225
é: Alt + 0233
í: Alt + 0237
ó: Alt + 0243
ú: Alt + 0250
ñ: Alt + 0241
¡: Alt + 0161
¿: Alt + 0191
Muchas palabras . . . . agüío, aragüirá, etnolingüística, sociolingüístico, güegüero. . . . No las conozco. Me divierto practicando.
¡Qué bien, Jeanette! 😁🙌🏽
Esa es la idea, que aprender sea divertido 😊
¡finalmente! ¡ puedo hacerlo! Graciás por compartir esta información
¡Qué alegría, Tracy! 😁🙌🏽
Magnífico! ¡Muchas gracias, Rory! Tengo Windows 11 y las instrucciones estan casi lo mismo que windows 10. Hay tres puntos al lado de “English”. Necesita clic ahí para agregar el keyboard United States-International.
¡Gracias! Knew I could return here to find these instructions. Great reference/refresher.
Hello! I tried to change my configuration on my Windows 10, but it does not give me the option to change the keyboard setting. Do you have any other sequence or recommendation?
I also tried looking online but not coming up with anything that is allowing me to use the characters properly.
Hi Sara! I just got a new computer and I’m in the same boat. Will see if I can figure something out early next week. Will keep you posted!
También puedes usar este sitio web: https://spanish.typeit.org/
What about on a ThinkPad? The only way to create special characters on my laptop that I know about is to go all the way to google docs and type click on the special characters and then copy the special characters from the google docs to the page I am on. Is there an easier way to do this on a ThinkPad?
Hi Ellison, your Lenovo Thinkpad should be running windows, right? In that case, just follow the instructions for Windows OS above.
And, on an iPad or iPhone you can go to Settings, General, Keyboard and add a Spanish keyboard. When typing, keeping you finger on a specific key gives options for that key like accents, ñ, ¿, and ¡.
Yes that’s right Karyn, it’s pretty easy on mobile devices.