# hotkeys for umlauts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2019, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159 "2019-04-07T02:23:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![turner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@turner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turner)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/1 "2019-04-07T02:23:49Z")
I’m trying to put some German words in Excel and I need umlauts and other characters. I can use character map, but that’s a pain. Oh, and my laptop doesn’t have a number keypad so I can’t use the ascii codes (using the actual numbers doesn’t work). I even tried with the on screen keyboard and it won’t work. Is there any way to set up hotkeys or something to allow me to use a couple of key strokes to get the characters I need? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/2 "2019-04-07T02:46:18Z")
Whät ÖS änd vërsïön ärë yöü üsïng? Ön ä Mäc, yöü tÿpë ält-ü föllöwëd bÿ thë lëttër yöü wänt ït övër. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/3 "2019-04-07T02:51:04Z")
Are you using Windows? If so, you can go to the Control Panel or Settings (Time & Language) and open the Keyboard menu, which will allow you to add extra keyboard layouts, including German. Then you will be able to use the hotkeys Alt + Shift or Win + Space to switch layouts. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/4 "2019-04-07T02:52:59Z")
> [@turner](#): > > Oh, and my laptop doesn’t have a number keypad so I can’t use the ascii codes (using the actual numbers doesn’t work). In my experience, notebook computers have a dedicated key that turns some of the standard QWERTY keyboard into a numeric keypad. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/5 "2019-04-07T08:42:06Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Are you using Windows? If so, you can go to the Control Panel or Settings (Time & Language) and open the Keyboard menu, which will allow you to add extra keyboard layouts, including German. Then you will be able to use the hotkeys Alt + Shift or Win + Space to switch layouts. Or Spanish: any version of Spanish will do. The Spanish keyboard is QWERTY but the symbols you get on the shifted number keys and on the non-letter keys are different from the US and UK versions. The German keyboard is QWERTZ. To type any umlauted letter on the Spanish keyboard you use the following combination: First, shift plus one of the keys on the right of your central row (it should be the rightmost one, but check it anyway): this will produce no character. Then you type the vowel and you get its umlauted version. Type that first combination plus space: ¨ Type it followed by vowels instead of by space: äëïöü ÄËÏÖÜ If you need acute accent ´ : the first key is the same without the shift. Grave accent ` is on the QWERTY row. Circumflex accent ^ is on the same key as the grave accent. All of them are typed on the same combination mechanism. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_G](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_g/32/5080_2.png) [@Steven\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_G)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/6 "2019-04-07T12:43:28Z")
Add the United States International Keyboard layout (not sure what OS you are using, but possible in Windows). This does not change your basic keyboard at all except certain key sequences e.g. double-quote key followed by a vowel gets you an umlaut. Penalty is that if you want a double quote, then you need to hit the space bar to cancel the feature before you type the vowel. You can get all sorts of international diacriticals etc. e.g. ú, õ, é, è some instructions: [https://sites.psu.edu/symbolcodes/windows/codeint/](https://sites.psu.edu/symbolcodes/windows/codeint/) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/7 "2019-04-07T15:57:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Whät ÖS änd vërsïön ärë yöü üsïng? Ön ä Mäc, yöü tÿpë ält-ü föllöwëd bÿ thë lëttër yöü wänt ït övër. Or, on Mac, you can also hold down the letter you want modified for about a second and it will give you a menu of alternate form options (same thing happens on iOS devices like iPad and iPhone.) I’m guessing the OP has a Windows system, as that is presumably the default and I don’t think alt codes work on Mac–or at least if they do, I can’t get them to work. But I’ll put this tip out there in case it helps someone else who didn’t realize they could do this. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/8 "2019-04-07T16:45:26Z")
“Hey, pass me an umlaut!” (old typesetters’ joke). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/9 "2019-04-07T20:36:14Z")
Huh, I’d never noticed that feature before-- Is it new? The last time I noticed holding down a letter doing something, it was just typing that letter repeatedlyyyyyyyyy. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/10 "2019-04-07T20:43:05Z")
Yeah well, Windows does have it as well… on touch screens, as does Android. Definitely not on physical keyboards. ---
**Author:** ![turner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@turner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turner)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/11 "2019-04-08T03:10:22Z")
Yeah, none of these worked for me. I’m on windows 10 on a notebook that doesn’t have a keypad. I tried the English international keyboard and the key combos that were suggested in the article, but they didn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/12 "2019-04-08T05:50:51Z")
**turner** , have you tried the foreign keyboard settings? You don’t need to have a keyboard with the proper symbols printed on it, just to change the settings. First thing I do on any keyboard I get is tell it “sorry dude, I know you think you’re American/British/German/French/Swiss/Italian but you’re actually International Spanish” and from then on I can touch-type normally. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_G](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_g/32/5080_2.png) [@Steven\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_G)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/13 "2019-04-08T13:22:20Z")
> [@turner](#): > > Yeah, none of these worked for me. I’m on windows 10 on a notebook that doesn’t have a keypad. I tried the English international keyboard and the key combos that were suggested in the article, but they didn’t work. Windows 10, Surface in tablet mode, onscreen keyboard set to United States International and the key sequences work fine. Type cover keyboard works, as does an external Bluetooth keyboard. Make sure you are set to the International keyboard (windows key+space) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/14 "2019-04-08T19:31:06Z")
öëïä Press shift-’ (") followed by the letter you want. (Win 10/US int keyboard) éó (guess which combo that is) ùìòèà (you’ve guessed it) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/15 "2019-04-08T19:49:15Z")
Because you are not the only one with this problem, it is acceptable to use an extra “e” in stead of an Umlaut. überhaupt becomes ueberhaupt, München Muenchen etc. (It looks horrible, but it is better than just leaving the the dots off) ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/16 "2019-04-09T19:07:03Z")
In Word (and presumably other MS Office applications), pressing Shift plus Ctrl plus : (at the same time), followed by the vowel you want to put the dots on top of, should do the trick. ---
**Author:** ![turner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@turner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turner)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/17 "2019-04-09T20:24:09Z")
Any idea if that works in excel? (I would try it myself, but I’m on a business trip and only have my tablet ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/18 "2019-04-09T22:03:36Z")
> [@turner](#): > > Any idea if that works in excel? (I would try it myself, but I’m on a business trip and only have my tablet Yup ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/19 "2019-04-09T22:11:29Z")
[https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/306560/how-to-use-the-united-states-international-keyboard-layout-in-windows](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/306560/how-to-use-the-united-states-international-keyboard-layout-in-windows) ---
**Author:** ![MDfive21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@MDfive21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MDfive21)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotkeys-for-umlauts/832159/20 "2019-04-10T17:55:18Z")
i’ve found this page to be incredibly helpful… [https://theasciicode.com.ar/](https://theasciicode.com.ar/)