Typing on a Mac

It is very easy to type many accented letters and characters on a Mac. The default typing method allows you to type all of the characters listed below. To type those charcters you will just need to press a quick combination of keys, as shown in the table. There are some additional characters you can type if you learn how to use the on-screen keyboard or IMEs. All of these characters can be typed the same way anywhere on your Mac (i.e. email, folder names, Word, etc.)

Macintosh Key Combinations

Table Notes:

When the keys are separated by the plus (+) sign, press and hold down the keys one after another in order, then release. If the two sets of keys are separated by a comma (,) release all the keys in front of the comma before pressing the second set.

To create "á" for example, you would press and hold down the option key, then hit the "e" button. This will cause an acute accent ( ´ ) to appear on the screen. Release all keys, then press the "a" to add the "a" below the accent.