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  1. Student Computing Labs
  2. Activate the International Keyboard
  3. Codes for Letters with Accents – (e.g. ó, ò, ñ)
  4. Other Foreign Characters – (e.g. ç, ¿, ß)
  5. Currency Symbols – (e.g. ¢, £, ¥)
  6. Math Symbols – (e.g. ±, °, ÷)
  7. Other Punctuation – (e.g. &, ©, §)
  8. Links to External References

NOTE: For these codes, it is important to distinguish the Alt key (LeftAlt) key on the left side of the keyboard from the Alt key (RightAlt) on the right side of the keyboard.

Student Computing Labs

Follow the instructions below to activate different keyboards as needed. They will remain active in your profile between logins, although you will need to reactivate the Language Bar in the Control Panel each time you log in. See the Windows Computing Lab page to see which operating system is in the labs.

Activate the International Keyboard (Windows 7)

Windows 7/Vista

  1. Go to the Start (Windows icon) menu on the lower left and select Control Panel.
  2. Click Clock, Language and Region, then Regional and Language Options.
  3. While in the Regional and Language Options control panel, click on the Languages tab, then the Details button.
  4. Click the Add button and select English from the Input Language pull down menu.
  5. Place a check in the Keyboard layout/IME box and select one of the following from the dropdown menu.
    1. United State International
    2. You can also select the U.K., Canadian or Dvorak keyboards from this menu.
    See Detailed Windows 7/Vista Instructions for complete instructions with screen capture images.
  6. In the top dropdown menu, you have the option of selecting the international keyboard as the default keyboard for all Windows applications.
  7. Click the OK buttons until you have exited the control panels – this will save the changes in your Profile.
  8. To use the International keyboard, open any Windows application then make sure the Language Bar menu on te top is set to EN and that the secondary keyboard menu is set to United States International.
    Note: If you do not see a secondary menu, click the option for Language Bar. The switcher will be relocated to the top of the page.

Codes for Letters with Accents

This table is organized by Accent type. The sample shows a letter with that accent, and the Notes present any special comments about using that accent.

For the Template, the symbol "V" means any vowel.

International Keyboard Codes for Accented Letters
ACCENT SAMPLE TEMPLATE NOTES
Acute ó Ó ‘, V ‘ = apostrophe key
Circumflex ô Ô Shift+^, V  
Grave ò Ò `, V  
Tilde ñ Ñ Shift+~, V Only works with n,N,o,O,a,A
Umlaut ö Ö ", V "= quote key

Example 1: To type the letter ó – Type the apostrophe key (‘), then O  For capital Ó, type the apostrophe, then capital O.

Other Foreign Characters

For most of these, you will use the RightAlt key on the right side of the keyboard, not the LeftAlt key.

International Keyboard Codes for Foreign Characters
SYMBOL NAME CODE
¡ Upside-down exclamation point RightAlt+1
¿ Upside-down question mark RightAlt+?
Ç,ç French C cedille (caps/uppercase) Shift+RightAlt+<
RightAlt+<

OR 

, C and , Shift+C
‘ = apostrophe key

Œ,œ French oe liagature – there is no code. Use the combination "oe"
instead.
ß German Sharp/Double S RightAlt+S
Ø,ø O slash (caps/lowecase) Shift+RightAlt+L
RightAlt+L
Å,å A with ring/Angstrom Sign (caps/lowercase) Shift+RightAlt+W
RightAlt+W
Æ,æ AE ligature (caps/lowercase) Shift+RightAlt+Z
RightAlt+Z
Þ,þ Icelandic/Old English Thorn (caps/lowercase) RightAlt+T
Shift+RightAlt+T
Ð,ð Icelandic/Old English eth RightAlt+D
Shift+RightAlt+D
« » This is Spanish style quote mark. RightAlt+[
RightAlt+]

Example 1: To input Spanish upside down exclamation point ¡
(RightAlt+1), hold down the RightAlt, then the 1 key. Release both keys, and the ¡ punctuation will appear.

Example 2: To input capital French C cedilla Ç (Shift+RightAlt+<), hold down the Shift key, then the RightAlt key, then the < key. Release all three keys, and the letter will appear.

Example 1: To input Spanish upside down exclamation point ¡ (RightAlt+1), hold down the RightAlt, then the 1 key. Release both keys, and the ¡ punctuation will appear.

Example 2: To input capital French C cedilla Ç (Shift+RightAlt+<), hold down the Shift key, then the RightAlt key, then the < key. Release all three keys, and the letter will appear.

Currency Symbols

International Keyboard Codes
for Currency Symbols
SYMBOL NAME CODE
¢ Cent sign Shift+RightAlt+C
£ British Pound Shift+RightAlt+4
¥ Japanese Yen.

– = minus key
RightAlt+-
Euro Sign. RightAlt+5
¤ Generic Currency RightAlt+4

Math Symbols

International Keyboard Codes for Math Symbols
SYMBOL NAME CODE
÷ Division sign

Shift+RightAlt++

Shift, RightAlt, then the plus key.

° Degree symbol Shift+RightAlt+:
Shift, RightAlt, then the colon key.
¬ Not symbol

RightAlt+\

µ Micro

RightAlt+M

Other Punctuation

International Keyboard Codes for Punctuation
SYMBOL NAME CODE
© Copyright symbol RightAlt+C
® Registered symbol RightAlt+R
Paragraph Symbol.
RightAlt+;
RightAlt, then semicolon key.
§ Section Symbol Shift+RightAlt+S

Links to External References

These are links to alternate instructions for inputting accents and other characters with the International Keyboard.

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