If you’re using a keyboard, or a keyboard layout that supports accent characters, entering them is pretty easy. If you’re using a normal US English keyboard and occasionally need to type accents, it might seem difficult to type accents because the keyboard doesn’t support it. That said, there are three different ways to type accents on Windows 10 and you can use any one of them depending on how easy a method you need, and how often you need to type accents.
Check which keyboard layout you’re using and if it supports accents or not. If not, pick one of the three methods below to enter them.
You can always search for an accent character on Google. Copy it to your clipboard and enter it wherever you want to. You can search for it by entering a word that uses the accent character, or you can search for a list of accent characters.
Windows 10 has a virtual keyboard that you can use even if you don’t own a tablet or a two-in-one touch screen laptop. Entering an accent character is far easier on this keyboard. To enable it, right-click the taskbar and select Show touch keyboard button. This will add a keyboard button to the system tray. Click it to bring up the keyboard and then click and hold on a character to get the accent versions of it.
Out of the box, you can type accents on Windows 10 if you know the correct alt code for them. Penn State has a complete list of them available. You need only enter the code where you need to enter the accent character. The code takes care of the rest. You don’t need to tell it which letter to add the accent to.
Depending on your usage i.e., how frequently you need to enter one of these characters, you can use the touch keyboard or you can memorize the Alt code that you need to enter the character. The character will render perfectly on any OS.
If you have a keyboard with a dedicated number pad that you don’t use often, or at all, you can also try remapping the keys on it so that they can enter the accent characters you need to enter. You can use AutoHotkey to do that, find an app that can remap keyboard keys, or create your own custom keyboard layout to get the job done.