How to get letters with accent marks in Microsoft Word

Letters with accent marks may created in Microsoft Word using various methods, many of which are listed below. These steps help those who do not have specialized keyboards. To proceed, select from the list or check out each section in order.

Inserting accented letters with the menu bar or Ribbon

The steps in this section only work with certain versions of Word. If you cannot insert accent marks with these steps, see the section on Alt codes.

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Select the Insert tab on the Ribbon or click Insert in the menu bar.
3. On the Insert tab or the Insert drop-down, select the Symbol option.

4. Select the desired accented character. Scroll through the entire list or select from the Subset drop-down list to view a specific type. In Microsoft Word Online, click More Symbols to see additional options.

5. After selecting the desired accented letter or symbol, click the Insert button.

Using keyboard shortcuts

Microsoft Word users can also utilize the following combinations of keys to add accent marks to their letters. For example, to get the à character, press Ctrl, and press ` (the tilde key). Then, release both keys and quickly press A.

Using Alt Codes

If you can't find the accented letters you're looking for in the menus or by utilizing keyboard shortcuts, try using Alt codes.

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Click an area in the document where you want to insert a character with an accent mark.
3. Press either Alt key, type the appropriate number sequence (shown in the table below) on the numeric keypad, and release Alt. For example, to get an accented "a" with an acute accent, you'd press Alt+0225.

Table of common Alt codes for accented letters

Using a third-party program

For third-party software capable of inserting accented characters, see: How to insert accent marks and special characters.