Although typing has gained the advantage over handwriting with the now common use of digital media, special characters are still essential. They are indeed fully part of the spelling rules although digital technology has made their use more complicated. On a keyboard, special characters are indeed difficult to access, so here is the list of essential shortcuts.
Table of Contents
> Download: Storytelling models” align=”middle”/>ALT keyboard shortcuts for special characters
Fortunately, many keyboard shortcuts allow you to integrate special characters. Here is a non-exhaustive list to keep to have essential shortcuts at hand when writing content. These are grouped under several essential categories.
How to design a style guide?
1 – Insert accented capitals
|
Character name |
Overview |
Keyboard shortcut |
|
With grave accent |
TO |
[Alt+0192] |
|
With acute accent |
TO |
[Alt+0193] |
|
With circumflex accent |
TO |
[Alt+0194] |
|
A with tilde |
TO |
[Alt+0195] |
|
Umlaut |
TO |
[Alt+0196] |
|
A with circle |
TO |
[Alt+0197] |
|
E in the A |
Æ |
[Alt+0198] |
|
C cedilla |
VS |
[Alt+0199] |
|
E grave accent |
È |
[Alt+0200] |
|
E acute |
E |
[Alt+0201] |
|
E circumflex accent |
Ê |
[Alt+0202] |
|
Umlaut |
Ë |
[Alt+0203] |
|
I grave accent |
Ì |
[Alt+0204] |
|
I acute accent |
Í |
[Alt+0205] |
|
I circumflex accent |
Î |
[Alt+0206] |
|
I umlaut |
Ï |
[Alt+0207] |
|
Eth (Icelandic) |
Ð |
[Alt+0208] |
|
N with tilde |
NOT |
[Alt+0209] |
|
O grave accent |
Ò |
[Alt+0210] |
|
O acute accent |
Ó |
[Alt+0211] |
|
O circumflex accent |
Ô |
[Alt+0212] |
|
O with tilde |
Õ |
[Alt+0213] |
|
O umlaut |
Ö |
[Alt+0214] |
|
O crossed out |
Ø |
[Alt+0216] |
|
U grave accent |
Ù |
[Alt+0217] |
|
U acute accent |
Ú |
[Alt+0218] |
|
U circumflex accent |
Û |
[Alt+0219] |
|
U umlaut |
Ü |
[Alt+0220] |
|
Y acute accent |
Ý |
[Alt+0221] |
|
Z diacritic of a hatchek |
Ž |
[Alt+0142] |
|
S diacritical of a hatchek |
Š |
[Alt+0138] |
2 – Insert mathematical characters
|
Character name |
Overview |
Keyboard shortcut |
|
Sharp |
# |
[Alt+035] |
|
Dollar |
$ |
[Alt+036] |
|
Percentage |
% |
[Alt+037] |
|
Ampersand |
& |
[Alt+038] |
|
Inferior |
< |
[Alt+060] |
|
Equal |
= |
[Alt+061] |
|
Superior |
> |
[Alt+062] |
|
Multiplication sign |
x |
[Alt+0215] |
|
Interrogation point |
? |
[Alt+063] |
|
Full width left hook |
[ |
[Alt+091] |
|
Backslash |
[Alt+092] |
|
|
Full width straight hook |
] |
[Alt+093] |
|
Conjunction |
^ |
[Alt+094] |
|
Underscore |
_ |
[Alt+095] |
|
This is an accent grave |
“ |
[Alt+096] |
|
Full width left curly brace |
{ |
[Alt+0123] |
|
Full width right brace |
} |
[Alt+0125] |
|
Approximately |
~ |
[Alt+0126] |
|
Euro |
€ |
[Alt+0128] |
|
Apostrophe |
‘ |
[Alt+0130] |
|
F hook or Florin |
ƒ |
[Alt+0131] |
|
Quotation mark |
“ |
[Alt+0132] |
|
Suspension points |
… |
[Alt+0133] |
|
Obele |
† |
[Alt+0134] |
|
Double obel |
‡ |
[Alt+0135] |
|
Conjunction |
ˆ |
[Alt+0136] |
|
For a thousand |
‰ |
[Alt+0137] |
|
Left single quote |
‹ |
[Alt+0139] |
|
Apostrophe |
‘ |
[Alt+0145] |
|
Apostrophe |
‘ |
[Alt+0146] |
|
Quotation mark |
“ |
[Alt+0147] |
|
Quotation mark |
“ |
[Alt+0148] |
|
Black round chip |
• |
[Alt+0149] |
|
Substraction |
– |
[Alt+0150] |
|
Lack of value in an array |
– |
[Alt+0151] |
|
Don’t / No |
˜ |
[Alt+0152] |
|
S hatchek |
š |
[Alt+0154] |
|
Straight single quote |
› |
[Alt+0155] |
|
Cent |
¢ |
[Alt+0162] |
|
Pound sterling |
£ |
[Alt+0163] |
|
Generic currency sign |
¤ |
[Alt+0164] |
|
Yen |
¥ |
[Alt+0165] |
|
Discontinuous vertical bar |
¦ |
[Alt+0166] |
|
Paragraph |
§ |
[Alt+0167] |
|
Umlaut |
¨ |
[Alt+0168] |
|
Female ordinal indicator |
ª |
[Alt+0170] |
|
Much smaller than |
“ |
[Alt+0171] |
|
Negation |
¬ |
[Alt+0172] |
|
Macron |
¯ |
[Alt+0175] |
|
Degree |
° |
[Alt+0176] |
|
Approximation |
± |
[Alt+0177] |
|
Exhibitor two |
² |
[Alt+0178] |
|
Exhibitor three |
³ |
[Alt+0179] |
|
Acute accent |
´ |
[Alt+0180] |
|
Microphone |
µ |
[Alt+0181] |
|
Pied-de-mouche |
¶ |
[Alt+0182] |
|
Midpoint |
· |
[Alt+0183] |
|
Cedilla |
¸ |
[Alt+0184] |
|
Exhibitor one |
¹ |
[Alt+0185] |
|
Male ordinal indicator |
º |
[Alt+0186] |
|
Much larger than |
“ |
[Alt+0187] |
|
Fraction a quarter |
¼ |
[Alt+0188] |
|
Fraction one half |
½ |
[Alt+0189] |
|
Fraction three quarters |
¾ |
[Alt+0190] |
|
Upturned question mark |
¿ |
[Alt+0191] |
|
Division |
÷ |
[Alt+0247] |
3 – Insert accented lowercase and foreign lowercase
A missing lower case accent in a word can sometimes be spotted by a spell checker, but it can also sometimes go through. The existing shortcuts for inserting accented lowercase letters are useful in French as well as in a foreign language, especially if the corrector is not programmed in another language. Here is the list of essential shortcuts on this subject:
|
Character name |
Overview |
Keyboard shortcut |
|
Thorn (Icelandic) |
Þ |
[Alt+0222] |
|
Eszett (german) |
ß |
[Alt+0223] |
|
With grave accent |
To |
[Alt+0224] |
|
With acute accent |
To |
[Alt+0225] |
|
With circumflex accent |
To |
[Alt+0226] |
|
A with tilde |
To |
[Alt+0227] |
|
Umlaut |
To |
[Alt+0228] |
|
A with circle |
To |
[Alt+0229] |
|
E in a |
æ |
[Alt+0230] |
|
C cedilla |
vs |
[Alt+0231] |
|
E grave accent |
è |
[Alt+0232] |
|
E acute |
é |
[Alt+0233] |
|
E circumflex accent |
ê |
[Alt+0234] |
|
Umlaut |
ë |
[Alt+0235] |
|
I grave accent |
ì |
[Alt+0236] |
|
I acute accent |
í |
[Alt+0237] |
|
I circumflex accent |
î |
[Alt+0238] |
|
Eth (Icelandic) |
ð |
[Alt+0240] |
|
N with tilde |
not |
[Alt+0241] |
|
O grave accent |
ò |
[Alt+0242] |
|
O acute accent |
ó |
[Alt+0243] |
|
O circumflex accent |
oh |
[Alt+0244] |
|
O with tilde |
õ |
[Alt+0245] |
|
O umlaut |
ö |
[Alt+0246] |
|
O crossed out |
ø |
[Alt+0248] |
|
U grave accent |
where |
[Alt+0249] |
|
U acute accent |
ú |
[Alt+0250] |
|
U circumflex accent |
û |
[Alt+0251] |
|
U umlaut |
ü |
[Alt+0252] |
|
Y acute accent |
ý |
[Alt+0253] |
|
Thorn (Icelandic) |
þ |
[Alt+0254] |
|
Y umlaut |
ÿ |
[Alt+0255] |
|
O crossed out |
ø |
[Alt+155] |
|
With acute accent |
To |
[Alt+160] |
|
I acute accent |
í |
[Alt+161] |
4 – Insert symbols
|
Character name |
Overview |
Keyboard shortcut |
|
Pied-de-mouche |
¶ |
[Alt+20] |
|
Paragraph |
§ |
[Alt+21] |
|
White smiley |
☺ |
[Alt+1] |
|
Black smiley |
☻ |
[Alt+2] |
|
Heart |
♥ |
[Alt+3] |
|
Tile |
♦ |
[Alt+4] |
|
Clover |
♣ |
[Alt+5] |
|
Spades |
♠ |
[Alt+6] |
|
Man |
♂ |
[Alt+11] |
|
Women |
♀ |
[Alt+12] |
|
Eighth note |
♪ |
[Alt+13] |
|
Semiquaver |
♫ |
[Alt+14] |
|
Sun |
☼ |
[Alt+15] |
|
Euro |
€ |
[Alt+0128] |
|
Double opening apostrophe |
“ |
[Alt+0147] |
|
Double closing apostrophe |
” |
[Alt+0148] |
|
Trademark |
™ |
[Alt+0153] |
|
Copyright |
© |
[Alt+0169] |
|
Registered trademark |
® |
[Alt+0174] |
|
At |
@ |
[Alt+064] |
To go further, download these free templates and easily create a messaging around your company, its brands, products or services and their features.
