Put accents and eñes on a keyboard if you use Windows
For people who have a conventional keyboard with number keys it is only necessary use the command in conjunction with the ALT key. Press the ALT key and enter a number to place the corresponding accented letter.
Vowels with lowercase accents
- á =Alt+160
- é =Alt+130
- í =Alt+161
- o =Alt+162
- ú =Alt+163
Vowels with capital accents
- Á =ALT+181
- É =ALT+144
- Í =ALT+214
- Ó =ALT+224
- Ú =ALT+233
Letter eñe, exclamation point and question mark
In languages such as English, the question mark or exclamation point is not usually used at the beginning of the sentence. But these characters are also included in the ASCII code therefore they can also be obtained by using the numeric keyboard and the letter ALT.
- ¿ =ALT+173
- ¡ =ALT+168
- ñ =ALT+164
- Ñ =ALT+165
Using the English keyboard on the laptop
Some laptops do not have the number keys to use the key combination. Although it is possible to activate the numeric keypad (on conventional character keys) with the Fn key to do the combination with the Alt key and get the stressed vowels and the letter eñe.
To write a character you must simultaneously use the Fn + Alt + 162 keys (the number that corresponds to each character).
Keyboard localization
There are versions of the Windows operating system that allow you to have multiple keyboard regional settings. That is, even though the keyboard is meant to be used with the English language, it can be changed to work with the Spanish language settings.
- To configure the keyboard go to Control panel / Clock and region / Change date, time and number format
- Click on the link Language preferences
- Choose the Language option and click the link Choose an input method to always use it as the default and choose the Spanish language.
By doing this configuration you will be able to use the keyboard normally. The only difference is that the characters on the physical keyboard don't match the configuration, so it can be confusing at first.
Add accents and eñes if you use Apple computers
The possibilities for typing with an English keyboard on a PC running MacOS will depend on the region. The simplest way to do this is hold the key down for a few moments until a small pop-up window appears with different numbered characters.
For example, if you want the letter "A" to be accented, you must press the letter "A" until the window with special characters is displayed and select the accented letter "A" (á). The same applies to the letter eñe (ñ), just press the «N» key until the window appears and select the «Ñ».
It works the same for vowels and capital letters eñe. As for exclamation marks (!) And question marks (?) It will depend on the region of the computer. In most cases it is necessary to press the «1» key for the question mark and the «?» Key. for the question mark.
Another option is to use the first key combination Alt / Option + letter e to enable the tilde. then press the letter you want to accentuate. For the letter eñe press Alt / Option + e and after releasing the two keys press the letter n key.
