How to type Spanish accents on Windows

The fastest way

Add the United States-International keyboard (steps below). It turns the apostrophe and quote keys into “dead keys”: they wait for the next letter and put the accent on it. ' + a = á, " + u = ü, ~ + n = ñ. Every letter stays where it is on your English keyboard, so there's nothing new to learn.

Quick table

Tap a letter in the first column to copy it.

Without changing any settings

• Emoji and symbol panel: press Win . (Windows key and period), open the Ω Symbols tab and choose Latin symbols. Every accented letter is there.
• Alt codes: with Num Lock on, hold Alt and type the code on the number pad: Alt 0225 = á. See the full Alt code table.
• Character Map: type “charmap” in the Start menu, find the letter, press Select and Copy.
• Touch keyboard: on a touchscreen or with the touch keyboard open, press and hold a vowel to pick its accented version.

Set up the US-International keyboard

Windows 11

1. Open Settings › Time & language › Language & region.
2. Next to your language (e.g. English (United States)), click ⋯ › Language options.
3. Under Keyboards, click Add a keyboard and choose United States-International.
4. Switch keyboards with Win Space, or from the language indicator on the taskbar.

Windows 10

1. Open Settings › Time & Language › Language.
2. Select your language and click Options.
3. Click Add a keyboard and choose United States-International.
4. Switch with Win Space.

If you'd rather have a dedicated ñ key, add Spanish (Latin America) or Spanish (Spain) in the same place. Several symbols move (@, quotes, brackets), so check the Spanish keyboard layout first.

Common problems

• My laptop has no number pad. Alt codes don't work with the number row. Use US-International, Win . or the online keyboard. Some laptops hide a number pad under U I O J K L with Fn + Num Lock, but it's clumsy.
• I type "apple" and get "äpple". With US-International, quotes wait for the next letter. For a plain quote or apostrophe, press the key and then Space.
• Alt codes type something else (╡ instead of Á). Always use the four-digit codes with a leading 0 (Alt 0193). Three-digit codes depend on your Windows language.
• My keyboard switched by itself. Alt ⇧ also switches keyboards. Turn it off in Settings › Time & language › Typing › Advanced keyboard settings › Input language hot keys (Windows 10: Settings › Devices › Typing).

In Word and Google Docs

• Word: Ctrl ' then a vowel gives á é í ó ú. Ctrl ⇧ ~ then n gives ñ. Ctrl ⇧ : then u gives ü. Ctrl Alt ⇧ ? gives ¿. Or type the Unicode code (00e1) and press Alt X.
• Google Docs: your Windows shortcuts work the same. Insert › Special characters also lets you search by name (“a acute”) or draw the letter.
• Spell check: in Word, choose Review › Language › Spanish so missing accents get flagged.