How to add accent marks on Mac: Simple tips and tricks

Easily add accents and special characters on your Mac to improve your writing skills! Whether writing emails containing words like “fiancé” and “café” or writing words and names in other languages, it is crucial to master the way to add accents on your Mac. This article will introduce a variety of methods to help you easily add special characters to make your text more refined and authentic.

How to enter accented letters on your Mac

First, we quickly learn about several simplest ways to input accented letters:

method	operate
Enter accented letters using the accent menu	Press and hold the desired letter on the keyboard and select the accented version.
Store commonly used accented phrases	Create libraries with accented phrases and letters using Rocket Typist.
Add accents using keyboard shortcuts	Use the shortcut key combination for each stress.
Use the character viewer to get more accent	Click the Enter menu > Show emojis and symbols > Double-click the character you want to insert to automatically insert.
Change the keyboard input source	Apple Menu > System Settings > Keyboard > Edit > Click Add " " to select the language.

Quickly enter accents with Rocket Typist

Easily create shortcut keys with accented letters and common phrases. Available on Setapp!

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Detailed ways to enter accented letters on your Mac

When writing emails or important documents, are you worried about the text appearing rough or unprofessional because these letters are not displayed on your keyboard?

In fact, some words have completely different meanings after adding accents. For example, "resume" means continuing activities, while "résumé" clearly refers to a professional resume.

Fortunately, Apple has this in mind and offers a variety of ways to enter accented letters.

Enter accented letters using the accent menu

The most commonly used accented letters are vowels—a, e, i, o, and u. There are also c and n, which Apple makes it possible to easily access their accented versions through the accent menu.

This is a simple menu that appears when you hold down the letters on your keyboard. For example, when you hold the letter "a", you get eight different accented versions.

You can use the cursor to select the desired variant. You can also press the corresponding number on the keyboard or use the arrow keys and Enter keys. However, it should be noted that this menu has limited functionality. It only works for a few letters and does not work in some applications. If you often write words or names in other languages, you need a more comprehensive alternative.

Use Rocket Typist to store commonly used accented phrases

You can use Rocket Typist to simplify operations. This is a text extender that makes typing easy because you can store common accented letters, phrases, and templates. You can then assign them shortcut keys, which will populate what you want to enter when you enter the shortcut keys in the selected application.

Here is how to use Rocket Typist:

1. Install and open Rocket Typist.
2. Click Apps in the top bar > Select Snippet Editor.
3. Click the Add " " button in the lower left corner to create a new code snippet. You will see two main parts:
   • Abbreviation – You will enter shortcut keys to insert text.
   • Content – ​​The complete text that will be inserted when entering the abbreviation.
4. Enter the accented characters you often use and assign a unique abbreviation. (For example, enter e' to generate é or djv to generate déjà vu).

Now, when you want to fill in phrases, words, or accented characters, you just need to enter the abbreviation.

One of my favorite features is that it has an iOS version and syncs with iCloud, so I can always access my snippet when using other devices.

Add accents using keyboard shortcuts

Holding a letter to get its accented alternative is not the fastest way to enter a character. You get bored when you want to write a full sentence (or email) in Norwegian or use a reverse question mark in Spanish.

A faster alternative is to master keyboard shortcuts. This requires you to remember quite a few shortcuts, but everything will be worth it, and the more you use it, the easier it will be to remember. You will no longer need to slow down to figure out how to add é or u.

The main trick of this method is to understand what is called "dead keys" on your Mac. These are combinations of two keys, they are not input letters, but carets. When you enter a letter later, it will format it with that symbol, making it an accented letter.

Sounds complicated? Actually, it is not the case.

An example is that you hold down the Option key and press the letter N. This will insert the tilde (~). Now, if you press the letter N afterwards, the tilde will change to Ñ. When you press Option E The same happens when you press E.

There are many keyboard shortcuts you can master depending on the accent you use frequently. Here are some of the most common ones:

Accented symbol name	letter	Key command
Sharp notes	á, é, í	Option E , and then enter the letter you want to accent.
Symbol	ê Ê	Option I , and then enter the letter you want to accent.
Accent notes	è, à, ù	Option ` , and then enter the letter you want to accent.
Wave	Ñ	Option N , and then enter the letter you want to accent.
Dialogue notes	ä Ä ö Ö ü Ü	Option U , and then enter the letter you want to accent.
Seidilla	ç Ç	Option C

You don't need to remember all of this. Just start with those you use regularly. Even if you have to stop and remember them at the beginning, you will find that your fingers will quickly fly over the keyboard instinctively.

By the way, if you want to be a shortcut key master, check out how to enter math symbols.

Tip If you are in a focused state and don't want to be distracted, such as going to the menu bar, you can use writing apps like Ulysses. It has all the writing tools you need and switches to a black sheet of paper which helps your ideas flow without any distractions, just like writing on plain paper. Once done, you can format the content, sync with iCloud and publish directly on WordPress.

Use the character viewer to get more accent

Sometimes, the accents or symbols you need may not be covered by shortcut keys because they are not commonly used. This is the case if you are using a more complex language (like Vietnamese), so you need a more comprehensive way to access all existing characters.

This method is a character viewer, which is like a treasure chest filled with special characters and accents. It's on the menu bar, but if you don't see it, go to Apple Menu > System Settings > Keyboard (in the sidebar). Now, go to Text Enter, click Edit, and open the Show Input menu in the menu bar.

After that, you can use it to add accents on your Mac:

1. Click the Enter menu in the menu bar (it may appear as a flag or character icon).
2. Select Show emoji and symbols and the character viewer will open.

3. Browse or search for the character you are looking for and double-click it.

4. This will automatically insert it into the location where the cursor is.

If the character you are looking for is not part of the standard keyboard, you can find it here. The Latin part is the preferred part for most accented characters.

Change the keyboard input source

Changing the keyboard input source is another option for keyboard shortcuts, which displays the keyboard on the screen. When you press the Option key, the characters will change, so you don't need to remember the specific keys or many shortcut keys you want to press.

In addition to simply adding accented letters, this option is best if you often type in new languages. Since it is a virtual keyboard, the Mac allows you to change it to a different language. You can add French, Spanish or German keyboards (any language) to your usual ABC keyboard.

To do this, go to the Apple menu > System Settings > Keyboard > Input Source > Edit. Click the Add " " button in the lower left corner and select the language you want to add. You should now find the new keyboard in the input menu.

You can use the mouse or click fn The keys switch between them.

Personal advice

The keys mapped to the physical keyboard also change when you select a different keyboard. However, this can be a little tricky because it will switch between regular characters, not just symbols.

If you are not used to the keyboard and just want to use it for accented letters or special characters, you can use the keyboard viewer in the input menu icon. You can then use the Control Space shortcut keys to switch between them. When you press the Option key, you should see the diacritic mark you are looking for.

Summary: How to add accents on your Mac

Learning how to add accents to letters on your Mac may seem trivial, but it can dramatically change the way you write and make you appear more professional. Brazilians will love that you write São Paulo correctly, and people like Renée and Zoë will appreciate your efforts. Remembering many shortcut keys can be a bit difficult, but Rocket Typist can help you insert common letters, names, and phrases quickly.

You can also use other methods such as accent menus, keyboard viewers, and input languages. All of this is compatible with Ulysses, so you can use it as you write to focus on your ideas. Rocket Typist saves your favorite accented letters or phrases so you can easily call it out the next time you write. Both apps are part of Setapp’s over 250 app libraries, and you can try it for 7 days for free. Setapp is my go-to platform because it has a large number of convenient macOS and iOS apps, all included in one subscription. I like not having to pay for each app separately – it’s so cost-effective!

FAQ

How to add Spanish accents on your Mac?

To add Spanish accents on your Mac, you can use the accent menu, keyboard shortcuts, or character viewer. The accent menu is simpler for Spanish because it allows you to access accented vowels such as á, é, í, ó and ú.

Keyboard shortcuts will also serve you well, as Spanish doesn’t have many accented letters. However, if you often write complete sentences or documents in Spanish, use Rocket Typist to create a library of common Spanish accents and even phrases so you can use it while writing.

How to type é on my Mac?

You can press Option E , release the keys, and type the letter e to type é on your Mac. Alternatively, you can long press the letters on native and various Mac applications and it will show you all accented versions of the letters, including é. From there, simply press the corresponding number on the keyboard to select the accented version you want.

How to insert special characters on my Mac?

You can insert special characters on your Mac using a character viewer. You can access it from the input menu, or simply press Control Command Spacebar You can open the tool. It offers all types of diacritics and special characters, so it is very useful in multilingual writing and creative projects.

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