How to type French letters à â æ ç é è

French uses the acute, grave, circumflex, diaeresis and cedilla, plus the œ ligature.

How to type French letters on Windows

Alt codes

Hold Alt, type the code on the numeric keypad with Num Lock on, then release Alt. The number row above the letters does not work.

Add the French keyboard layout

Go to Settings → Time & Language → Language & region, add French (or open Options under your language and add a keyboard), and choose French (France) or United States-International. Switch layouts with Win+Space. The French AZERTY layout has é, è, ç and à on the number row (keys 2, 7, 9 and 0) and ù to the right of M. Digits need Shift. Capitals with accents are typed with Caps Lock on.

US-International dead keys

If you would rather keep a US layout, add United States-International. Press the accent key, release it, then press the letter:

• ` then the letter for the grave (gives à)
• Shift+6 (^) then the letter for the circumflex (gives â)
• ' then c for the cedilla (gives ç)
• ' then the letter for the acute (gives é)
• Shift+' (") then the letter for the umlaut (gives ë)
• AltGr+Z gives æ directly
• AltGr+E gives é directly
• AltGr+Y gives ü directly
• AltGr+, gives ç directly

Emoji and symbol panel

Press Win+., open the Symbols tab (Ω) and choose Latin symbols, or search the letter's name. Works in every app and needs no numpad.

On Windows the US-International layout types accents with dead keys (press ' then e for é); on a Mac, Option+E then E gives é and the French layout puts é, è, ç and à on the number row.

How to type French letters on a Mac

Press and hold

Hold a letter key for a second and a menu of accented forms appears; press the number under the one you want. On the English keyboard this covers à â æ ç é è ê ë î ï ô œ ù û ü ÿ.

• Hold A for à á â ä æ ã å ā
• Hold C for ç ć č
• Hold E for è é ê ë ē ė ę
• Hold I for î ï í ī į ì
• Hold O for ô ö ò ó œ ø ō õ
• Hold U for û ü ù ú ū
• Hold Y for ÿ

Option dead keys

Press the Option combination, release it, then press the letter:

• Option+`, A gives à
• Option+I, A gives â
• Option+' gives æ
• Option+C gives ç
• Option+E, E gives é
• Option+`, E gives è
• Option+I, E gives ê
• Option+U, E gives ë
• Option+I, I gives î
• Option+U, I gives ï
• Option+I, O gives ô
• Option+Q gives œ
• Option+`, U gives ù
• Option+I, U gives û
• Option+U, U gives ü
• Option+U, Y gives ÿ

French input source and Character Viewer

For regular French typing add French or ABC Extended under System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources and switch with Control+Space. For a one-off letter, press Control+⌘+Space to open the Character Viewer, search the letter's name and double-click it.

Accents on capitals are correct French typography even though older keyboards made them hard to type.

How to type French letters on iPhone, iPad and Android

1. Press and hold the base letter (A, C, E, I, O, U, Y).
2. A pop-up shows the accented forms, including à â æ ç é.
3. Slide your finger onto the one you want and release. Gboard on Android works the same way.

To add the keyboard on iPhone go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard → French and switch with the globe key. On Android open Gboard → Settings → Languages → Add keyboard → French (France). For a letter you type often, save a shortcut under Text Replacement (iPhone) or the Personal dictionary (Gboard).

Word, Excel and Google Docs

Microsoft Word

Word has built-in accent shortcuts. Press the combination, release it, then type the letter:

• Ctrl+`, a gives à
• Ctrl+Shift+^, a gives â
• Ctrl+Shift+&, a gives æ
• Ctrl+,, c gives ç
• Ctrl+', e gives é
• Ctrl+`, e gives è
• Ctrl+Shift+^, e gives ê
• Ctrl+Shift+:, e gives ë
• Ctrl+Shift+^, i gives î
• Ctrl+Shift+:, i gives ï
• Ctrl+Shift+^, o gives ô
• Ctrl+Shift+&, o gives œ
• Ctrl+`, u gives ù
• Ctrl+Shift+^, u gives û
• Ctrl+Shift+:, u gives ü
• Ctrl+Shift+:, y gives ÿ

For any letter, type its Unicode hex code and press Alt+X: 00E0 → à, 00E2 → â, 00E6 → æ, 00E7 → ç, and so on (the table above has every code). Insert → Symbol → More Symbols lists them under Latin-1 Supplement and Latin Extended-A. With AutoCorrect (File → Options → Proofing) you can make Word replace a code of your choosing, such as a~, with à as you type.

Excel and Google Sheets

Alt codes and paste work in cells. For a formula, use =UNICHAR(224) in Excel or =CHAR(224) in Google Sheets to get à.

Google Docs

Use Insert → Special characters and search the letter's name, or draw it in the sketch box. Docs accepts Alt codes on Windows and Option dead keys on a Mac, and Tools → Preferences → Substitutions can auto-replace a short code with the letter.

French punctuation and other marks

Beyond the letters, French text uses « (left guillemet), » (right guillemet), € (euro) and ’ (apostrophe). Click to copy; the codes work the same way as for letters.

Frequently asked questions