Typing Umlauts on an English-language keyboard

Does anyone know how to write umlauts using an English laptop? I know how to do it with a PC, but you need the extra number pad on the right...
Any help would be great so I don't have to keep writing 'umlaut+e'.
thanks in advance!

On a Mac it is the Alt & U button pressed at the same time, which brings up the umlauts and then the following letter be it a, u, or o when pressed will have the unlauts over the top. Might be the same on a Windoze laptop too.

ä you can write ae
Ö is oe
Ü is ue

alt plus 132 ä (0228)
alt plus 137 ë (0235)
alt plus 148 ö (0246)
alt plus 225 ß (0223)
alt plus 129 ü (0252)
alt plus 142 Ä (0196)
alt plus Ë (0203)
alt plus 153 Ö (0214)
alt plus 154 Ü (0220)

Indeed - using the ALT key plus the numbers will get you the character.
ASCII-II (or ASCII Extended) codes (scroll down for table).
Be sure to keep the ALT key down as you type the numbers.

Assuming you're running a UK English keyboard setting in Windows XP, you can use the following:

AltGR + s = scharfes S
AltGR + p = o umlaut
AltGR + y = u umlaut
AltGR + q = a umlaut

Add Shift for upper case umlauted characters.

For a more permanent solution, you can install the German keyboard in Control Panel/Regional and Language Options/Languages/Details. By default you can then toggle between the keyboard layouts using Left Shift + Alt. Of course, you need to get used to a Qwertz keyboard, with different punctuation layout.

Guy.

I seem to remember being able to type the letters ä ö and ü with some combination of ALT, SHIFT and the colon character (:). I can't remember the exact sequence though.

You have to activate your num lock key in your keyboard and then you have the same as the extra number keypad that you are used to have on your pc. I assume that you know the ASCII combinations, just that you don't konw how to use them on your laptop.
On the right hand side of your keyboard keys have numbers as well as letters. Those are the ones corresponding to the keypad in a PC.

Do you have numbers on the UIO,JKL,M keys? On my laptop I have a "Fn" key down the bottom that makes those letters work like the numpad. So to do the umlauts I hold down Alt, then the Fn key, then type the number using those keys.

I have my keyboard set to United States - International and I just have to type the quotation mark and the letter ("o for ö). The only drawback is that to actually get a quotation mark when the following letter can be umlauted you have to hit a space after the ". By this time it's automatic for me.

Okay, I still need some help!
I think my computer is from England (though I ordered it here).
The shift + 132, etc isn't working
neither the ALTGR or the FN button
whenever I press those + numbers I get a 'bing' sound. Like Mr. computer doesn't like it.
Maybe my number pad isn't activated.

Further suggestions?

Okay, I got it. FN+ALT+numbers.
Captain Pippy Longstockings was the winner...
Though what is the code for captial E (umlaut)?
Cheers.

look for a key, probably on the upper right side of your keyboard, which reads NumLock. You press that one, the numpad is activated (there should be a green led that lights up) and then you can use AltGr + NumberCombination.

Ë = 211

Assuming that you have Windows on your laptop.

There is a cool little program called Character Map under Start/Programs/Accessories/System Programs/Character Map

Select the Font "Terminal" from the list, you would see all the possible characters. Double click on the character, and it would be pasted in the text box. You could then press the "Copy" button to copy it to clipboard, and then press Ctrl-V to paste it in any other program.

Sorry, those are for US International, which I also had installed.

Hey,

Ive got a standard British laptop and was wondering how to get umlauts over vowels.. I do quite alot of typing in german so its quite irritating!

Topics merged by admin

Just type whatever +e.

Just use Notepad to make a .txt file and save it onto your desktop. Copy this into the .txt file:


Whenever you want to type something that has an umlaut in it, just whip out your .txt file and copy the characters into whatever you're typing.

I know about typing the e but its not really done in Germany. None of the other ways work tho, keeps making the sound that its a pop up being blocked...

My trick is to setup both German and English keyboard and you can switch between the keyboard layouts while typing by pressing "alt" + "shift"

To Setup:
1. Go to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Regional Settings and Language Options -> Languages tab -> Details
2. Your default is probably English US or Irish or UK
3. Click Add to choose "German (German)" as your language and select your keyboard layout "German"
4. Then check "Language Bar" and make sure "Show the language bar on the desktop" is checked
5. You can then see which input is default on your task bar by the clock. And switch input either by clicking on it or using "alt" + "shift" combination.

The downside is that you should already know were the ä ü ß etc are on a German keyboard or else it's guesswork. Get stickers?

My keyboard is german but I use English as default as I'm handy with touch typing, so it is easy for me to switch between the too.

And here's a picture of the german keyboard layout if you want for reference.

[img]http://www.forlang.wsu.edu/help/kgerman.gif[/img]

I don't have that hassle at all! Umlauts are very easy on my keyboard... I think this is because I have "smart quotes" or whatever they're called. This means that when I type the quotation marks, they don't appear until I type the next letter key. If it is a vowel, it automatically becomes an umlaut. (This is particularly annoying when I DON'T want an umlaut, because I must follow the quote mark with a space)

For example:

SHIFT + " + a = ä

SHIFT + " + e = ë

I only discovered this by accident. It also works for accent marks in other languages, and the "shift" is not required. First type an apostrophe ('), then the letter:

' + a = á
' + e = é
' + c = ç

This is the same for the ~ and the ` marks, for Spanish and French (top left of keyboard). You simply type them before you type the letter, and they appear over the top of the letter: ñ è

I don't know why this works, but it does! Still haven't figured out how to type a "Scharfes S", though!

Ah yes, it's the keyboard language. I forgot about that. If you choose "English-US" and "United States-International" as your keyboard layout from step 3 you will have sammcd way of inputting it which is easier than remember the keyboard layout.

To get Scharfes S:

alt-gr + s = ß

Well I didn't realise you could switch your keyboard layout like that linmor very handy to know.

If your only typing in word you can set up the ümlauts / currency symbols to your own "short cut keys" - I perfer this for assignments cause the german keyboard layout just slows me down and I end up with z's everytime I want a y. All you have to do is go to insert symbol pick the symbol then click on short cut key down the bottom and assign. eg for ü I type ctrl u and for ö I type ctrl o. Good if your in word and use to the qwerty keyboard layout.

Thanks very much Linmor!! Im flying now!! Very handy to know about change keyboard, had wondered that before!! Cheers!!!

Linmor,

Encountered another problem.. Now my keyboard keeps switching from one to another without me pressing anything.. Its really annoying!! Please help!!
Im a damsel in distress!!

Oh dear! Don't panic! Let me think:

Looks like it's only for the active window/application. If your default input is EN and you open Word to write a letter to the Finazamt so you switch the layout to DE and start typing and in the middle of the letter you open Firefox to write a post on Toytown, the input will be EN as this is your default here. Switch back to Word to finish the document, the input is still DE, so no switching required. Switching in one app does not affect the other.

So the input is remembered for the application and not system wide. The input is remembered for each application. So you can have as many apps as you can handle open all set with their own layout.

Alles klar?

Oh just don't bother . The Germans don't need them anyway.

This is really helpful, I was trying to find out how to switch my keyboard for a while!

Can anyone tell me how to make Umlauts on a non-german (American) keyboard?

I know how in MS Word, but otherwise?

Topics merged by admin

I don't know how to do that. instead of Ä,Ü,Ö you can use ae=Ä; ue=Ü and oe=Ö

you can get them by using the "alt short cuts" (using the number pad):
ä: Alt + 0228
ö: Alt + 0246
ü: Alt + 0252

(look at your character map in Program/Accessories/System Tools)

There are some shorter Alt + 3-digit codes for the more common diacriticals:

Alt+132 ä
Alt+137 ë
Alt+148 ö
Alt+129 ü

Full list here

On a Mac, hold down the alt-key and type u, then type the letter you want under the Umlaut. On a Windows machine, beats me. Buy yourself a German keyboard, and switch your system preferences to German I guess...

I've kept with UK keyboards at work, but have created a custom keyboard layout using the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator.

http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/tools/msklc.mspx

I've added a ä, ö, ü, Ä, Ö, Ü and ß to my layout, so when I am writing in German I have the keys at my fingertips. I've configured it so that Alt+a give me ä, Alt+o gives me ö etc. As this is part of your keyboard it works in all applications.

Its a farily simply tool, - but if you stuggle the help file tells you all you need to know. I can thouroughly recommend it, - its revolutionised my German typing! You can add the Euro sign too (also missing on my Dell UK Laptop..)

Oh thanks libby that looks helpful. I have a German layout on my keyboard but that way I can add the Spanish characters (ñ, ¿, ¡). I know Word automatically converts a ? to ¿ and a ! to ¡ if I put it at the beginning of a sentence but in other applications it will be really helpful.
Also thanks to whoever posted that you can type Umlauts using quotation marks, it works that way on the Spanish keyboard as well! Even in Firefox. (I don't currently have my laptop but I will have to write a term paper in German this weekend using a computer of the university, where the keyboard is in Spanish.)

This is what I use, but I think it only works in Microsoft Office. To get an ä you type "Ctrl-: a" (on a US keyboard the : is above the ; so you actually type "Ctrl-Shift-; a").

Similarly for ö and ü. (And ÄÖÜ...)

For ß type "Ctrl-& s" (Again, on a US keyboard, actually "Ctrl-Shift-6 s").

The combinations are easier to remember than the Alt-XXX NumPad codes.

If you're using Word, I just find it easier to go into Insert > Symbol, then choose the character you want, then press Shortcut Key, then input whatever combination you want into Press new shortcut key, then click Assign.

For example, I have ä set as Alt+a, Ä as Alt+Shift+a, ö as Alt+o etc etc

Makes it a whole lot easier, but unfortunately this won't work in programs such as Excel

I use my Mac a little differently than mentioned above. I set the whole thing up in the International menu, ticking "show input menu (a/k/a the flag of the language you're using) in menu bar." Then when I need to switch keyboards, I hit apple+G to toggle back and forth between the last two languages. For a third or fourth keyboard, I have to click the little flag on the top right of my screen and select from the drop down menu. If I forget where certain characters are located, I go back to the drop-down menu and select Keyboard Viewer, which produces a little floating keyboard map that I can also click with my mouse to select characters. You can also store characters in Character Palatte if you only use the foreign characters once in a blue moon.

I use the US-International layout. (if you have a QWERTY keyboard and are running Windows, you can simply select your keyboard layout)
It is fantastic--it uses the same layout as the normal US Qwerty format, but allows you to add all sorts of accents intuitively and quickly.

It takes a day or so to get used to, but after that, things just fly by.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layo...S-International
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306560

Old topic, but I use this program called DEkey. Makes typing very easy. You can download it here : http://german.about.com/library/blcomp_dekey1.htm