How to Add Accents in Word with Ctrl, Alt+X or AutoCorrect

Why does Word pair each accent with a punctuation key?

Word's accent shortcuts use the key that looks most like the mark. The apostrophe stands for the acute, the backtick for the grave, the caret for the circumflex, the colon's two dots for the umlaut, the comma, which hangs below the line, for the cedilla, and the slash for the stroke through ø. Learn that picture and you know how to add accents in Word for every letter in Microsoft's table.

Microsoft's accent table for Word and Outlook (opens in a new tab) writes the two halves with a comma: press Ctrl+`, release, then type e for è. Where the mark's key sits on Shift, hold Ctrl, Shift and the key at once, then let go of all three before the letter.

The grid belongs to Word, not to the keyboard layout: Microsoft documents it for Word and Outlook, not for Windows as a whole. A capital takes Shift on the letter, so Ctrl+', then Shift+A gives Á.

Microsoft's table also gives keys for æ, œ, ß and ð, which carry no accent mark, so the table above lists them with the letters of their own. The capital ẞ has no key there and keeps its code.

How do you type an accent that Word has no shortcut for?

Any letter outside Microsoft's short table goes in by its Unicode code: type the code in hex, then press Alt+X, and Word replaces the code with the letter. Typing 0159, then Alt+X gives ř. AccentPad prints that code on every letter page, so there is nothing to look up in a chart.

Microsoft's character code guide (opens in a new tab) adds one rule that most guides leave out. When the code follows another character with no space, select just the code before pressing Alt+X. Otherwise Word can read the character in front as part of the code. In café the danger is real: the f of caf is a hex digit too.

The same key works backwards. Select a letter and press Alt+X, and Word shows its code in place of the letter, a quick way to check what an unfamiliar ö or ő really is. Press Alt+X again to turn the code back.

Copy codes from the letter pages, not from Microsoft's own code chart. On 2026-10-17 that chart listed 0159 beside Ÿ, but U+0159 is ř, so the chart's code types the wrong letter. Ÿ has a shortcut anyway: Ctrl+Shift+:, then Shift+Y. Microsoft's Latin character guide (opens in a new tab) also warns that PowerPoint and InfoPath cannot convert codes, so test Alt+X before relying on it outside Word.

Where do you find an accented letter in Word's Insert > Symbol?

Word's symbol grid is the slow route, worth it when you do not know a letter's name or code. Go to Insert > Symbol > More Symbols, pick the letter, and double-click it to insert it at the cursor.

The font decides what the grid holds. Microsoft's symbol guide (opens in a new tab) warns that not every font has every character, so switch fonts in the dialog when a letter is missing.

The dialog also teaches you the faster way. Click a letter and look at the bottom right: the Character code box shows its code, and when the from: box reads Unicode (hex), that code works with Alt+X next time.

Microsoft's accent page sends laptop owners without a separate number pad to this dialog. Neither the Ctrl shortcuts nor Alt+X need a number pad, though, so the dialog is only the last resort.

How do you make Word add the accent for you?

AutoCorrect can type the accent for you: give it the plain spelling and the accented one, and Word swaps them as you type. On Windows, go to File > Options > Proofing and select AutoCorrect Options. On the AutoCorrect tab, type Sao Paulo under Replace and São Paulo under With, then select Add.

In Word for Mac the list sits under the Word menu, then Preferences, then AutoCorrect, where the plus sign at the bottom left adds a row. Word for the web uses AutoCorrect but cannot add or remove entries, Microsoft's AutoCorrect guide (opens in a new tab) says.

Pick words that are never right without the accent: names of people, streets and towns. A word with two lives is a trap. Resume is also a verb, so an entry that turns resume into résumé would rewrite "resume the meeting" as well; the spelling of the job document has its own AccentPad page.

The list is shared: an entry added in Word also applies in the other Office programs that support AutoCorrect.

Do the Ctrl accent shortcuts work in Word for Mac?

Microsoft does not promise they do. Its accent table applies, by its own list, to Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2024 and Word 2021, and names no edition for Mac. The Mac part of its Word shortcut list (opens in a new tab) has no section for international characters and says that many Ctrl shortcuts also work with Control on a Mac, but not all.

In Word for Mac, type accents the way macOS does: Option+E, then E gives é, or hold the letter down for the accent menu. AccentPad's guide to accents on a Mac has every Option key and the letters each one refuses. AutoCorrect works in Word for Mac as described above.