Polish Keyboard: Type ą ę ł ż with AltGr, Programmers or 214
Type ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź and ż in the box below, capitals with Shift, by clicking or by holding Alt with the bare letter. Copy all puts the text on your clipboard. On the Polish (Programmers) layout of Windows, AltGr with a letter key types each one, ź on X.
What you see is Polish (Programmers), the layout Windows installs for Polish: US keys, each Polish letter one AltGr away. Use your keyboard or click the picture. Hold AltGr, the right Alt key, with a shaded key for the letter in its corner: A for ą, Z for ż, X for ź. The switch shows the older QWERTZ Polish (214). No AltGr? Hold Alt with the plain letter instead.
Phones get the Polish letters as large keys, with ź and ż side by side; the Programmers layout opens on a screen as wide as a tablet. The phone keyboard itself keeps each letter behind its plain one: Touch and hold C, then slide to ć.
AltGr with a shaded key types the Polish letter in its corner dead key: it types nothing until the next key
- ą ć ę ł ń ó ś ź ż AltGr and their keys
Each Polish letter in a single click, no AltGr needed; press Shift first for the capital.
Which keys type Polish letters in this editor?
In the box above, hold Alt and press the plain letter: the editor types its Polish form. Add Shift for the capital. ź and ż share one key: press Alt+Z again straight away to switch between them.
| Press | Types | With Shift |
|---|---|---|
| Alt+A | ą | Ą |
| Alt+C | ć | Ć |
| Alt+E | ę | Ę |
| Alt+L | ł | Ł |
| Alt+N | ń | Ń |
| Alt+O | ó | Ó |
| Alt+S | ś | Ś |
| Alt+Z, again | ź, then ż | Ź, then Ż |
These keys belong to this page only; they do nothing in other apps. On a Mac the editor leaves Option to macOS, so the Mac's own accent keys work in the box as they do everywhere else: ą is Fn/Globe+E, then search "latin small letter a with ogonek", then ą. AltGr on a Windows keyboard is left alone too, so it types what your layout prints on the key.
Why does Poland type on a US layout with AltGr?
Because that is the Polish keyboard layout Windows installs. Microsoft's list of default input profiles (opens in a new tab) gives Polish (Programmers), KLID 00000415, as the keyboard for Polish (pl-PL). The other one, Polish (214), is KLID 00010415, and Microsoft's table of Windows layouts (opens in a new tab) dates both to before Windows XP.
On 2026-10-21 we held Microsoft's data for Polish (Programmers) (opens in a new tab) against the US layout, key by key. With no modifier, every key types the same character. With Shift, one key differs: the tilde becomes a dead key. Everything Polish lives one layer up, on AltGr, so a US keyboard needs no new keycaps.
Polish (214) (opens in a new tab) gives each letter its own key and pays for it with punctuation. We searched every layer, with and without Shift and AltGr, and found no key at all for the square brackets or the vertical bar. For anyone who writes code or formulas, that settles it.
The Mac went the same way. Its input source named Polish (ID com.apple.keylayout.PolishPro) types what ABC types on every key without a modifier, measured through Apple's UCKeyTranslate on macOS 26.6.2, and Option with the plain letter gives the Polish one.
Which key types each Polish letter?
The table reads each Polish letter from Microsoft's two Windows layouts and from the Mac's Polish input source. For the capital, add Shift to the AltGr or Option chord on the programmers layout and the Mac.
| Letter | Polish (Programmers) | Polish (214) | Mac: Polish |
|---|---|---|---|
| ą | AltGr with A | its own key, right of ł | Option with A |
| ć | AltGr with C | Shift on the ś key | Option with C |
| ę | AltGr with E | Shift on the ą key | Option with E |
| ł | AltGr with L | its own key, right of L | Option with L |
| ń | AltGr with N | Shift on the ż key | Option with N |
| ó | AltGr with O | its own key, right of ą | Option with O |
| ś | AltGr with S | its own key, right of ż | Option with S |
| ź | AltGr with X | Shift on the ó key | Option with X |
| ż | AltGr with Z | its own key, right of P | Option with Z |
Every letter but ź sits on its plain letter. The z pair cannot both stay on Z: the key keeps ż, the dotted one, and ź moves to X, the next key along.
What can go wrong when you press AltGr?
An app shortcut can swallow the letter. Windows treats AltGr as Ctrl and Alt pressed together, and Raymond Chen of Microsoft explains in a post on shortcut modifiers (opens in a new tab) why Windows itself avoids such shortcuts. He tells of a program whose Ctrl and Alt shortcut fired every time a user typed a letter. AltGr with S that opens a menu instead of typing ś is the same clash.
Two more traps sit in the layout itself:
- The left Alt key is not AltGr. Only the right one is, as Chen notes for most international layouts. Left Ctrl plus left Alt does the same job.
- The tilde waits. Shift and the key left of 1 is a dead tilde on Polish (Programmers). Space after it gives a plain ~, and a letter after it gives the Polish letter: the tilde, then a, types ą.
In the box on this page, AltGr is left to your layout, so a Polish (Programmers) keyboard types into it as usual.
Ó or u: which key do you want?
Ó and u sound alike, so on a Polish keyboard the ear alone cannot pick the key. Wiktionary's entry for ó (opens in a new tab) gives it as /u/, the sound of the plain u, so only the spelling tells them apart. On Polish (Programmers), ó is AltGr with O, while AltGr with U types €. On Polish (214), Shift on the ó key types ź, not Ó.
How does the older Polish (214) layout differ?
Polish (214) is QWERTZ: Z sits right of T and Y moves down beside X, as on a German keyboard. Ż and ś follow P, ł and ą follow L, and ó ends that row. Ć, ę, ń and ź are the Shift of those keys, so a small letter on Shift is normal here.
Capitals are the hard part. Caps Lock leaves ó, ą, ś and ż small; only ł turns into Ł. For Ó you press the acute dead key, AltGr with 9, then Shift and O, and the same dead key gives Ć, Ń, Ś and Ź. The ogonek dead key left of 1 gives Ą and Ę, and Shift on it is a dead dot for Ż.
The Mac's Polish – QWERTZ source (ID com.apple.keylayout.Polish) differs. It puts ż right of 0 and ó right of P, and its Caps Lock does give Ż, Ó, Ą and Ł.
How do you install Polish (Programmers) on a computer?
Adding Polish leaves your current layout in place, and a shortcut flips between the two whenever a Polish word comes up.
- Windows: under Time & language, then Language & region, open the options of the Polish language and add the keyboard called Polish (Programmers); Polish (214) is in the same list. Hold the Windows logo key and tap the Spacebar to cycle layouts (Microsoft (opens in a new tab)).
- Mac: in Keyboard settings, Text Input, Edit, add the source macOS 26.6.2 calls Polish, or Polish – QWERTZ for the typist's rows. Control with the Space bar returns to the last source (Apple (opens in a new tab)).
Or skip installing anything: this Polish keyboard online types every letter on a phone, a tablet or a PC. The Polish alphabet page shows where each letter sorts, and the Polish L page explains ł.
What are the Polish keyboard shortcuts on each device?
Without a Polish layout, these are the documented ways to type the letters: one card per device, letter by letter. A capital takes Shift on the last key: on a Mac, Ą is Fn/Globe+E, then search "latin capital letter a with ogonek", then Ą.
Mac
- ą
- Fn/Globe+E, then search "latin small letter a with ogonek", then ą
- ć
- Press and hold C, then choose ć
- ę
- Press and hold E, then choose ę
- ł
- Fn/Globe+E, then search "latin small letter l with stroke", then ł
- ń
- Press and hold N, then choose ń
- ó
- Option+E, then O
- ś
- Fn/Globe+E, then search "latin small letter s with acute", then ś
- ź
- Fn/Globe+E, then search "latin small letter z with acute", then ź
- ż
- Fn/Globe+E, then search "latin small letter z with dot above", then ż
Windows
iPhone, iPad and Android
- ć
- Touch and hold C, then slide to ć
- ę
- Touch and hold E, then slide to ę
- ń
- Touch and hold N, then slide to ń
- ó
- Touch and hold O, then slide to ó
No documented method for ą, ł, ś, ź and ż.
Chromebook
- ó
- Switch to the US International keyboard, then ', then O
No documented method for ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ś, ź and ż.
Microsoft Word
Google Docs
- ą
- Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, then search "latin small letter a with ogonek"
- ć
- Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, then search "latin small letter c with acute"
- ę
- Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, then search "latin small letter e with ogonek"
- ł
- Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, then search "latin small letter l with stroke"
- ń
- Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, then search "latin small letter n with acute"
- ó
- Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, then search "latin small letter o with acute"
- ś
- Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, then search "latin small letter s with acute"
- ź
- Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, then search "latin small letter z with acute"
- ż
- Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, then search "latin small letter z with dot above"
Sources:Mac (Apple) (opens in a new tab)Mac (Apple) (opens in a new tab)Windows (Microsoft) (opens in a new tab)Windows, Microsoft Word (Microsoft) (opens in a new tab)iPhone, iPad (Apple) (opens in a new tab)Android (Google) (opens in a new tab)Chromebook (Google) (opens in a new tab)Microsoft Word (Microsoft) (opens in a new tab)Google Docs (Google) (opens in a new tab)
Frequently asked questions about the Polish keyboard
Why does AltGr with U type € and not a Polish letter?
Because Polish has no letter on U. In Microsoft's data for Polish (Programmers), AltGr with U gives the euro sign, and ó, the letter said like u, sits on O. The Mac's Polish input source also puts ó on Option with O.
Can the left Alt key type Polish letters on Windows?
Not on its own. Windows reads AltGr as Ctrl and Alt together, so the left Ctrl and left Alt held down with A also give ą on Polish (Programmers). The left Alt key alone does nothing Polish. Inside the box on this page, though, Alt with the bare letter is the box's own shortcut.
How do I type a tilde on a Polish programmers keyboard?
Press Shift and the key left of 1, then Space. On Polish (Programmers) that key is a dead tilde: it waits for the next key, and Space makes it a plain ~. Followed by a letter it types the Polish one instead, so the tilde and then x gives ź.
Does a Polish keyboard need special keycaps?
Not for Polish (Programmers). We compared Microsoft's data for it with the US layout key by key: without a modifier every key types the same character, so any US keyboard prints the right keys. Polish (214) is different. It is QWERTZ, and ż, ś, ł, ą and ó take over keys of their own.