How to Type Umlauts on a Windows Keyboard (incl. Laptop)

Want to prove your über-prowess with the German language (writing, e.g., Änderungsschneiderei)? Find out here how to type umlauts on Windows (including umlaut shortcuts you can use to quickly type ö, ä, and ü even on a laptop keyboard).

First, Another Way to Write Börd

Bird is among the English words that do contain an umlaut, at least a spoken one.

For the ‘i’ in bird comes deceptively close in pronunciation to the German umlaut o. That umlaut o character did develop from an i brightening an o that came immediately before it in many a Middle High German word, of course.

Either way, let’s turn to actually writing boir… börd:

How to Type Umlauts on a Windows Keyboard (including Laptop Keyboards)

Easy: Using the International Keyboard Layout

On a Mac? How to Type Umlaut Characters on a Mac Keyboard

Almost as Easy: Using PowerToys Quick Accent

To type accented letters—including umlauts—swiftly on Windows using PowerToys Quick Accent:

1. Enable Quick Accent. (See below.)
2. Type the letter you want to turn into an umlaut, hold the key and immediately press Space.
   Other keys: The right (→) and left arrow (←) keys also work by default (instead of Space).
   Example: To type ö, press and hold O, then press Space.
3. Press Space (while you keep the letter’s key pressed) until the desired umlaut character highlights.
4. Release the letter key to insert the umlaut.
   

More diacritics: How to Type Accents on Windows

Add and Enable Quick Accent with Microsoft PowerToys

To enable Quick Accent for Windows 11:

1. Install Microsoft Windows PowerToys from Microsoft Store.
   Winget: You can also run winget install Microsoft.PowerToys in a Terminal window to install PowerToys using the Windows package manager
2. Open PowerToys.
3. Select Quick Accent.
4. Turn on Enable Quick Accent.
   

Cumbersome: Using Alt-Numpad Umlaut Keyboard Shortcuts

You can also type umlauts with a number; to enter ä, ö and ü using the Alt key and the number keyboard on Windows:

1. Enable the numeric keypad.
   Key: Press NumLock.
2. Press and hold the Alt key.
3. Enter the number corresponding to the desired umlaut from the table just below.
   Example: For ö, press 0 2 4 6.
4. Release the Alt key.

Character	Umlaut	Umlaut Alt Key
a umlaut	ä	0228
A umlaut	Ä	0196
u umlaut	ü	0252
U umlaut	Ü	0220
o umlaut	ö	0246
O umlaut	Ö	0214

In Microsoft Office for Windows

In Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other apps in the Office family, you can use a special keyboard shortcut as well as the Symbols dialog to insert umlauts.

One-Off: Copy and Paste Umlauts

You can, of course, also copy and paste any umlaut character from here; use this table:

Character	Umlaut
a umlaut	Copy a umlaut
A umlaut	Copy A umlaut
u umlaut	Copy u umlaut
U umlaut	Copy U umlaut
o umlaut	Copy o umlaut
O umlaut	Copy O umlaut

How to Type Umlauts on a Windows Keyboard (including Laptop Keyboards): FAQ

My font does not support umlauts; what can I do?

If you have no access to the keyboard shortcuts or the US-International keyboard layout, and if even copying and pasting does not work because you use a font that will not display umlaut characters correctly, use the following substitutes:

Character	Umlaut	ASCII Substitute
a umlaut	ä	ae
A umlaut	Ä	Ae
u umlaut	ü	ue
U umlaut	Ü	Ue
o umlaut	ö	oe
O umlaut	Ö	Oe

Note: German does not use æ and œ, for instance, as substitutes for umlauts. Such ligatures appear as their own characters in languages such as French, Danish, and Norwegian.

Finnish and Estonian: In these languages, ä, ö and ü cannot be substituted with their ASCII equivalents.

(How to type umlauts using the keyboard (including laptop keyboards) tested with Windows 11 Version 22H2 and Windows 10; updated November 2023)