How to Type A With Dots (Ä, ä) on Your Keyboard (a umlaut)

The letter A with two dots is written as ä (lowercase) and Ä (uppercase). You’ll see it a lot in German (example: Mädchen), and also in languages like Swedish, Finnish, and Estonian.

Those two dots are the same mark, but you may hear two names:

Umlaut: when the dots change the sound of the vowel (common in German).
Diaeresis: when the dots show that vowels should be pronounced separately (more common on letters like ë in some names/words).
In practice, ä is the same character either way—people just use different names depending on the language.

Quick pronunciation note (very simple): in German, ä is often said like the “e” in “bed” (roughly), depending on the word.

Table of Contents

1-Minute Answer (fastest ways)

Windows (works in most apps)

ä: Hold Alt and type 0228 on the numeric keypad
Ä: Hold Alt and type 0196 on the numeric keypad

Mac

ä: Press Option (⌥) + U, then press A
Ä: Press Option (⌥) + U, then press Shift + A (or turn on Caps Lock, then press A)

Microsoft Word (fast options)

Word (Windows): Press Ctrl + Shift + : (colon), then press A → ä
(Use Shift + A for Ä)
Word (Mac): Option (⌥) + U, then A

Excel (fast options)

Alt codes (Windows): Alt+0228 (ä), Alt+0196 (Ä)
Formula: =CHAR(228) → ä, =CHAR(196) → Ä

Google Docs

Insert → Special characters, then search a umlaut (or draw it)

iPhone / Android

Press and hold a → choose ä
For Ä, turn on Shift/Caps, then press and hold A

Quick reference (Ä ä)

Characters: Ä (uppercase), ä (lowercase)

Character	Unicode	Windows Alt code	Mac shortcut	HTML
Ä	U+00C4	Alt+0196	⌥+U, then Shift+A	`Ä` or `Ä`
ä	U+00E4	Alt+0228	⌥+U, then A	`ä` or `ä`

Copy and paste Ä and ä

If you just need the characters right now, copy them here:

Ä
ä