How to Type Umlaut Letters (ä, ö, ü, ë, ï, ÿ) on Keyboard

Umlaut (also called diaeresis) is the name for the two dots (¨) that sit above a letter, usually a vowel. They slightly change how the vowel is pronounced in languages such as German, Swedish, Finnish, Hungarian, Albanian, and others.

Common umlaut letters are:

Lowercase: ä, ö, ü, ë, ï, ÿ
Uppercase: Ä, Ö, Ü, Ë, Ï, Ÿ

In this guide you’ll learn how to type these umlaut letters on:

Windows – using Alt codes and Word shortcuts
Mac – using Option (⌥) shortcuts
Microsoft Word, Excel & PowerPoint
Copy-and-paste, Character Map, and the Windows emoji / symbol panel

Table of Contents

Quick Reference – All Umlaut Letters (Click to Copy)

Click to copy Umlaut letters

Click any letter below to copy it, then paste it into your document (Ctrl+V on Windows or Command+V on Mac).

Lowercase umlaut letters

Uppercase umlaut letters

Tip: On Windows, turn Num Lock on, hold Alt, then type the 4-digit code on the numeric keypad to type these directly.

Lowercase umlaut letters:
ä, ö, ü, ë, ï, ÿ
Uppercase umlaut letters:
Ä, Ö, Ü, Ë, Ï, Ÿ

Main Windows Alt Codes for Umlaut Letters

Use these Alt codes on Windows with the numeric keypad:

Letter	Description	Alt code (Windows)
Ä	A umlaut (upper)	`Alt 0196`
ä	a umlaut (lower)	`Alt 0228`
Ë	E umlaut (upper)	`Alt 0203`
ë	e umlaut (lower)	`Alt 0235`
Ï	I umlaut (upper)	`Alt 0207`
ï	i umlaut (lower)	`Alt 0239`
Ö	O umlaut (upper)	`Alt 0214`
ö	o umlaut (