How to type Umlaut letters (ä, ü, ï, ö, ë, ÿ) on Keyboard

Umlaut, also known as diaeresis, are two marks that consist of two dots ( ¨ ) placed over a letter, usually a vowel, to indicate a different vowel quality.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to type Umlaut in Windows or Mac. You’ll also learn all the available options to insert any Umlaut letter in Word, Excel or PowerPoint.

Without any further ado, let’s get started.

Related: How To Type Umlauts On iPhone & Android

How to type Umlaut in Windows (using Alt Code)

One of the simplest ways to type the Umlaut letters in Word is to use the alt code method.

This method is for Windows users only. It also requires that your keyboard should have the numeric keypad. If it doesn’t look like you, please explore the other options. Otherwise, let’s get started.

To type Umlaut letters in Windows (umlaut ö for example), press and hold the Alt key on your keyboard whilst you type the character’s alt code on the numeric keypad. The alt code for Umlaut o is 0246.

The alt codes of all the umlaut letters are listed in the table below. Use these alt codes if you want to type any of the underlisted umlaut letters on Windows.

Description	Symbol	Alt Codes
A umlaut – Uppercase	Ä	Alt 0196
a umlaut – Lowercase	ä	Alt 0228
E umlaut – Uppercase	Ë	Alt 0203
e umlaut – Lowercase	ë	Alt 0235
I umlaut – Uppercase	Ï	Alt 0207
i umlaut – Lowercase	ï	Alt 0239
O umlaut – Uppercase	Ö	Alt 0214
o umlaut – Lowercase	ö	Alt 0246
U umlaut – Uppercase	Ü	Alt 0220
u umlaut – Lowercase	ü	Alt 0252
Y umlaut – Uppercase	Ÿ	Alt 0159
y umlaut – Lowercase	ÿ	Alt 0255

Below is a step by step guide:

• Launch the document where you want to type the umlaut. Word or Excel for example.
• Place your cursor at the desired location within the document.
• Turn on you Num Lock.
• Press and hold the Alt key on your keyboard.
• Whilst still holding on to the Alt key, press the umlaut alt code and release the alt key. For example, to type umlaut o, press and hold the key and press 0250 on the numeric keypad. The alt codes of the umlaut letters are list in the table above.

These are the steps to type the Umlaut letters in Windows using the symbol’s alt code.

The hard part of this method is that you have to learn the alt code for each umlaut letter you want to type. That’s a lot of numbers to remember. If you happen to type these umlaut letters often, then you may want to create a cheat sheet for quick reference.

How to type Umlaut on Mac (using shortcut)

Typing umlaut letters on Mac is very easy with the keyboard shortcut. All you have to do is press the Option+U, then type the letter. The umlaut version of that letter or vowel will be created.

Obey the following steps to type any letter with the umlaut accent mark on top of it:

• First of all, press [Option]+[u] simultaneously.
• Without pressing any other key, press the letter to be accented with the umlaut mark.

For example, to type ü (umlaut u) on Mac, press [OPTION] + [u] as the first step. then without pressing any other key or pressing the mouse, type the letter u. The umlaut u vowel should be inserted into your document. The same technique can be used to type ä, ï, ö, ë and ÿ.

The table below contains all umlaut accented letters as well as the keyboard shortcut on Mac for each one of them:

Symbol	Description	Shortcut on Mac
ä	Umlaut a	[OPTION]+[u] then a
ë	Umlaut e	[OPTION]+[u] then e
ï	Umlaut i	[OPTION]+[u] then i
ö	Umlaut o	[OPTION]+[u] then o
ü	Umlaut u	[OPTION]+[u] then u
ÿ	Umlaut y	[OPTION]+[u] then y

2 ways Type Umlaut on Word (Windows Only)

If you are using a Windows PC, there are several methods available for you to type any umlaut letter in Microsoft Word.

In this section, we’ll talk about two simple methods you can use to type any letter with the umlaut mark in Microsoft Word.

NOTE: Using the Alt code method as discussed in the beginning section, you can type any Umlaut letter or character anywhere including Word, Excel or PowerPoint.

Without any further ado, let’s get started.

Method 1: Umlaut Shortcut for Word

The Umlaut shortcut for Word is [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[;], then the letter.

NOTE: This shortcut works only in Microsoft Word and Outlook. If you want to type umlaut in other apps like Excel or in your browser, refer to the other methods in this article.

To type any umlaut letter in Word using the keyboard, first of all, simultaneously press Ctrl + Shift + ;. After pressing these keys, and without pressing any other key, type the vowel or letter. This will type an umlaut version of the vowel typed.

The table below contains all the umlaut letters and how to type each one of them

To type:	Press:
ä	[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[;], then a
ë	[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[;], then e
ï	[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[;], then i
ö	[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[;], then o
ü	[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[;], then u
ÿ	[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[;], then y

NOTE: The table above illustrates only lowercase umlaut letters. However, using the same shortcut, you can type uppercase umlaut letters by turning on the caps lock.

These is how you may use the keyboard shortcut to type all the umlaut letters in Microsoft Word.

Option two: Using the Insert symbol dialog

Using the Insert symbol dialog box, you can insert any umlaut character in Word.

Just obey the following instructions:

• Go to the Insert tab.

• In the symbol’s category, click on the Symbol drop-down, then More Symbols.

• The Symbol dialog box will appear. Select Latin-1 Supplement from the Subset: drop-down list. Then look for the umlaut letter you wish to insert and select it.

• Click on Insert. Alternatively, double click on the symbol to insert it into your Word document.
• Close the dialog.

These are steps to use symbol’s dialog box to insert any umlaut letter into your Word document.

How to type Umlaut in Excel

Using the alt code method discussed in the beginning section of this guide, you can quickly type any umlaut letter into Microsoft Excel.

However, if you want to explore more options for this task, obey the instructions below.

• Open up Excel.
• Select the cell that will contain the umlaut.
• Click on the Insert tab and navigate to Symbols>Symbol.

•  The Symbol dialog box will appear. Search for the umlaut letter or character you want and double click on it to insert it into your document.

These are the steps you may use to insert the umlaut letters into your Excel worksheets.

Conclusion

As you have noticed, there are several different methods to type the umlaut letters for both Windows and Mac.

On Windows, using the Umlaut alt codes work everywhere including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and even on browsers. But options like the shortcut that works only in Microsoft Word.

Please use the comments section below if you have anything to say about these umlauts letters and how to insert them into your PC.