How to Put in Accent Marks Using Microsoft Word

Insert symbols as needed in Word.

Microsoft Word provides a plethora of formatting and font options. The program is also capable of producing words with accent marks found in many languages, which are not normally needed and thus kept on a separate tab in the program. In addition, once you define your languages for Word, you enable the program to assist you with accent marks. Word then identifies the language and suggests appropriate accents as you are editing your document.

Instructions

Symbols Menu

1. Open Microsoft Word and either select an existing document or create a new document.

2. Click on the "Insert," select "Symbol," and then "More Symbols."

3. Search through the list of symbols for the appropriate accented letter.

4. Click the letter to highlight it, and then select "Insert." Keep the symbols menu open as you work to access more symbols as needed.

Non-English Keyboard

1. Click "Start," then "All Programs." Open Microsoft Word, and then select "Microsoft Office Tools." From the options, choose "Microsoft Office 2010 Language Preferences."

2. From the selection of languages, click "Add additional Editing languages," which appears with an arrow. Then choose the language and click "Add," and then "OK."

3. Close all Office programs, including Word, to enable this setting.

4. Type as usual. By enabling another language, you also enable the option to "Automatically switch keyboard to match language of surrounding text" in Word. If you switch between languages in a document in Word 2010, the keyboard settings switch to the language of the surrounding text.

Tips & Warnings

• When you use the Symbols menu in Word, note the field "shortcut key" which appears for certain symbols. That means there is a key path to produce then symbol when typed. Hold down "Alt," "Control" or "Shift," and enter a specific combination of numbers to produce the symbol using the keyboard.

References

• Microsoft Answers: How Do I Put an Accent Mark Above a Letter in a Word?
• Microsoft: Enable the Use of Other Languages In Your Office Programs
• Microsoft: Turn on Automatic Language Options