English and Spanish share nearly identical alphabets: the only difference is the addition of ñ in the Spanish alphabet, bringing it to 27 letters. If you need to type the occasional Spanish word in Microsoft Word, it's not immediately apparent how to add accent marks to letters -- in fact, these Spanish characters are entirely different from the ones on your keyboard, though you can still use your keyboard to type them. If you frequently write entire documents in Spanish, you may want to add Spanish keyboard settings to your Windows environment so you can toggle between English and Spanish as necessary.
Step 1
Open a new or existing document in Microsoft Word.
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Step 2
Go to "Start" > "All Programs" > "Accessories" > "System Tools" > "Character Map."
Step 3
Choose "Arial" in the Font drop-down box.
Step 4
Click on the Spanish letter or symbol that you want to use. It will grow larger to indicate you selected it.
Step 5
Look for the word "Keystroke" in the bottom right corner. The key combination after it is the unique combination for typing that particular Spanish character.
Step 6
Return to Microsoft Word. Click in the place in the document where you want to insert the Spanish letter.
Step 7
Hold down the "Alt" key. Type the series of numbers for that symbol. Let go of the "Alt" key. That Spanish character now appears.
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