How to Type Spanish Characters in Microsoft Office

By Adele Eliot

Typing Spanish characters in Microsoft Office is simple once you know the keyboard shortcuts
i David Sacks/Lifesize/Getty Images

Microsoft Office is a software package containing Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. If you buy Microsoft Office in America, the language will be set by default to American English. However, if you are studying Spanish or need to produce a document or presentation in this language, you can use the language settings and certain keyboard shortcuts to produce Spanish characters, and use a Spanish language spellcheck.

Open a Microsoft Office document. This can be in Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote.

Go to "Review," "Proofing" and "Set Language" in Word. Choose Spanish from the list.

Click the "Home" button to change the language settings in Excel. Select "Excel Options," click on "Proofing" then select Spanish from the language list.

Click on "Tools" to switch to Spanish in OneNote. Select "Set Language" then click on Spanish.

Click on "Insert" and then "Symbol" to insert characters specific to the Spanish alphabet in Word and OneNote. Choose the particular letter you want to insert from the dialogue box and double click to insert it into the document.

Type the word in Spanish, replacing the special character with a normal letter that has no accent. The proofing function should underline the word in red. Right-click on the word and select the correct version, with accents, from the list. This will replace the word with the correct characters.

Insert special Spanish characters using particular keyboard shortcuts in any Microsoft Office program. For a comprehensive list of keyboard shortcuts that produce Spanish characters, go to spanishnewyork.com/spanish-characters.html.

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