Accent letters Alt codes: the complete verified list
Every Windows Alt code for accent letters and symbols, grouped by accent mark, with the legacy three-digit codes and the letters that have no Alt code.
Updated · 6 min read
An Alt code is a number you type on the numeric keypad while holding the Alt key. Release Alt and the character appears. Every code on this page was checked against the Windows-1252 and code page 437 tables rather than copied from another list, because wrong Alt codes spread fast and a wrong code is worse than no code at all.
The one rule that breaks most Alt codes
Alt codes work only on the numeric keypad, with Num Lock on. Microsoft says this explicitly: the row of numbers above the letters does not work. If Num Lock is off, the keypad sends arrows and Home and End instead, which is why Alt+4 sometimes sends your browser back a page rather than typing anything.
No keypad on your laptop? That is a solvable problem, and How to type accents on a laptop without a numeric keypad covers seven ways around it.
Two systems: Alt+0NNN and Alt+NNN
Windows kept two Alt code systems.
Alt+0NNN, with a leading zero, reads the Windows code page, which is Windows-1252 on English and Western European systems. Alt+0233 gives é. This is the form Microsoft’s own documentation uses and the one to learn.
Alt+NNN, with no leading zero, reads the old DOS code page, 437 on US English systems. Alt+130 also gives é. These codes survive because people memorised them in the 1980s, but they cover fewer characters and they shift on systems with a different OEM code page.
One more limit worth knowing: with no leading zero, numbers above 255 originally wrapped around, so four-digit codes like “Alt+0322 for ł” that circulate online are not real Windows Alt codes. They only behave in a few older rich text controls and fail in Notepad, Chrome and Word.
Acute accent
| Lower | Code | Upper | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| á | Alt+0225 | Á | Alt+0193 |
| é | Alt+0233 | É | Alt+0201 |
| í | Alt+0237 | Í | Alt+0205 |
| ó | Alt+0243 | Ó | Alt+0211 |
| ú | Alt+0250 | Ú | Alt+0218 |
| ý | Alt+0253 | Ý | Alt+0221 |
These five vowels cover Spanish stress marks, Portuguese open vowels, Irish and Icelandic long vowels, and the single French é.
Grave accent
| Lower | Code | Upper | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| à | Alt+0224 | À | Alt+0192 |
| è | Alt+0232 | È | Alt+0200 |
| ì | Alt+0236 | Ì | Alt+0204 |
| ò | Alt+0242 | Ò | Alt+0210 |
| ù | Alt+0249 | Ù | Alt+0217 |
Italian needs all five of these, French needs à, è and ù. Note that à is 0224 and á is 0225: adjacent numbers, opposite marks, and the single most common mix-up in this whole table.
Circumflex
| Lower | Code | Upper | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| â | Alt+0226 | Â | Alt+0194 |
| ê | Alt+0234 | Ê | Alt+0202 |
| î | Alt+0238 | Î | Alt+0206 |
| ô | Alt+0244 | Ô | Alt+0212 |
| û | Alt+0251 | Û | Alt+0219 |
Microsoft’s own symbols page prints Alt+202, Alt+203 and Alt+212 for Ê, Ë and Ô. Those are missing the leading zero, and without it you get box drawing characters. Use the codes above.
Umlaut and diaeresis
| Lower | Code | Upper | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| ä | Alt+0228 | Ä | Alt+0196 |
| ë | Alt+0235 | Ë | Alt+0203 |
| ï | Alt+0239 | Ï | Alt+0207 |
| ö | Alt+0246 | Ö | Alt+0214 |
| ü | Alt+0252 | Ü | Alt+0220 |
| ÿ | Alt+0255 | Ÿ | Alt+0159 |
Capital Ÿ is the odd one out at Alt+0159, because it lives in the small block Microsoft added on top of Latin-1. The two dots are one character whether you call them an umlaut or a diaeresis, as Acute, grave, circumflex, tilde, umlaut: the difference sets out.
Tilde
| Lower | Code | Upper | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| ã | Alt+0227 | Ã | Alt+0195 |
| ñ | Alt+0241 | Ñ | Alt+0209 |
| õ | Alt+0245 | Õ | Alt+0213 |
Spanish needs ñ only. Portuguese needs ã and õ for its nasal vowels.
Letters with their own shape
| Char | Code | Char | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| å | Alt+0229 | Å | Alt+0197 |
| æ | Alt+0230 | Æ | Alt+0198 |
| ç | Alt+0231 | Ç | Alt+0199 |
| ø | Alt+0248 | Ø | Alt+0216 |
| œ | Alt+0156 | Œ | Alt+0140 |
| ß | Alt+0223 | ð | Alt+0240 |
| Ð | Alt+0208 | þ | Alt+0254 |
| Þ | Alt+0222 | š | Alt+0154 |
| Š | Alt+0138 | ž | Alt+0158 |
| Ž | Alt+0142 | ª º | Alt+0170 Alt+0186 |
German ß, Danish and Norwegian ø, French œ and Icelandic þ and ð are all here. Note that š and ž are the only caron letters with Alt codes, which is why Czech and Croatian writers cannot rely on this method.
Symbols and punctuation
| Symbol | Code | Symbol | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| ¿ | Alt+0191 | ¡ | Alt+0161 |
| « | Alt+0171 | » | Alt+0187 |
| € | Alt+0128 | £ | Alt+0163 |
| ¢ | Alt+0162 | ¥ | Alt+0165 |
| © | Alt+0169 | ® | Alt+0174 |
| ™ | Alt+0153 | ° | Alt+0176 |
| ± | Alt+0177 | × | Alt+0215 |
| ÷ | Alt+0247 | µ | Alt+0181 |
| § | Alt+0167 | ¶ | Alt+0182 |
| • | Alt+0149 | … | Alt+0133 |
Typographic quotes: Alt+0145 and Alt+0146 for the single pair, Alt+0147 and Alt+0148 for the double pair. The en dash is Alt+0150 and the em dash is Alt+0151. Microsoft’s own New Outlook table has those two swapped, so trust these.
The legacy three-digit codes
These still work and some people prefer them because they are shorter.
| Char | Legacy code | Char | Legacy code |
|---|---|---|---|
| á | Alt+160 | é | Alt+130 |
| í | Alt+161 | ó | Alt+162 |
| ú | Alt+163 | ñ | Alt+164 |
| Ñ | Alt+165 | ü | Alt+129 |
| ä | Alt+132 | ö | Alt+148 |
| ç | Alt+135 | Ç | Alt+128 |
| É | Alt+144 | Ö | Alt+153 |
| Ü | Alt+154 | ¿ | Alt+168 |
| ¡ | Alt+173 | « | Alt+174 |
| » | Alt+175 | ° | Alt+248 |
Most capitals have no legacy code, which is the main reason to learn the four-digit set instead.
Letters with no Alt code
Anything outside Windows-1252 simply has no Alt code on an English or Western European Windows. That includes Polish ą ć ę ł ń ś ź ż, Czech and Slovak č ď ě ň ř ť ů, Hungarian ő ű, Turkish ğ ı İ ş, Romanian ă ș ț, and every Vietnamese tone letter.
What to use instead, best first:
- Word, classic Outlook, OneNote: type the hex code then press
Alt+X. For example0142thenAlt+Xgives ł. See How to type accents in Microsoft Word (shortcuts and Alt+X). - The
Win+.panel: open it, choose Symbols, then Latin symbols. - Add that language’s keyboard layout in Settings and switch with
Win+Space. Polish Programmers givesAltGr+Lfor ł andAltGr+Afor ą. - PowerToys Quick Accent: hold a letter, then press Space or an arrow key.
- Character Map: run
charmap, tick Advanced view and search by name.
More on all five in How to type accents on Windows (Alt codes and layouts). If you would rather not learn numbers at all, the The US International keyboard layout explained layout turns ' plus e into é and AltGr+N into ñ, and How to type accents on a Mac (Option key and press-and-hold) covers the Option key system. For a broader tour of the platforms, start at How to type accent letters on any keyboard, and for the underlying code points see HTML entity, Unicode and CSS codes for accented letters. Every letter also has its own page from Accent Letter, and the Polish hub lists the Polish set in full.
FAQ
Why does my Alt code do nothing?
Almost always the numeric keypad. Alt codes only work on the numeric keypad with Num Lock switched on. The number row above the letters does not work, and neither does a keypad in arrow mode.
What is the difference between Alt+0233 and Alt+130?
Alt+0233 uses the Windows-1252 code page and Alt+130 uses the old DOS code page 437. Both give é on a standard English or Western European Windows, but the four-digit form with the leading zero is the consistent one.
Is there an Alt code for ł, ą or ș?
No. Those letters sit outside Windows-1252, so no general Alt code exists for them. Use Word's Alt+X method, the Win+. symbols panel, Character Map, or add that language's keyboard layout.
Do Alt codes work on a Mac?
No. Alt codes are a Windows feature. macOS uses Option key combinations and the press and hold accent menu instead.
Do capital letters have their own Alt codes?
Yes, and they are different numbers, not the lowercase code with Shift. É is Alt+0201 while é is Alt+0233.
By language: Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Polish