It can be helpful to type the letter E with accents in Microsoft Word, especially if you want to use terms like résumé, café, or Moët & Chandon.
In this article, I’ll show you how to add the following accent marks to the letter E in Microsoft Word:
- Acute accent (É or é)
- Grave accent (È or è)
- Circumflex accent (Ê or ê)
- Umlaut accent (Ë or ë)
Are you ready to learn about typing E with an accent? I’m feeling more sophisticated just thinking about working with diacritical marks!
3 Ways to Type the Letter E with Accent Marks in Microsoft Word
Each of the following techniques accomplish the same thing – they let you add accented characters to your Word document. Choose the one you’re most comfortable with.
Method #1: Use the Insert Symbol Dialog Box
To insert E with an accent using the Insert Symbol dialog box, do the following:
- Select the Insert tab on the ribbon in Microsoft Word then click Symbol in the Symbols group .
- Click More Symbols.
The character map dialog appears displaying symbols and special characters. - Select the Symbols tab, if necessary then choose (normal text) from the font drop-down menu.
- Scroll through the list of symbols and select an accented letter.
- Click Insert then click Close.
In the screenshot, I added e with an acute accent mark (é).
Method #2: Use an Alt Key Shortcut
You can enter alt codes using your numeric keypad to quickly add accent marks to characters in your Word document. Once you memorize these codes, this method might be quicker than using commands on the Insert tab.
Hold the Alt key as you type the following four digit alt codes to type e with an accent character:
- Alt + 0201 for É, upper case E with acute accent
- Alt + 0233 for é, lower case e with acute accent
- Alt + 0200 for È, upper case E with grave accent
- Alt + 0232 for è, lower case e with grave accent
- Alt + 0202 for Ê, upper case E with circumflex accent
- Alt + 0234 for ê, lower case e with circumflex accent
- Alt + 0203 for Ë, upper case E with umlaut accent
- Alt + 0235 for ë, lower case e with umlaut accent
These shortcuts work well if you have a full size keyboard layout with a numeric keypad – just make sure your num lock key is enabled.
If you’re working on a laptop without a numeric keypad, you likely don’t have a full size keyboard layout. This method probably won’t work. If you’re stuck, you can always copy and paste the accented characters from this article into your Microsoft Word document!
Method #3: Use Ctrl Shortcut Keys
Microsoft Word also lets you use keyboard shortcuts with the Ctrl key.
Here are the Ctrl key keyboard shortcuts:
- Ctrl + ‘ then press E for upper case É with an acute accent
- Ctrl + ‘ then press e for lower case é with an acute accent
- Ctrl + ` then press E for upper case È with a grave accent
- Ctrl + ` then press e for lower case è with a grave accent
- Ctrl + ^ (Ctrl + Shift + 6) then press E for upper case Ê with a circumflex accent
- Ctrl + ^ (Ctrl + Shift + 6) then press e for lower case ê with a circumflex accent
- Ctrl + : (Ctrl + Shift + semi-colon)then press E for upper case Ë with an umlaut accent
- Ctrl + : (Ctrl + Shift + semi-colon)then press e for lower case ë with an umlaut accent
I like these shortcuts because the symbols that you type resemble the accent marks that appear when you need an e with an accent!
It’s Easy to Use Accented Characters in Word!
Whether you need to type E with an accent or add accent marks to other characters in Microsoft Word, you can do it using one of the techniques outlined in this article.
Who knew it was so easy to type accents!
