Short answer: On a Mac, press Option + u then a vowel for ä ö ü, and Option + s for ß. On Windows, switch to the US-International layout: AltGr + q = ä, AltGr + p = ö, AltGr + y = ü, AltGr + s = ß. On a phone, long-press the letter.
German needs just four characters your US keyboard lacks: the three umlauts ä ö ü and the eszett ß. Copy them below, or set your keyboard up once and type them properly. If you write in several languages, start at the foreign-language typing hub.
Need a character outside the German set? The full copy-and-paste symbol keyboard has every accent, currency sign and mark on one page.
Every German character at a glance
| Character | Name | Windows (Alt code) | Mac | HTML entity | Unicode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ä / Ä | a umlaut | Alt + 0228 / 0196 | Option + u, then a / Shift + A | ä / Ä | U+00E4 / U+00C4 |
| ö / Ö | o umlaut | Alt + 0246 / 0214 | Option + u, then o / Shift + O | ö / Ö | U+00F6 / U+00D6 |
| ü / Ü | u umlaut | Alt + 0252 / 0220 | Option + u, then u / Shift + U | ü / Ü | U+00FC / U+00DC |
| ß | eszett, sharp s | Alt + 0223 | Option + s | ß | U+00DF |
| ẞ | capital eszett | Type 1E9E then Alt + X (Word) | Character Viewer | ẞ | U+1E9E |
| € | euro | Alt + 0128 | Shift + Option + 2 | € | U+20AC |
| „ | German opening quote | Alt + 0132 | Shift + Option + w | „ | U+201E |
| “ | German closing quote | Alt + 0147 | Option + [ | “ | U+201C |
German uses only the umlaut — no acute, grave or circumflex accents. If you’re typing é or à, you’re typing French, not German.
Windows: the US-International layout
Worth setting up once. Your QWERTY keys stay exactly where they are, and German characters move onto the right Alt key (AltGr).
- Open Settings → Time & language → Language & region.
- Click the ⋯ next to English → Language options.
- Under Keyboards, click Add a keyboard → United States-International.
- Switch layouts any time with Windows key + Space.
Then type:
| Want | Press |
|---|---|
| ä / Ä | AltGr + q / AltGr + Shift + q |
| ö / Ö | AltGr + p / AltGr + Shift + p |
| ü / Ü | AltGr + y / AltGr + Shift + y |
| ß | AltGr + s |
| € | AltGr + 5 |
Those letter positions are arbitrary — q, p and y have nothing to do with ä, ö and ü, so most people learn them by repetition. If you’d rather not, US-International also gives you the " dead key: press ", then a, o or u, and you get ä ö ü. The trade-off is that typing an actual quotation mark now needs " followed by a space.
If AltGr does nothing on your keyboard, use Ctrl + Alt with the same letter instead — the two are equivalent on Windows.
No layout change? Use Alt codes
Hold Alt, type the four digits from the table above on the numeric keypad, release. Alt + 0223 gives ß. This needs a real numpad with Num Lock on — the number row will not work. Laptops without one should use US-International or the Word shortcuts below. The full Windows Alt code chart covers everything else.
Mac: Option shortcuts
macOS needs no setup:
- Option + u, release, then a, o or u → ä ö ü (hold Shift on the second letter for Ä Ö Ü)
- Option + s → ß
You can also press and hold a letter key — holding u pops up an accent picker. And if you write German daily, add the layout properly: System Settings → Keyboard → Text Input → Edit → + → German, then switch with Control + Space.
iPhone and Android
Both phones handle German with a long press, no setup needed:
- Long-press a, o, u → the umlaut options.
- Long-press s → ß (it sits next to ś and š in the popup).
For real writing, add the German keyboard so autocorrect stops fighting you. iPhone: Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard → German, then tap the 🌐 globe key to switch. Android (Gboard): Settings → Languages → Add keyboard → German, then swipe the space bar to switch. With German active, prediction does the work — typing strasse offers Straße.
Chromebook
Add the input method: Settings → Advanced → Languages and inputs → Inputs → Add input methods, then pick German or US International keyboard, and switch with Ctrl + Shift + Space. With US International active, the AltGr combinations above work exactly as they do on Windows.
Without a layout change, use the Unicode shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + U, type the hex code (df for ß, e4 for ä), then press Enter or Space.
Linux
Three options, in order of how often you’ll use them:
- Add the layout: Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources → + → German, or English (US, intl. with dead keys). Switch with Super + Space.
- Compose key: enable it in Keyboard settings, then Compose, “, a → ä and Compose, s, s → ß. Readable and easy to remember.
- Unicode entry: Ctrl + Shift + U, then the hex code, then Enter.
Word and Google Docs
Microsoft Word has built-in shortcuts that work on any layout, no numpad required:
| Character | Word shortcut |
|---|---|
| ä ö ü | Ctrl + Shift + : (colon), release, then a, o or u |
| Ä Ö Ü | same shortcut, then Shift + the letter |
| ß | Ctrl + Shift + &, release, then s |
| ẞ | type 1E9E, then press Alt + X |
Press the letter promptly after releasing the shortcut, or Word gives you the plain letter. These are Word for Windows and Mac only — Word on the web doesn’t support them, and neither does Google Docs. In Docs, use Insert → Special characters (search “u umlaut”), your OS layout, or the tool at the top of this page.
The capital ẞ — the rule most guides get wrong
For a century, German had no capital eszett: in all-caps you replaced ß with SS, so Straße became STRASSE. That changed twice.
In June 2017, the Council for German Orthography (Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung) accepted ẞ as a permitted variant — STRASSE or STRAẞE, your choice. Then in the revised rulebook that took effect on 1 July 2024, the order flipped: ẞ is now the primary form, with SS listed as the alternative. Most English-language guides still tell you to write SS, which was correct until 2024 and is now merely the second option.
Two practical caveats. There’s still no ẞ key on any standard keyboard, so you’ll be using 1E9E + Alt + X in Word, the Character Viewer on a Mac (Ctrl + Cmd + Space, search “sharp”), or the copy grid above. And not every font contains the glyph — check that yours renders ẞ rather than a box before using it in a headline.
Swiss German skips all of this: Switzerland and Liechtenstein dropped ß entirely and write ss in every case.
German quotation marks
German uses low-high quotes — „so” — not the English “so”. They’re worth getting right in anything typeset:
- Windows: Alt + 0132 for „ and Alt + 0147 for “
- Mac: Shift + Option + w for „ and Option + [ for “
- Guillemets pointing inward, »so«, are the standard alternative in Swiss and some print usage.
If your word processor keeps producing English quotes, that’s autocorrect, not your keyboard — see straight vs curly quotes.
When you can’t type them at all
There’s an official fallback: ä → ae, ö → oe, ü → ue, ß → ss. It’s used in email addresses, domain names, passports and any system that can’t handle the characters — Müller becomes Mueller, Straße becomes Strasse. It’s correct German, not a workaround, so use it without apology in URLs and usernames. Keep your WordPress slugs unaccented for the same reason.
German characters in HTML and CSS
UTF-8 pages handle German directly — set <meta charset="utf-8"> and type ä ö ü ß straight into your markup. Entities are only needed for legacy encodings or when you want the source unambiguous:
html
<p>Grüße aus der Straße!</p>Renders:
Grüße aus der Straße!
In CSS content, use the escaped code point with no semicolon: content: "\00DF"; gives ß. In URLs, ü percent-encodes as %C3%BC — WordPress handles this automatically, but the ae/oe/ue fallback makes for cleaner links.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| Alt codes do nothing | You’re using the number row. Alt codes need the numeric keypad with Num Lock on — see why Alt codes don’t work |
| AltGr doesn’t respond | Use Ctrl + Alt with the same letter — it’s the equivalent on Windows |
| Quotation marks stopped working after switching layouts | " is now a dead key on US-International. Press “ then Space for a real quotation mark |
| Option + u gives nothing on Mac | It’s a dead key — nothing appears until you press the second key. Option + u, then a |
| ẞ shows as an empty box | Your font lacks U+1E9E. Switch to a font with a capital eszett, or write SS |
| Y and Z are swapped | You’re on a German QWERTZ layout. Switch back with Win + Space (Windows) or Ctrl + Space (Mac) |
| Umlauts show as � on my site | Encoding, not typing — the page isn’t UTF-8. See symbols showing as boxes |
Which method should you use?
| If you… | Do this |
|---|---|
| Need one word right now | Copy it from the grid above |
| Write German occasionally on Windows | Add US-International, use AltGr |
| Write German occasionally on Mac | Option + u and Option + s — nothing to install |
| Write German daily | Add the full German (QWERTZ) layout and learn the key positions |
| Work mainly in Word | The Ctrl shortcuts — no layout change needed |
| Type on a phone | Long-press, plus the German keyboard for prediction |
| Fill in a form that rejects umlauts | Use ae / oe / ue / ss |
Writing other languages too? See how to type in Spanish, French and Portuguese, or read up on what umlauts and the eszett actually are.
Frequently asked questions
How do I type ß on a keyboard without a German layout?
On Windows, press Alt + 0223 on the numeric keypad, or add the US-International layout and press AltGr + s. On a Mac, press Option + s. On a phone, long-press the s key. In Word, press Ctrl + Shift + &, release, then s.
How do I type umlauts ä, ö and ü?
On a Mac, press Option + u, release, then a, o or u. On Windows with the US-International layout, press AltGr + q for ä, AltGr + p for ö and AltGr + y for ü — or press the " key followed by the vowel. Alt codes are 0228, 0246 and 0252.
Is there a capital ß?
Yes. The capital eszett ẞ (U+1E9E) was accepted into German orthography in 2017, and since the rulebook update of 1 July 2024 it is the primary form for all-caps writing, with SS as the permitted alternative. There is no keyboard key for it — use 1E9E then Alt + X in Word, or copy it.
What do I do when a form won’t accept umlauts?
Use the official fallback spellings: ae for ä, oe for ö, ue for ü and ss for ß. So Müller becomes Mueller and Straße becomes Strasse. This is standard practice for email addresses, domains and official documents.
Why are Y and Z swapped on a German keyboard?
The German layout is QWERTZ, not QWERTY — Z sits where Y does on a US keyboard because Z is far more common in German. The umlaut keys sit right of L and P, and ß sits right of the 0 key.
Does German use any accents besides umlauts?
No. German uses only the umlaut on a, o and u, plus the eszett ß. Accented letters like é appear only in loanwords such as Café.
Written by Igor R. Tested on Windows 11, macOS, iOS, Android, ChromeOS and Linux. Last updated August 2026. Character code points follow the Unicode Standard.