Special Character Picker with Alt Codes
Copy accented letters, dashes, quotes, ©, ™, € and other special characters, with Windows Alt codes, Mac Option-key shortcuts and HTML entities.
Need an é, an em dash, curly quotes or the ™ sign? This picker lists the special characters people type most — accented letters for French, Spanish, German, Polish, Czech and Turkish, typographic punctuation, legal marks, currency signs and common math symbols — and shows how to type each one: the Windows Alt code, the Mac Option-key shortcut, the Microsoft Word Alt+X code and the HTML entity. Or just copy it from the table.
How to use this tool
- Choose a category, or keep Most used.
- Type a single letter such as e or n to see the listed accented forms of it, or a word such as dash or copyright.
- Copy the character, or use the shortcut shown for your system.
- For web pages, paste the HTML entity into your markup.
Formula
Alt code = Alt + 0 + the character's number in Windows-1252 · Word: hex code point, then Alt+X
For Latin-1 characters (U+00A0 to U+00FF) the Windows-1252 number equals the Unicode code point, so é (U+00E9 = 233) is Alt+0233. Curly quotes, dashes, € and ™ sit in the 128–159 range, which is why the em dash is Alt+0151. Characters outside Windows-1252, such as ł, have no Alt+0 code; use Word's Alt+X or the emoji panel (Win + .).
Example
Pasting é gives Alt code Alt+0233, Mac shortcut Option+E, then E, Word shortcut 00E9, then Alt+X and HTML entity é. Typing n in Accented letters lists 4 letters — ñ, Ñ, ń and ň — and the em dash — is Alt+0151 on Windows and Option+Shift+- on a Mac.
Frequently asked questions
Why don't Alt codes work on my laptop?
Alt codes need the numeric keypad; the number row along the top does not work. On laptops without a keypad, use the emoji and symbol panel (Win + .), the Character Map app, or Word's Alt+X method.
What is the difference between Alt+0233 and Alt+130?
On systems using Windows-1252, a leading zero selects that code page. Without it, the active OEM code page is used; with CP437, Alt+130 is é. Locale and application settings can change this behavior.
How do dead keys on a Mac work?
Pressing Option with E, `, I, U or N types only the accent and waits for the next letter. Option+E then A gives á; Option+U then O gives ö. Add Shift to the second key for a capital.
When should I use an en dash or an em dash?
The en dash (–) joins ranges such as 9–5 or pages 10–24. The em dash (—) marks a break in a sentence — like this. A plain hyphen (-) joins words such as well-known.
Sources
Last updated: 2026-10-30