If you set the keyboard to US International then
`A will give you à (except for accent grave but the others work). Acctually there doesn't seem to be accent grave A at all in the international keyboard.
Contact Us
© 2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of use Privacy Accessibility
--
How To Use the United States-International Keyboard Layout in Windows XP
Applies To
This article was previously published under Q306560
IN THIS TASK
SUMMARY
How to Use the United States-International Keyboard
Adding the United States-International Keyboard Layout
Creating Extended Characters
Creating International Characters
How to Use StickyKeys
SUMMARY
This step-by-step guide describes how to use the United States-International keyboard layout in Windows XP.
With the United States-International layout, you can type international and special characters by using combinations of keys.
back to the top
How to Use the United States-International Keyboard
Adding the United States-International Keyboard Layout
To add the United States-International keyboard layout, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Under Pick a category, click Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options.
3. Under or pick a Control Panel icon, click Regional and Language Options.
The Regional and Language Options dialog box appears.
4. On the Languages tab, click Details.
The Text Services and Input Languages dialog box appears.
5. Under Installed services, click Add.
The Add Input language dialog box appears.
6. In the Input language list, click the language that you want. For example, English (United States).
NOTE: When you use the United States-International keyboard layout, you should also use an English language setting.
7. In the Keyboard layout/IME list, click United States-International, and then click OK.
8. In the Select one of the installed input languages to use when you start your computer list, click Language name - United States-International (where Language name is the language that you selected in step 6), and then click OK.
9. In the Regional and Language Options dialog box, click OK.
Notice that the Language bar appears on the taskbar. When you position the mouse pointer over it, a ToolTip appears that describes the active keyboard layout. For example, United States-International.
10. Click the Language bar, and then click United States-International on the shortcut menu that appears.
The United States-International keyboard layout is selected.
back to the top
Creating Extended Characters
The United States-International keyboard layout assigns new functions to the right ALT key (the ALT key on the right side of the keyboard). Use the right ALT key in combination with other keys to create extended characters.
The following table illustrates characters that you can create by using the combination of the right ALT key plus another key, as well as those that you can create by using the right ALT key plus the SHIFT key plus another key:
Key on United States keyboard Character Made with Right ALT+Key SHIFT+Right ALT+Key
1i¹
2²N/A
3³N/A
4¤£
5€N/A
61/4N/A
71/2N/A
83/4N/A
9'N/A
0'N/A
-Â¥N/A
=×÷
QäÄ
WåÅ
EéÉ
R(r)N/A
TþÞ
YüÜ
UúÚ
IÃÃ
OóÓ
PöÖ
[<<N/A
]>>N/A
\Not Sign¦
AáÃ
Sߧ
DðÃ
LøØ
;Pilcrow Sign°
'´¨
ZæÆ
C(c)¢
NñÑ
MµN/A
,çÇ
/¿N/A
TABLE This table is a list of extended characters that cannot be displayed.
back to the top
Creating International Characters
When you press the APOSTROPHE (') key, QUOTATION MARK (") key, ACCENT GRAVE (`) key, TILDE (~) key, ACCENT CIRCUMFLEX key, or CARET (^) key, nothing appears on the screen until you press a second key. If you press one of the letters designated as eligible to receive an accent mark, the accented version of the letter appears. If you press the key of a character that is not eligible to receive an accent mark, two separate characters appear.
In other words, when you use the US-International keyboard layout, Windows automatically accents letters that customarily receive an accent but does not automatically accent letters that do not customarily receive an accent.
The following table illustrates the accented characters that you can create:
Press this keyThen press this keyResultant character
' (APOSTROPHE)CÇ
'(APOSTROPHE)e, y, u, i, o, aé, ý, ú, Ã, ó, á
"(QUOTATION MARK)e, u, i, o, aë, ü, ï, ö, ä
`(ACCENT GRAVE)e, u, i, oè, ù, ì, ò
~(TILDE)o, nõ, ñ
^(CARET)e, u, i, o, aê, û, î, ô, â
This table contains accented characters that cannot be displayed.
back to the top
How to Use StickyKeys
Key combinations require you to press and hold down two or more keys at once. Single-handed typists or users who use a mouth-stick have difficulty doing this. StickyKeys enables you to press a modifier key (CTRL, ALT, or SHIFT), or the Windows logo key, and have it remain active until another key is pressed.
To turn on StickyKeys, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Under Pick a category, click Accessibility Options.
3. Under or pick a Control Panel icon, click Accessibility Options.
The Accessibility Options dialog box appears.
4. On the Keyboard tab, click to select the Use StickyKeys check box, and then click OK.
back to the top
The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Last Reviewed:7/15/2004 (1.2)
Keywords:kbhowto kbHOWTOmaster KB306560 kbAudITPro
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
Charles said:
The problem I am having is that, instead of simply producing a character in
whatever body of text I happen to be writing (be it in a word processor, an
e-mail program, or whtever) something completely unrelated happens -- like
jumping to the last e-mail I read, or skipping to another mailbox, or jumping
to the bottom of the text. I have not catalogued all the precise problems
but they happen for most of the ALT codes that worked fine in all previous
versions of Windows but do not work in Windows XP. The codes I used to use
were both 3 and 4 digit codes, ranging from ALT+0193 which produced a capital
A-accent-grave to ALT+159 which produced the old German form of an "s" which
looks like an itallic "f"
I gather that some of these codes are unicode, but that is not the problem.
The problem is that the very same codes that used to work in ALL versions of
Windows before XP (and I think I have used or tried them all over the years)
do other things in XP. My conclusion is that Windows XP expropriates some of
these codes to do all the wonderful things that it does with keyboard
short-cuts. All I really want to do is to disable some of the Windows XP
defaults and be able to use the character codes that have been standard for
years.
Thanks for the insights, but I'm still searching for an answer.
Charles
