Laptop Keyboard

Option Key held down (Alt)

Option & Shift held down

Hold Option &

As you can see from the orange-highlighted keys below to the left, if you hold down the Option key, you have access to the ` ´ ¨ ˆ ˜ characters.

The key beneath the Esc key will give you the Grave accent. Press Option & that key, release, then follow with the letter you wish to accent. à è ì ò ù

Press Option & e, release, then press the letter you wish for the Acute accent. á é í ó ú

Option & u for the Umlaut. ä ë ï ö ü

Option & i for the circumflex. â ê î ô û

Option & n for the tilde. ñ

As you can see from the other keys, pressing them will give you a variety of characters.

Hold Option & Shift &

With the two key combos above, and the keys as shown in the third picture to the left, you have access to several other characters. Keep in mind that if you use Option & Shift & K that the font is apt to be changed as well to be able to get the apple.

Show Keyboard

To show the Keyboard viewer, you can add the option to the input menu from within System Preferences. Follow the steps for displaying the input menu, and be sure to check the box for "Keyboard Viewer".

Click for full size image.

You will then be able to choose to show the keyboard viewer from the input menu.