German Keyboard

The German keyboard is similar to the American keyboard, but it adds support for the four German characters (ä, ö, ü, and ß) that are not found in English or on American keyboards. Many of the non-alphabet keys are in different places as well. The most important differences are circled in the image below.

You can still type German characters on an American keyboard, but not all fonts support German characters so if the instructions below are not working for you make sure that you are using a standard font such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Verdana.

Windows Personal Computer (PC)

To type a German character on a Windows PC (most versions) you hold down the ALT key and type the corresponding number combination as shown in the chart below.

For example,   Alt + 0196 = Ä

Always use the numeric (“extended” or “10 key”) keypad which is usually to the right side of the keyboard – not the row of numbers above the alphabetic keys. On some computers you may have to use “Num Lock” or a special key to make the number keys work appropriately.

Macintosh Apple Computer (MAC)

To type a German character on a MAC first press the OPTION key, then the corresponding sequence of letters as shown in the chart below.

For example,   Option then u then A = Ä