The following key combinations are the most common for the Macintosh system using the US EXTENDED KEYBOARD.

First, certain keys become "prefix" or "dead" keys. It's similar to how accent marks are typed on mechanical typewriters. When pressing the Option key (or Option+Shift keys) and then the letter of the accent mark you wish to make, you will see the accent mark appear first with a colored space around the accent.

When followed by a letter that can take an accent mark, this sequence creates the accented characters. Examples: á, ü, è, ô, ñ.

 Second, other keys will work by simply pressing Option (or Option+Shift) and then the key.

In the table below, if a combination has a plus sign (+), hold both keys simultaneously. If a comma (,) separates the key combination, release the keys you are holding and press the next set of keys.

These codes add accents to ANY Letter via Unicode. As a result, there may be unusual display issues with certain fonts or certain letters (e.g. capital letters).

To use these codes first type the letter, then type the code.

Fonts often contain many characters that don’t appear on the Apple keyboard. These characters include accented characters, math symbols, and special punctuation symbols. On some applications (Microsoft Word, for example), one simple way to access these characters is to press and hold the base character key for a second or so and you will see a popup menu with the extended character options. This works for all extended characters based on A, C, E, I, L, N, O, S, U, Y, and Z.