I am having trouble typing French accents using Pages, specifically, I cannot type an "a" with an accent grave. I have reviewed the Apple Community support page at http://french.about.com/od/writing/ss/typeaccents_8.htm but the directions it gives do not work (i.e., to hold down the option key while pressing the apostrophe key, followed by the "a" key. Can anyone provide any guidance?
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)
- launched your Pages document - place the mouse curser where you want the character to appear - go to the top menu bar, and select "edit / special characters"
- in the left hand column, default special characters will be listed
- double click on the special character and it will add to the document
- if you don't see what you want - you should see a "gear" under the red/yellow/green dot - select "customize list". Just look for the correct character category, select it, then click done
- this will put this in the left hand source column
Thank you KarenSelena - this is a workaround I had forgotten. However, in my version of Pages the 'gear' is not directly under the red/yellow/green dots at the top left, but at the bottom of the Characters box on the lower left. When I click on it, there is no 'customize list' option. And, what is the source column? Is that the box to the left of the symbols which describes them?
Also, is there a keystroke solution I may be missing? I.e., have the keyboard shortcuts perhaps been updated for the symbol I'm searching for?
Again, thanks.
Do you have Pages 08 or Pages 09. Also, what version are you using of Pages - ex. Pages 09 version 4.3
The "source colume" referrs to the colum on the left, were we get our choices from. Not sure if this will help....but here is what I know
option + e = å
option + u = ¨
option + i = ˆ
On a Mac you type the vowels using a "dead letter" then the letter you want it on;
accent acute = option ~ eg à, è, ì, ò, ì, ù
accent grave = option e eg á, é, í, ó, ú
umlaut = option u eg ä, ë, ï, ö, ü
tilde = option n eg ñ
option c = ç (not a dead letter)
NB that the accent is on commonly associated letters for the accent.
Peter
srjohns wrote:
Also, is there a keystroke solution I may be missing?
Option/alt + ` then a. à
This NOT the apostrophe, it is the backtic located at the topmost leftmost key (along with ~) on a normal US keyboard.
PeterBreis0807 wrote:
On a Mac you type the vowels using a "dead letter" then the letter you want it on;
accent acute = option ~ eg à, è, ì, ò, ì, ù
accent grave = option e eg á, é, í, ó, ú
You have these wrong. For acute it is option e, for grave it is option `
Peter, thank you very much. As others noted, your original note had 'accent grave' and 'accent acute' reversed, but you've solved my question.
Many thanks to all other commentators as well.
I wonder why the guidance at http://french.about.com/od/writing/ss/typeaccents_8.htm has not been updated?
As the writer says they don't have an "Apple" and relied on Mac users to give the list.
I think they didn't understand how it works and just got it wrong.
Couldn't find a link to correct them.
Better here:
http://www.freeforum101.com/iworktipsntrick/viewtopic.php?t=84&mforum=iworktipsn trick
Peter
srjohns wrote:
I wonder why the guidance at http://french.about.com/od/writing/ss/typeaccents_8.htm has not been updated?
But there is nothing wrong with that. You simply did not read it correctly, mistaking ` (backtic) for ' (apostrophe).
I have Pages '09, version 4.1 (923).
KarenSelena wrote:
option + e = å
That is really option + a I think.
You are right Tom
I was so busy typing I forgot which order I did them in. 🙂
Peter
You should have an update for Pages to bring it to version 4.3
You are absolutely correct. What can I say? I'm an old guy and these things happen with regularity!😁
What ever for? The update has nothing to do with typing accents. It has worked like Tom and Peter says since macOs 7 probably in MacOs 6 too.
Typing French accents in Pages
