Typing Scandinavian Letters

Keystrokes you need to know.

How do you type those unfamiliar Scandinavian characters in search boxes online or in your genealogy software? Here’s a quick guide:

Windows

Ä, ä, Ö, ö = CTRL+SHIFT+: (COLON), followed by A, a, O, or o

Å, å = CTRL+SHIFT+@, A or a

Æ, æ = CTRL+SHIFT+&, A or a

Ø, ø = CTRL+/, O or o

You can also use Windows’ built-in Character Map utility to select and then copy and paste a letter.

Mac

Ä, ä, Ö, ö = OPTION + u, followed by A, a, O, or o

Å, å = SHIFT+OPTION A or a

Æ, æ = SHIFT+OPTION ’ (apostrophe) or OPTION ’

Ø, ø = SHIFT+OPTION O, SHIFT+OPTION o

On the Mac, you can also hold down the A or O key (plus SHIFT for uppercase) and choose the special character from the floating palette that appears. The Keyboard Viewer, which you can enable in the menu bar under System Preferences/Keyboard, is another aid to typing foreign characters.