How do I type accents for French?

Issues with installing under all versions of MS Windows
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guydanieli
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How do I type accents for French?

Post by guydanieli »

Hi!

As you know , the French language uses accents on the top of their letters.

What do I have to do to write in French with those accents on the letters. I use OPEN OFFICE.org 2.2 . I checked I do not have the French Language in my software.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Guy
Last edited by guydanieli on Tue Dec 04, 2007 2:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Typing accents

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Please read The Survival Guide to the Forum

Please edit your post to remove the Capitals from the title and use a more meaningful title such as, "How do I type accents for French?" If this solves your problem, please add [Solved] as a prefix to your thread title. This helps people who are searching for solutions.

You can use a utility like All Chars or you can use the Windows International keyboard (Select from Control Panel, Date, Time and Regional Options, Add Other Languages, Details, Add, Keyboard Input/IME then select United States International.

This will permit reletaively easy entry of accented characters on the UK or US keyboards. For extensive typing of French, try a French keyboard, but that does not use the QWERTY layout.

` + aeiou = àèìòù
' + aeiou = áéíóú (or Ctrl Alter aeiou)
" + aeiou = äëïöü (" is on the @ key for UK keyboards)
^ + aeiou = âêîôû
~ + aon = ãõñ (~ is on the shift ` key for UK keyboards)

To toggle the International Keyboard on/off, press Alter + Left Shift.
To remove it altogether, go to Windows Control Panel.

To type quotation marks with this keyboard press the spacebar after typing the quotation. In the most common case, when apostrophe is followed by s, there is no problem — one just types 's.

Vote for Issue 4579 to add more options for keyboard customisation within Open Office.
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Caracalla
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Re: FRENCH LETTERING

Post by Caracalla »

Alternatively you can use the ALT codes. Here's a list.
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guydanieli
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How do I type accents for French?"

Post by guydanieli »

Hello

Thanks a lot for your help! But I was not able to put any accent on any letter. I changed the language in the control panel (Regional English) click apply and tried to write with accents and I did not get any result.

I really do not know how to do it!

Thanks a lot for your help! I really appreciate!

All my best

Guy
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: How do I type accents for French?"

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

guydanieli wrote:I changed the language in the control panel (Regional English) click apply and tried to write with accents and I did not get any result.
Why did you do that? Read again what I said, there are seven hoops that you have to jump through:
  1. Control Panel,
  2. Date, Time and Regional Options,
  3. Add Other Languages,
  4. Details,
  5. Add,
  6. Keyboard Input/IME then
  7. Select United States International.
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guydanieli
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Re: How do I type accents for French?

Post by guydanieli »

Hello

I just followed your instruction from 1 to 7 and I have what I had before.
A blue task bar on the top of the screen saying "English US (a little keyboad) and I can read United states International".

But when I try to write a text in French in Open Office.org2.2 , I cannot write in French with accents etc.. I mean that the accents are not comming automaticaly on the top of the letters.

And I followed all your info. I am sure that I am missing something somewhere. I did not re-start my computer.

I am using WINDOW XP Home edition.

Thank a lot for your help. I really appreciate your kindness!

Cheers

Guy
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: How do I type accents for French?

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

It sounds like you are talking about the language bar. All you have to do now is select the keyboard from the language bar. Which one has the check mark?
Language Bar.png
Language Bar.png (2.81 KiB) Viewed 35914 times
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guydanieli
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Re: How do I type accents for French?

Post by guydanieli »

Hello !

On my task bar (Blue)

The keyboard is on English (United States)

I can switch to United states International . I have 2 positions !

What do I have to do now?

Thanks a lot!!

Cheers

Guy
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Typing accents

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote: ` + aeiou = àèìòù
' + aeiou = áéíóú (or Ctrl Alter aeiou)
" + aeiou = äëïöü (" is on the @ key for UK keyboards)
^ + aeiou = âêîôû
~ + aon = ãõñ (~ is on the shift ` key for UK keyboards)
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guydanieli
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Re: How do I type accents for French?

Post by guydanieli »

Hello

I tried, but it doesn't work at all when I push the + I have this=============''''''''''''

Do I have to type the "E" first and put tha accent after? I tried both and no result !

Maybe my keyboard is not set... I do not know.Do I have to set it to US international?

I do not understand the trick

Thanks again

Guy
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: How do I type accents for French?

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

No. You do not have to press the +

You type accent first then the vowel. The accents are "dead" keys, nothing happens until you press the vowel.

' then a will type á
' then e will type é
etc.
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guydanieli
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Re: How do I type accents for French?

Post by guydanieli »

Hi

I can have letters with accebts, but a gentleman told me to go to language Tab and click detail. I do not have that tab in my computer.

I checked and I do not have DETAILS in the language options!. Also, I cannot click several time "OK". After one time , the window goes away.

I have windows XP home.

But I can put accents now! I am not sur why it's working.

I have a little blue taskbar and I click on it to have French CANADA.

I do not know what will be the difference if I put French (FRANCE)

Thanks a lot! I am progressing!

Have a great day

Guy
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: How do I type accents for French?

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

guydanieli wrote:I can have letters with accebts, but a gentleman told me to go to language Tab and click detail. I do not have that tab in my computer.
Probably because you missed out a step.
1 Control Panel,
2 Date, Time and Regional Options,
3 Add Other Languages,
4 Details,
5 Add,
6 Keyboard Input/IME then
7 Select United States International.
If you don't follow the instructions given, it makes a lot of extra work for us.
Languages.png
See the three tabs on this dialogue? If you missed out step 3, then you get taken to the same dialogue on the Regional Options Tab, not the Languages tab. There is no "Details" button on the Regional Options tab, and so you cannot complete the suggested task.

I am sure that either the Canada or French keyboard will also work, but they are not QWERTY layouts. If you usually type in English you may find the French layouts too different and confusing. The US International layout is similar to the US English layout, but with dead keys for typing accented vowels. If you are used to the French layout, then fine, I guess your problem is solved.
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Redcliffe
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Re: How do I type accents for French?

Post by Redcliffe »

I can get acute accents on aeiou by pressing AltGr before the letter: áéíóú , or by pressing Ctr plus Alt before the letter: áéíóú ( Alt Gr plus 4 gives €)
Sorry, I don't know how to get the other accents
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floris v
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Re: How do I type accents for French?

Post by floris v »

In Windows that depends. If you use the US International keyboard settings you can use some dead keys: ` (below the tilde on one key on the top far left on a normal US keyboard) for àèìòù; " for the äëïöüÿÄ etc; ' below the " on one key for áéíóúçÇÉ etc (not as easy as AltGr, but then you don't have to remember what key yields the right letter).
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simone_tan
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Re: How do I type accents for French?

Post by simone_tan »

I couldn't get any shortcuts to work on my IBM X series laptop running XP because of the lack of a keypad. Does anyone know how to get around this ?

For those of you who are still struggling, you could use a util from http://www.typeaccentpro.com. It solved my problem in a big way.

About my keypad question; Note that I tried turning numlock and my laptop is a standard IBM X series model.

Thanks
Simone
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Toulouse1
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Re: How do I type accents for French?

Post by Toulouse1 »

My small laptop doesn't allow me to type french accents with ALT + number. I use the software EasyType French Accents. If I want to type a french accented character I press that same letter once, twice, three time..., depending on the accent I'm seeking. It cost me only $5 to get this software and it works great. Search it in google. However, I had few issues when I first installed it. I wrote them and they fixed it for me. The issue had to do with my own computer settings, because I had the language set by default for french. In fact, you don't need to change your language settings. Keep your language settings in English by default as you normally do, and turn on EasyType French Accents whenever you type in french.
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Pikechild
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Re: How do I type accents for French?

Post by Pikechild »

A simple fix if you don't have lots of French to type in, e.g. you just need to add accents to several words, is to go to Insert then Special character. You can then go through a list of characters and choose the one you want, e.g. é - I just pasted this from the document I was working on :)
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