E With Accent: Copy, Paste & Type

E with an accent: how to choose é, è, ê, or ë

É and è lean in different directions

The accent on é rises to the right. It’s called an acute accent. The mark on è slopes down to the right and is called a grave accent. French uses both, as in café and crème, but they represent different vowel sounds. Check the spelling before choosing.

A roof on ê, two dots on ë

Ê has a circumflex, the little roof in fête. Ë has a diaeresis: two dots above the e. You’ll find both lowercase and capital forms in the grid. There are also letters such as ē with a straight line and ę with a small hook below.

Keep the whole letter when you paste

For a name like José, copy é and replace the plain e. For Vietnamese text, you may need a form such as ế, ề, or ệ, with more than one mark. Choose the complete character so you don’t leave out part of the spelling.

For a single letter, use the copy buttons above. Paste with Ctrl + V on Windows or Command + V on Mac; on a phone, touch and hold a text field and choose Paste. To write a longer message, open the online accent keyboard. You can also browse all accent letters from A to Z.

ALT codes and typing help for e with an accent

Windows ALT shortcuts and Unicode decimal values are different ways of referring to characters. Entries marked “Unicode decimal” below are reference numbers, not standard Windows ALT shortcuts. For those letters, copy the character or use the Word method below.

How to type e with an accent on Windows

Using a numeric keypad

For é, try Alt + 0233 with the usual Western Windows character set. Keep the first zero. The result can depend on your app and system settings.

• Turn on Num Lock and click where you want the letter.
• Press and hold the ALT key.
• Type 0233 on the numeric keypad, not the number row above the letters.
• Release ALT and check that you get é.

Type é with Alt + X in Word

Word for Windows can turn a Unicode hexadecimal code into a letter. For é, use 00E9. You don’t need a numeric keypad for this method.

• Click where the letter belongs in your Word document.
• Type 00E9, without the U+ prefix.
• Select just that code and press ALT + X.
• The selected code changes to é.

See Microsoft’s character-code instructions for more about these two methods. To look up another letter, use the ALT code directory.

On a Mac, phone, or tablet

In supported Mac apps, holding a letter key opens an accent menu. The choices depend on the letter, and less common forms may be missing. You can always copy é from this page and paste it with Command + V. On a phone or tablet, tap a copy button here, then use Paste in the app where you’re writing.

Unicode and HTML codes for accented e

Use this table when you need the character’s code rather than the letter itself. Unicode identifies the character; the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript columns show ways to write it in code. For a normal message or document, copying the letter is enough.