How to Type é (e With an Accent) on Any Keyboard

Quick answer: On Windows, hold Alt and type 0233 on the numeric keypad to get é. On a Mac, press Option + E, release, then press E. On a phone, press and hold the e key and slide to é. Or simply copy it below.

The letter é is a lowercase e with an acute accent. Its Unicode code point is U+00E9 (LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE), and the capital form É is U+00C9. You see it in French (café, été), Spanish (qué, café), Portuguese, Italian, and in English loanwords such as résumé, fiancée and entrée. If you need several accented letters at once, the SymbolHero Accent Keyboard lets you type your text and click é, è, ê, ë and dozens of other letters into place, then copy the whole thing.

All the ways to type é at a glance

How to type é on Windows

Method 1: Alt code (needs a numeric keypad)

1. Turn on Num Lock.
2. Hold down Alt.
3. Type 0233 on the numeric keypad (not the number row above the letters).
4. Release Alt. The é appears.

For capital É use Alt + 0201. The shorter codes Alt + 130 (é) and Alt + 144 (É) also work in most programs; they come from the old DOS code page 437, while the four-digit codes with a leading zero come from Windows-1252. Either way you need the numeric keypad. Look up any other code in the Alt code finder.

Method 2: US-International keyboard layout (best for laptops)

If you type accents regularly and your laptop has no numeric keypad, switch to the United States-International layout. It keeps the normal US key positions but turns a few punctuation keys into “dead keys” that add an accent to the next letter you press:

• ' (apostrophe) then E = é
• ` (grave, left of 1) then E = è
• Shift + 6 (^) then E = ê
• Shift + ' (") then E = ë

Hold Shift on the letter for a capital. To type a plain apostrophe or quotation mark, press the key and then Space. You can also use the right Alt key: Right Alt + E produces é directly.

To add the layout, open Settings, go to Time & language > Language & region, open the options for your English language, and add the United States-International keyboard. Switch between layouts with Windows + Space.

Method 3: Emoji and symbol panel

Press Windows + . (period), open the Symbols tab (the Ω icon) and look in the Latin symbols group. This works on any keyboard but is slower than a shortcut.

Method 4: Character Map

Search for “Character Map” in the Start menu, find é, click Select and then Copy.

How to type é on a Mac

macOS gives you two built-in options, and neither needs any setup.

Option dead key

1. Press Option + E. A highlighted accent appears.
2. Release both keys and press E. You get é.

Press Shift + E in step 2 for É. The same Option + E dead key also works on other vowels (á, í, ó, ú).

Press and hold

Hold down the E key for a moment. A small menu of variants appears; click é or press the number shown under it. This is the easiest way to reach the less common forms too.

How to type é in Word and Google Docs

Microsoft Word: type 00E9 and immediately press Alt + X. Word converts the code into é. Press Alt + X again to turn it back into the code. You can also go to Insert > Symbol > More Symbols and pick é from the Latin-1 Supplement subset.

Excel: use =UNICHAR(233), or Insert > Symbol.

Google Docs: open Insert > Special characters and search for “e acute”, or draw the letter in the box.

How to type é on iPhone and Android

On both iPhone and Android keyboards, press and hold the e key. A row of accented versions pops up; slide your finger to é and release. Hold the key while Shift is on for É. If you type a word like café often, add a text replacement on iPhone in Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement.

The other accented e letters: è, ê and ë

French and other languages use three more accented forms of e. They work the same way as é, just with a different dead key or code:

The acute accent (é) slants up to the right, the grave accent (è) slants down to the right, the circumflex (ê) is a small hat, and the diaeresis (ë) is two dots. In French, é and è mark different vowel sounds, so swapping them changes the spelling, not just the look.

How to write é in HTML

Modern web pages saved as UTF-8 can contain é directly. If you need an escaped form, all three of these display the same letter:

• Named entity: é
• Decimal reference: é
• Hex reference: é

The Unicode converter gives you the CSS, JavaScript and UTF-8 forms as well.

Why your é shortcut isn’t working

• You used the top number row. Alt codes only work with the numeric keypad, and Num Lock must be on.
• Your laptop has no keypad. Use the US-International layout, the Windows + . panel, or the online accent keyboard instead.
• You got ‘e instead of é. You are on the regular US layout, not US-International. Check the language indicator on the taskbar.
• Apostrophes stopped appearing. That is the US-International dead key waiting for a letter. Press Space after ' to get a plain apostrophe.
• On Mac, press and hold repeats the letter. Key repeat can override the accent menu in some setups; the Option + E method still works.
• Two é’s don’t match in a search. é can be stored as one code point (U+00E9) or as e followed by a combining acute accent (U+0065 U+0301). They look identical. Paste the text into the Unicode lookup to see which one you have.

Related accented letters

• é e with acute and É capital E with acute
• è e with grave, ê e with circumflex, ë e with diaeresis
• á, í, ó, ú (same Option + E dead key on Mac)
• All Latin accented letters

FAQ

What is the Alt code for é?

Alt + 0233 on the numeric keypad. Alt + 130 also works in most Windows programs. For É use Alt + 0201.

How do I type é on a laptop without a number pad?

Add the United States-International keyboard layout and type ' then E, or press Windows + . and pick é from the Symbols tab.

Is “résumé” spelled with accents in English?

Both “résumé” and “resume” are accepted in American English; the accented form is often used to distinguish the noun from the verb “resume.”

What is the accent on é called?

It is an acute accent. The one on è is a grave accent.