Typing Spanish
For those who ask how to type the ÿ, the accents and other Spanish symbols like ¿ or ¡, here is the most efficient method in Windows XP (although in Vista is similar):
Go to Control Panel
Click on Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options.
Then click on Regional and Language Options
Select the Languages tab.
Click on Details.
Click on Add, choose Spanish, and then select any variant.
The International Sort is configured like this:
The one used in Mexico like this:
112 Answers
I use US International keyboard.
This helps because I speak a lot of languages, so I can do like:
' + a = á
" + a = ä
^ + a = â
so on.
Following in Neil's footsteps, I played around with autohotkey today, and made a little macro to pop up the Spanish characters via a simple menu (with ctrl-spacebar). There e gives you é, etc.
Ctrl-SHIFT-spacebar, however, gives you another menu, with the option to look up words in your favorite dictionaries (ok, my favorite dictionaries), and conjugate verbs.
I've pasted the source code on my page, but if you don't want to install autohotkey, you can run it directly.
The program is for windows (XP, Vista etc.). You close it by right-clicking on the icon in the system bar, and choosing exit.
Saludos 
By the way, just to give people yet another possibility: a little while ago I wrote a little accentuator widget. You can type it a sequence such as i/, and it will convert it into an i with acute accent etc. Obviously not practical for long documents, but if you just need the occasional accent, it could be useful.
Ooh, Just joined but hadn't realised that I had to be a comp. geek as well. Think I may have been put off for life. Guess it's pen and paper for me.....the joys of age.
Eddy said:
CalvoViejo said:
Maria Russell said:
I share a computer. After I am finished using the Spanish version, I would have to switch right back.How would I do that?
On my Vista and XP machines I switch back and forth by holding down the ALT key and pressing SHIFT. There is an indicator on the tool bar that shows which keyboard I'm using. There is the annoying little problem that on my Vista machine I have two Spanish configurations, so I'm never sure if the ES is referring to Colombian or International Spanish keyboards.
Hi CalvoI had the same problem with American English and English. Solution, I just erased the American option, hehe
>
CalvoViejo said:
Maria Russell said:
I share a computer. After I am finished using the Spanish version, I would have to switch right back. How would I do that?
On my Vista and XP machines I switch back and forth by holding down the ALT key and pressing SHIFT. There is an indicator on the tool bar that shows which keyboard I'm using. There is the annoying little problem that on my Vista machine I have two Spanish configurations, so I'm never sure if the ES is referring to Colombian or International Spanish keyboards.
Hi Calvo
I had the same problem with American English and English. Solution, I just erased the American option, hehe
Maria Russell said:
I share a computer. After I am finished using the Spanish version, I would have to switch right back. How would I do that?
On my Vista and XP machines I switch back and forth by holding down the left ALT key and pressing left SHIFT. There is an indicator on the tool bar that shows which keyboard I'm using. There is the annoying little problem that on my Vista machine I have two Spanish configurations, so I'm never sure if the ES is referring to Colombian or International Spanish keyboards.
I share a computer. After I am finished using the Spanish version, I would have to switch right back.
How would I do that'
Gregory, why do you go to all the trouble? I have French, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian, etc., checked in my input menu ('cause I use them all) and all I have to do is hold down the alt/option key to get accents, etc. I just "Show Keyboard Viewer" under the "flag" and it shows me what's what when I hold down the Option key.
For example, to get á, I hold down Option and 'e', let go of both keys and type an 'a.' Easy peasey. 
Gregory said:
Here is a PDF on how to use special characters, and unicode hex for those less common ones, for a Mac OS X
>
Here is a PDF on how to use special characters, and unicode hex for those less common ones, for a Mac OS X
What great information! Thanx!
Open the 'International' system preferences panel.
Switch to the 'Keyboard Menu' tab.
Scroll down to the 'Unicode Hex Input' layout and put a check next to it.
Close the window.
then hold down ALT/OPTION and type 00AA for superscript A or 00BA for superscript O i assume this is about the masculine and feminine ordinal? I hope that this answers your question
http://www.georgehernandez.com/h/xComputers/CharacterSets/Shortcuts.asp
i found the answer on this website. i hope you enjoy :-D
Paralee Whitmire said:
I got a work-around answer: click the flag at the top of the screen and "Show Character Palette." Not a very quick solution, but a solution. I don't have the option to "Show Keyboard Viewer" when I click the flag. only the Character Palette, "Show Input Source Name" (which just puts "Spanish ISO" next to the flag) and "Open International". Looks like I may be out of luck. Although, while playing around while writing this, I did find that if I am using the regular U.S. keyboard and I press Shift + Alt/Option + 8, then I get the °. But I'm assuming that's a degree symbol and not so much a superscript O like I was hoping for.
karenv said:
Did the Mac user ever get an answer? The "Option" key is what you use on a Mac. Under the flag of the language you're using, click on "Show keyboard viewer" and you can see what happens when you use the Option key... i.e. Option 1=¡ Option N=?
>
Moharix,
I don't know what OS you are using, but Windows does not have a macro recorder. A lot of software programs do, but unless you only want the characters available for specific programs that seems an impractical approach. The macros are stored in the individual applications so if you setup keyboard macros for say, Word, you cannot use those macro's in a non-MS Office program. A similar concept would be to character map the Spanish letters to the "F" function keys, but again any time you used an application that had functions assigned to the "F" keys they would overwrite your macros.
It seems to me that macros set up would be the best for a standard english keyboard.I might try to figure that one out so that i can assign the control and alt keys to make the spanish letters by holding the macro key and the letter iI want. Any advanced computer users know how to go about this? I don't even know how to do macros yet
MUYBNE2 said:
Thank you but I don't understand how to activate the Spanish keyboard so that for instance the semicolon becomes ene. Can someone explain?
Do you have "Spanish" checked in your preferences'
MUYBNE2 said:
Thank you but I don't understand how to activate the Spanish keyboard so that for instance the semicolon becomes ene. Can someone explain?
If you show the language bar, it will let you toggle between the EN and SP keyboards.
