Those who do not have a keyboard with easy access to German letters have different options for writing those letters on their computer. Finding the letters through a word processor can work, but is tedious. Replacing the letters with their appropriate translitterations is valid, but can lead to confusion, as some German names use the same letter combinations; Göring can be spelled Goering, but Goebbels can't be spelled Göbbels.

Using keyboard shortcuts makes it easy to writing German letters. The shortcuts used are different on Windows and a Mac.

On Windows, [Alt] is held down, while entering a number code:

  • Ä: 0196
  • ä: 0228
  • Ö: 0214
  • ö: 0246
  • Ü: 0220
  • ü: 0252
  • ß: 0223

On a Mac, for Umlaut letters, [Option]+[U] is pressed first, followed by the appropriate letter:

  • Ä: [Option]+[U], [Shift]+[A]
  • ä: [Option]+[U], [A]
  • Ö: [Option]+[U], [Shift]+[O]
  • ö: [Option]+[U], [O]
  • Ü: [Option]+[U], [Shift]+[U]
  • ü: [Option]+[U], [U]

The ß is written as [Option]+[S].