Computersight -

So, at last you have completed your latest masterpiece. You are reading through it and something doesn’t look quite right. Then, in a blinding flash you realise what it is. You have skirted around certain words and phrases because, wait for it, you can’t work out how to put accents on foreign words.

You may have written an article recounting a trip to France. In this article you visit a restaurant for a meal. You call the waiter over to ask for the bill. “I say old chap, could you come here a minute” doesn’t have the same cachet as “Ici, garçon”.

How do the French get that upside down question mark under their ‘C’, you wonder?

Maybe you have written an essay around Æsop’s Fables.

How on earth did those ancient Greeks manage to stick that A and E together on their sixth century BC keyboards?

The cedilla under the ‘C’, the ‘AE’ ligature and many other accents and characters need never be a mystery to you again.

This is for PC users only. Mac users, look away now!

This all revolves around the ‘ALT’ key and the numeric keypad to the right of your keyboard.

To type accents, all you have to do is hold down the ‘ALT’ key, then type the three or four digits listed here on your numeric keypad. (Don’t forget to press your ‘NUM LOCK’ key to activate the keypad!).

Don’t type in the letter that you want accented, your computer will work that one out for you.

When you release the ‘ALT’ key, as if by magic, the character will appear. It’s as simple as that!

For example, if you want to use the word ‘CAFÉ’ type in C A F (ALT+130)

That’s all you have to do. You are now ready to become an international writer.