Lately, I’ve received several inquires from foreign language teachers at both the high school and middle school levels asking about the best way to add accents to characters when writing in a foreign language in a Google Doc. The web is filled with resources that provide different methods to insert accents in various languages on both a MAC and a PC, including shortcut keys, changing your keyboard settings, or inserting special characters, however many of these methods can be quite tedious. The Google Docs Easy Accents add-on seems to be a much simpler way to add accents when working in a Google doc.

After installing the add-on, which literally takes seconds, users simply select Easy Accents form the Add-Ons menu and select “Easy Accents-Start.” Next, users will select a specific language and the accents for that language will appear in a menu on the right hand side of the Google doc. All you have to do is click on the accent or punctuation mark you want and it will instantly appear in the doc. This add-on eliminates the need to memorize or print out lists of keyboard shortcut codes and allows you to be much more productive and efficient when writing in a foreign language. The screencast below walks you through how to install and use Easy Accents and should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me via email or visit me at the Help Desk.