German keyboard online – type umlauts & ß

Write German text with the online QWERTZ keyboard: ä, ö, ü and ß are directly available, with capital letters and ẞ on additional key layers.

Type and copy German characters online

Click in the text field and type, or select letters on the on-screen keyboard.
Use Shift for Ä, Ö and Ü. The meta3 layer also includes the capital eszett ẞ.
Use the copy icon in the toolbar, then paste the text into your document or message. If your browser blocks copying, select and copy the text manually.

Where are umlauts and special characters?

ä, ö, ü and ß: directly on the normal layer.
Ä, Ö, Ü and ẞ: together on the meta3 layer; use normal to switch back afterwards.
€, @ and more special characters: use Alt Gr; additional symbols are on meta1 and meta2.

How can I type umlauts without a German keyboard?

Select the characters here with a mouse click or a tap. The virtual keyboard works independently of the labels on your physical keys.

How does QWERTZ differ from QWERTY?

On the German QWERTZ layout, Z and Y swap positions compared with QWERTY. It also has dedicated keys for umlauts and ß. Looking for QWERTY? Use one of the English keyboards.

German letters and umlauts

German letters include the umlauts ä, ö and ü, and the eszett ß. Use them in words such as Grüße, Öl and Straße.

The corresponding capitals are Ä, Ö, Ü and ẞ. The eszett is not an ordinary s; in Switzerland it is generally replaced by ss.

Lowercase and uppercase umlauts

ä ö ü / Ä Ö Ü

Lowercase and uppercase eszett

ß / ẞ

Optional language tools

Read aloud: Listen to your German text. Availability depends on your browser and installed voices.
Spelling and grammar check: Check the spelling and grammar of your German text.
Voice input: Dictate German text instead of typing. Availability depends on your browser.
Translation: Translate your German text into another language using the translation tool.

Physical German keyboards and Unicode

QWERTZ, umlauts and special characters

The standard German layout is called QWERTZ after the first six letters of the top letter row. Input depends on the layout selected in your operating system, not just the labels on your physical keys.

On the usual German PC layout, ä, ö and ü have dedicated keys; Shift produces Ä, Ö and Ü. The ß key is to the right of 0. With this layout on Windows and Linux, for example, AltGr + Q enters @ and AltGr + E enters €. Mac and other layouts may use different shortcuts.

ß and ẞ as Unicode characters

Unicode assigns unique code points to characters: lowercase eszett ß is U+00DF and capital eszett ẞ is U+1E9E. Entering ẞ directly depends on the operating system and layout; there is no universal shortcut.

Unicode input on Linux

In supported Linux input environments, such as many GTK applications or a suitably configured IBus, press Ctrl + Shift + U, release the keys, type 00DF for ß or 1E9E for ẞ, then press Enter. This method does not work in every Linux application and is not a general shortcut for Windows or macOS.

Character viewers on Windows and macOS

On Windows, find and copy ß and ẞ using Character Map. On macOS, use Character Viewer to select and insert them. Available characters and their appearance also depend on the selected font.