How to type French accents on a Mac

1. Press and hold

Hold down a letter, for example E: a menu shows its accented versions. Type the number shown under the accent you want, or click it.

It's the easiest method to remember, but every accent costs you a pause and a number: over a whole text, it breaks your writing rhythm.

2. Option key shortcuts

With the “ABC” layout, the one on QWERTY Macs, the ⌥ key first types the accent on its own, then the next letter receives it.

It's fast once memorized, but you have to learn about ten combinations and think about every accent while you write.

3. Text replacements

In System Settings, open Keyboard, then Text Replacements (under Text Input). Add, for example, “ca” replaced with “ça”: macOS then fixes the word as you type.

It's handy for a few frequent words, but impossible to keep up for a whole vocabulary, and replacements don't work in every app.

4. Sans-Accent

Sans-Accent takes the problem the other way around: you type without accents, and the app adds them at the end of each word, in every app. It knows more than 35,000 words and enough grammar to write “je suis allé” without asking you. When two spellings exist, like “a” and “à”, a small list lets you choose.

Sans-Accent is free, runs on macOS 14 or later, and everything happens on your Mac: nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Summary

A layout to avoid

The “U.S. International – PC” layout turns the apostrophe into an accent key. In French, that's a trap: “l'eau” becomes “léau” as soon as you forget to type a space after the apostrophe.