Windows supports many different keyboard layouts and input languages, including those with accents and diacritical marks, such as the tilde (~) and umlaut (¨). There are three ways to input accents and diacritical marks:

Use an input language. Make sure that the input language you select supports the characters that you want and that you're using the correct font. You might need to add the input language. Once you've added the input language, you can switch to that language. For more information, see Add or change an input language.

Use Character Map. Character Map is a feature in Windows that allows you to use characters that aren't displayed on the keyboard. For more information, see Using special characters (Character Map): frequently asked questions.

Use Alt+the numeric keypad to input a code page value of a character. A code page is a set of characters that have numbers assigned to them. Each input language has its own code page. You can insert a character by pressing the Alt key and the character's number. Windows code pages are typically used for programs with graphical user interfaces, while original equipment manufacturer (OEM) code pages are used for command line programs. For example, when your current input language is English (Windows code page 1252: Windows Latin-1), pressing Alt and then typing 0163 on the numeric keypad produces £, the symbol used to represent the British pound (the OEM code page equivalent is U+00A3). When your current input language is Russian (Windows code page 1251: Windows Cyrillic), the same key sequence produces the Cyrillic capital letter JE (the OEM code page equivalent is U+0408).

The Dell XPS keyboard does not have the normal laptop numeric keys therefore the Alt + number option is not available. Most of the common characters can be produced on the XPS keyboard by using a sequence of key presses. This is currently not working on Windows 8 (as mentioned in the original post it was working in Windows 7). I currently have a new XPS (previous one was stolen). This one came with Windows 8 pre-installed. I believe it is a driver issue and therefore the post

Just received my new xps 13 ultrabook with azerty (french) keyboard and installed in english , problem is  I just can't activate the @ which is part of a multi use key, tried every possible Alt key combination but nothing gives

pls help if u can!

thx

Hi sikbru,

When you try to type the”@”different character is displayed.  

We might need to change the keyboard layout. Refer the following link to change the keyboard layout:

http://bit.ly/OmJQ0g

Select the language.

Awaiting your response!

Hi,

thx for your feedback but my problem is not for the onscreen touch keyboard but for my regular keyboard.

the number "2" key is also used for the french character "é" and for the ”@” character but I can't find how to activate that specfic character.

I just changed the language option as explained but to no avail.

Ted

found a solution, changed some more of the language/keyboard settings and now the "0" key will generate the ”@” character when hitting it with the Altgr pressed, it's not ideal but at least I can type my email address in the registration box now...

Don't buy an XPS 13/Windows 8 if you are a frequent user of special (accentuated/foreign) characters. In 40+ years in computing through all kinds of machines and systems, I have always been able to key in such characters through a combinations of keys (typically Alt and/or Fn keys) with numbers. Remembering a few of such codes allowed fast typing of text involving accentuated/diacritic characters. Forget that with the XPS 13/Windows 8. It is incomprenhensible that Dell people did not reproduce the capability to do so they had on their laptops (typically blue Fn + Alt keys, plus blue digits/numerical keyboard imbedded in the main keyboard) -- so handy! With the XPS 13, you have to go fastidiously through tables of characters, laboriously searching for the appropriate ones, clicking and reclicking to insert them. Did I miss something? I don't think so. As such, I wasted $1000+ for a machine that will remain largely unused. I am currently looking for another more capable ultranotebook.

agreed, this is simply appalling besides the fact I wld think they could provide some kind of software upgrade to solve this issue!

Apologies, it should be the "Right Alt" and "Right Shift". I corrected the original post

The default Bios and/or keyboard driver (not sure) allows the typing of "special characters" eg when you press "Right Alt" + "2" you get m² instead of m2 or pressing "Right Shift" +"6" followed by e types ê instead of ^e. There are various other combinations. This function could however be turned on or off and it seems to be off by default. When cleaning my keyboard I managed to switch it on by accident (since the original post). It would however be nice to know how this function is turned on and off and possibly get a list of combinations (I have managed to figure out a few)