German Umlauts on an English keyboard

Question

I switched to the American keyboard layout mainly because I find it easier to program that way. But for other applications I sometimes need umlauts.

I tried using the US international layout but the position for the umlauts is just strange and it wasn't as good for programming as well.

Can I configure my i3wm to have custom keyboard shortcuts for that? Something like holding o or pressing alt+o will yield ö.

I don't think Umlaute is common sense. Try to describe it like special characters. — ADDB, Jul 10 '17 at 18:56
why not do this: https://askubuntu.com/questions/655628/assign-default-keyboard-language-per-application — Rinzwind, Jul 10 '17 at 19:01

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered May 07 '19 at 11:24

The ArchLinux wiki has an answer that worked for me with i3. You can use the compose key to achieve typing any kind of Unicode character. I have a UK layout, but often need to type German characters. With the compose key, I can type CapsLock then " then a to get ä.

First, find which compose options are available

grep "compose:" /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst

This should give you something along the lines of:

...
compose:menu         Menu
compose:caps         Caps Lock
...

Then set your compose key to the preferred key. I'm using caps lock for that.

setxkbmap -option compose:caps

If you can't find a suitable pre-defined configuration for the compose key, I think you'll have to set up your own xmodmap configuration.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 02 '22 at 10:00

1

I suggest you to install the autokey app:

sudo apt-get install autokey-gtk

and configure your shortcuts for the umlauts. For the initial configuration you can copy them manually from the characters app.

answered May 02 '22 at 10:00

momi94

21
2

score -1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 10 '17 at 19:25

-1

You can enable a compose key. After having done so, you can for instance type ö by pressing this sequence:

Compose followed by " followed by o

answered Jul 10 '17 at 19:25

Gunnar Hjalmarsson

32,938
3
63
94

Could you please add the relevant information on how to enable the *Compose* key to your answer? As it is, this is mostly a link-only answer. Furthermore, the link is not even that helpful as it only describes how to enable *Compose* in GNOME, whereas the question is specifically mentions and is tagged with `i3-wm`. – Adaephon Jul 11 '17 at 12:32
@Adaephon: The suggestion to enable a compose key is my answer. I consider how to do it to be another question, so the the link to the official Ubuntu documentation is a bonus. ;) I know nothing about `i3-wm`. – Gunnar Hjalmarsson Jul 11 '17 at 15:14

German Umlauts on an English keyboard

3 Answers3

Linked