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Windows 11 version 24H2 introduces France's new standard keyboard layout, an updated version of the “AZERTY” layout.
This new keyboard layout has been designed to address the many deficiencies of the traditional AZERTY layout that has been ubiquitous in France. Most critically, the traditional layout lacks the full set of characters needed to write French. For example, ligatures like 'æ' and 'œ' are missing, as are French « quotation marks » and the capitalised forms of some accented characters.
The new layout was implemented according to France's NF Z71-300 national standard. That standard can be purchased from AFNOR, France's national standards body, here: Standard NF Z71-300
For more information about the new standard, you can consult AFNOR's article and FAQ here: French keyboard: a voluntary standard to make it easier to enter all characters
The new “French (Standard, AZERTY)” layout in Windows
This keyboard layout is designed to enable you to enter all the accented characters and ligatures commonly used in French. It includes characters that were missing from the legacy AZERTY layout, which are integral to French orthography, such as:
É Ç æ Æ œ Œ — « » ‹ ›
It can be used to type the characters for all of France's regional languages, for all Latin-based languages of the European Union, and for Greek. A variety of scientific, financial, and mathematical symbols are also available.
In addition, symbols are logically grouped: all types of brackets have opening and closing forms on adjacent keys; mathematical symbols are grouped to the right of the keyboard, next to the enter key; common punctuation is on the bottom row, to the right of the letter N.
Typing characters and ligatures using the new French (Standard, AZERTY) keyboard
The new French (Standard, AZERTY) keyboard makes it easier to type:
- Accented characters and ligatures commonly used in French
- Other characters not printed on the keys
- Additional accented characters
- Monetary symbols
- Greek letters
- Additional European characters
- Superscript and subscript numerals
- Mathematical symbols
Accented characters and ligatures commonly used in French
The keyboard layout makes it easy to type accented characters and ligatures commonly used in the French language, including in their capital forms.
| Character | Key presses |
|---|---|
| à | à |
| À | AltGr + Shift + à |
| é | é |
| É | AltGr + Shift + é |
| è | è |
| È | AltGr + Shift + è |
| ê | ê |
| Ê | AltGr + Shift + ê |
| æ | AltGr + A |
| Æ | AltGr + Shift + A |
| œ | AltGr + O |
| Π| AltGr + Shift + O |
| ç | AltGr + C |
| Ç | AltGr + Shift + C |
Other characters not printed on the keys
To keep the physical keyboard looking clean, the keyboard doesn't feature all the available characters printed on it. The following additional symbols which aren't printed on the keyboard can be typed:
| Character | Key presses |
|---|---|
| Non-breaking space | AltGr + Space |
| Narrow non-breaking space | AltGr + Shift + Space |
| — | AltGr + Shift + ’ |
| ‹ | AltGr + Shift + « |
| › | AltGr + Shift + » |
| ‰ | AltGr + Shift + P |
| − | AltGr + - |
| - | AltGr + Shift + - |
| † | AltGr + + |
| ‡ | AltGr + Shift + + |
| θ | AltGr + Q |
| ∞ | AltGr + M |
| √ | AltGr + Shift + / |
| ¼ | AltGr + Shift + * |
| ⩽ | AltGr + < |
| ⩾ | AltGr + Shift + < |
| ʒ | AltGr + W |
| ¿ | AltGr + Shift + . |
| ¡ | AltGr + Shift + , |
| ≃ | AltGr + ; |
| ≠ | AltGr + Shift + ; |
Dead keys for additional accented characters
Many “dead keys” are provided for typing even more accented characters.
To enter these accented characters, first press the dead key, then follow it with the letter you'd like to add an accent to. If you'd like to type the accent on its own, follow it with a space.
For example, to type a 'y' with a diaresis (ÿ), you would press Shift + ^ followed by y.
| Accent | Dead key | Follow with a letter to type: | Follow with a space to type: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breve | AltGr + @ | ĂĔĞĬŎŬăĕğĭŏŭ | ˘ |
| Inverted breve | AltGr + Shift + @ | ȂȆȊȎȒȖȃȇȋȏȓȗ | ° |
| Acute accent | AltGr + é | ÁĆÉǴÍḰĹḾŃÓṔŔŚÚẂÝŹǼáćéǵíḱĺḿńóṕŕśúẃýźǽ | ´ |
| Grave accent | AltGr + è | ÀÈÌǸÒÙẀỲàèìǹòùẁỳ | ` |
| Double acute accent | AltGr + Shift + ( | ŐŰőű | ˝ |
| Double grave accent | AltGr + Shift + ) | ȀȄȈȌȐȔȁȅȉȍȑȕ | ˵ |
| Macron | AltGr + ‘ | ĀĒḠĪŌŪȲǢāēḡīōūȳǣ | ¯ |
| Ring above | AltGr + Shift + ° | ÅŮåůẘẙ | ˚ |
| Circumflex accent | ^ | ÂĈÊĜĤÎĴÔŜÛŴŶẐâĉêĝĥîĵôŝûŵŷẑ | ^ |
| Diaresis | Shift + ^ | ÄËḦÏÖÜẄẌŸäëḧïöẗüẅẍÿ | ¨ |
| Caron | AltGr + Shift + ^ | ǍČĎĚǦȞǏǨĽŇǑŘŠŤǓŽǮǎčďěǧȟǐǰǩľňǒřšťǔžǯ | ˇ |
| Dot above | AltGr + I | ȦḂĊḊĖḞĠḢİĿṀṄȮṖṘṠṪẆẊẎŻȧḃċḋėḟġḣıŀṁṅȯṗṙṡṫẇẋẏżẛ | ˙ |
| Dot below | AltGr + Shift + I | ẠḄḌẸḤỊḲḶṂṆỌṚṢṬỤṾẈỴẒạḅḍẹḥịḳḷṃṇọṛṣṭụṿẉỵẓ | . |
| Macron below | AltGr + Shift + H | ḆḎḴḺṈṞṮẔḇḏẖḵḻṉṟṯẕ | ˍ |
| Solidus | AltGr + K | ȺȻɆŁØȾȼɇłøẜ | / |
| Cedilla | AltGr + V | ÇḐȨĢḨĶĻŅŖŞŢçḑȩģḩķļņŗşţ | ¸ |
| Ogonek | AltGr + Shift + V | ĄĘĮǪŲąęįǫų | ˛ |
| Stroke | AltGr + B | ɃĐǤĦƗɈȽɌŦɄɎƵƀđǥħɉƚɍŧɏƶ | - |
| Tilde | AltGr + N | ÃẼĨÑÕŨṼỸãẽĩñõũṽỹ | ~ |
| Comma below | AltGr + Shift + , | ȘȚșț | , |
Monetary symbols layer
A layer featuring monetary symbols from around the world is available by pressing the dead key AltGr + F then one of the following keys to type its corresponding monetary symbol:
| Character | Key presses: AltGr + F, then |
|---|---|
| ₳ | A |
| ฿ | B |
| ₡ | C |
| ₯ | D |
| ₣ | F |
| ₤ | L |
| ℳ | M |
| ₧ | P |
| ₹ | R |
| ₷ | S |
| ₮ | T |
| ₿ | b |
| ¢ | c |
| ₫ | d |
| ₠ | e |
| ƒ | f |
| ₲ | g |
| ₴ | h |
| ₭ | k |
| ₺ | l |
| ₥ | m |
| ₦ | n |
| ₱ | p |
| ₽ | r |
| ₪ | s |
| ₸ | t |
| ₩ | w |
| ¥ | y |
| ₾ | | |
| ₰ | % |
| ₨ | ® |
| ₡ | Ç |
| ₢ | ç |
| ₼ | ∞ |
| ¤ | Space |
Greek letters layer
A layer featuring all the letters of the Greek alphabet is available by pressing the dead key AltGr + G then one of the following keys to type its corresponding Greek character:
| Character | Key presses: AltGr + G, then |
|---|---|
| Α | A |
| Β | B |
| Ψ | C |
| Δ | D |
| Ε | E |
| Φ | F |
| Γ | G |
| Η | H |
| Ι | I |
| Ξ | J |
| Κ | K |
| Λ | L |
| Μ | M |
| Ν | N |
| Ο | O |
| Π | P |
| Ρ | R |
| Σ | S |
| Τ | T |
| Θ | U |
| Ω | V |
| Χ | X |
| Υ | Y |
| Ζ | Z |
| α | a |
| β | b |
| ψ | c |
| δ | d |
| ε | e |
| φ | f |
| γ | g |
| η | h |
| ι | i |
| ξ | j |
| κ | k |
| λ | l |
| μ | m |
| ν | n |
| ο | o |
| π | p |
| ρ | r |
| σ | s |
| τ | t |
| θ | u |
| ω | v |
| ς | w |
| χ | x |
| υ | y |
| ζ | z |
| µ | Espace |
Additional European characters layer
A layer featuring an assortment of additional European characters is available by pressing the dead key AltGr + H then one of the following keys to type its corresponding character:
| Character | Key presses: AltGr + H, then |
|---|---|
| ʼ | ' |
| « | 0 |
| › | 7 |
| ‹ | 8 |
| » | 9 |
| Ð | D |
| Ə | E |
| Ŋ | G |
| İ | I |
| IJ | J |
| Þ | T |
| ª | a |
| ð | d |
| ə | e |
| ŋ | g |
| ı | i |
| ij | j |
| º | o |
| ſ | s |
| þ | t |
| „ | « |
| ‟ | » |
| ſ | Space |
Superscript and subscript numerals
Superscript numerals layer
The circumflex dead key (^) provides access to a layer of superscript numerals. Press the dead key (^) followed by a number to type a superscript version of the number: ⁰¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹
Subscript numerals layer
The caron dead key (AltGr + ^) provides access to a layer of subscript numerals. Press the dead key (AltGr + ^) followed by a number to type a subscript version of the number: ₀₁₂₃₄₅₆₇₈₉
Mathematical symbols
Mathematical symbols with solidus
The solidus dead key (AltGr + K) provides access to a set of additional mathematical symbols with a solidus through them. Press the dead key (AltGr + K) followed by one of the following keys to type its corresponding character:
| Character | Key presses: AltGr + K, then |
|---|---|
| ≠ | = |
| ≄ | ≃ |
| ≮ | < |
| ≯ | > |
| ≰ | ⩽ |
| ≱ | ⩾ |
Mathematical symbols with tilde
The tilde dead key (AltGr + N) provides access to a set of additional mathematical symbols featuring wavy lines. Press the dead key (AltGr + N) followed by one of the following keys to type its corresponding character:
| Character | Key presses: AltGr + N, then |
|---|---|
| ≃ | - |
| ≈ | = |
| ≲ | < |
| ≳ | > |
Decimal separator
In French, the comma is used as a decimal separator. The decimal separator key, found at the bottom of the numeric keypad, produces a comma when pressed. On the legacy AZERTY keyboard, this key produces a period.