Language Resource Center-German Diacritics

Typing in international characters is the same for all Macintosh applications, including the operating system.

Mac	Follow these steps
ä, ö, ü	Hold down the Option key, and type a u (the letter u). Let go of the keys (don't hold them down for step 3). Type the vowel over which you want the umlaut to appear.
Ä, Ö, Ü	Hold the Shift key down in step 3 Above.
ß	Hold down the option key, and type an s (the letter s).

To produce	Method 1	Method 2	Method 3
ä	ALT + 132 or ALT + 0228	Hold down the Control and Shift keys, and type a : (a colon). Let go of the keys (don't hold them down for step 3). Type the vowel over which you want the umlaut to appear.	Type a " (a quote mark). Let go of the key (don't hold it down for step 3). Type the vowel over which you want the umlaut to appear.
ö	ALT + 148 or ALT + 0246
ü	ALT + 0252
Ä	ALT + 142 or ALT + 0196	Hold the Shift key down in step 3 Above.	Hold the Shift key down in step 3 Above.
Ö	ALT + 153 or ALT + 0214
Ü	ALT + 154 or ALT + 0220
ß	ALT + 0223	Hold down the Control, Shift and & (ampersand) keys, and type an s (the letter s).	Hold down the RIGHT ALT key, and type an s (the letter s).