How do I type special characters in Cuttle?

Need to add a letter with an accent, a decorative character, or a non-English script to your Cuttle project? This guide shows you how to add special text characters even if they’re not visible on your keyboard.

🔤 When Do You Need Special Characters?

You might want to insert special characters in Cuttle when:

1. Adding Accented Letters

   Use diacritics for names and words in many languages:

   • ñ, ã (tilde)
   • é, á, í (acute accent)
   • è, à (grave accent)
   • ä, ö, ü (umlaut)
2. Adding decorative flourishes

   Certain fonts have decorative characters like swashes and flourishes.

3. Using Non-English Scripts

   Cuttle supports many fonts in non-Roman scripts, including Arabic, Japanese, Greek, etc.

✅ Methods for Entering Special Characters

1. Copy and Paste

The easiest method.

Just copy the character (from an email, Google, or elsewhere) and paste it directly into your Cuttle text field. This will work on any device and OS.

⚠ Note: Not all fonts include all characters!

If a character doesn’t show up in your design, try switching fonts.

2. Long-Press Keys (Mac)

Hold down a key to see alternate versions.

For example:

• Press and hold e → a pop-up shows é, è, ê, ë, etc.
• Type the number or click the version you want.

3. Use Dead Key Shortcuts

On mechanical typewriters, accent characters were typed using special keys called "dead keys"—they didn’t advance the typewriter's carriage, allowing you to type the accent first and then the letter beneath it.

Here are some examples of dead key combinations with the Option key on a Mac.

🔗 See this guide on how to find a full list of dead keys on a Mac.

Here are some keyboard shortcuts with the Ctrl and Shift keys on Windows.

🔗 See this guide on how to find a full list of dead keys on Windows.

4. Use Character Map (Windows)

Search and copy characters from the Character Map tool:

1. Open Start Menu → search “Character Map”
2. Choose your font, then find and select your character
3. Click Copy, then paste into Cuttle

5. Use Fonts that Support Your Language

Cuttle includes many fonts tagged with World that support non-English scripts.

To find one:

• Go to the font menu in Cuttle
• Search “Greek”, “Japanese”, “Hindi”, etc.
• Choose a font that supports the characters you need

You can also upload your own fonts to make sure you have the characters you need.

🛠 Troubleshooting Tips

• If a character doesn’t show up:
  • Make sure your selected font supports it.
  • Try pasting it into a different text editor (like Google Docs) to verify it copied correctly.
• If a non-Roman script looks glitchy or displays boxes, try changing to a font with full language support (e.g. IBM Plex Sans JP for Japanese).