Choose Apple > System Preferences and click International.

Click Input Menu, then select the checkbox next to Keyboard Viewer.

Choose Show Keyboard Viewer from the Input menu on the right side of the menu bar (the one that looks like a flag or alphabetical symbol).

The Keyboard Viewer shows the characters for your keyboard. (If you've selected a different keyboard layout or input method in the Input menu, it shows the characters for the selected keyboard layout.) For example, if U.S. is chosen in the Input menu, you see the characters that appear on a U.S. keyboard in the Keyboard Viewer.

To see the different accent marks that you can type highlighted in the Keyboard Viewer, press Option, or the Option and Shift keys.

The accent mark keys appear with white outlines. Depending on your keyboard, you may not need to press any of the modifier keys to see the accent keys.

Place the insertion point in your document where you want to type.

Press the modifier key you pressed in step 4 (Shift, Option, Option-Shift, or none) and press the key on your keyboard that is in the same place as the accent you see in the Keyboard Viewer. Then release the modifier key and press the key for the character you want to accent.

The accent key modifies the key you type next. For example, using a U.S. keyboard, to make é appear, hold down the Option key while pressing E to create the accent mark, then press E (the letter on which you want that accent to appear).