How to Type ä (A with umlaut) on Excel

Published August 26, 2026, 2 min read

ä is a with umlaut, a letter used in German, Slovak, Swedish and Finnish. On Excel, the quickest way to get it is =UNICHAR(228). This guide covers every method that works, including the capital Ä and fixes for common problems.

ä on Excel: =UNICHAR(228)

Ä on Excel: =UNICHAR(196)

Or copy it:

Method 1: UNICHAR formula

Type =UNICHAR(228) in a cell to get ä. To check a letter, =UNICODE("ä") returns 228. Both work in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

Method 2: CHAR formula on Windows

=CHAR(228) also returns ä on Windows, because it uses the Windows-1252 code page. On a Mac CHAR uses a different code page, so prefer UNICHAR.

Method 3: Keyboard methods inside a cell

Double-click the cell, then use Alt+0228 on Windows or Option+U, then A on a Mac.

Method 4: Find and replace accented text

Use =SUBSTITUTE(A1,"ä","a") to strip this accent from a column, for example when cleaning names for an email system that does not accept accents.

How to type the capital Ä

The uppercase form works the same way with Shift added where a letter is typed.

UNICHAR formula

Type =UNICHAR(196) in a cell to get Ä. To check a letter, =UNICODE("Ä") returns 196. Both work in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

CHAR formula on Windows

=CHAR(196) also returns Ä on Windows, because it uses the Windows-1252 code page. On a Mac CHAR uses a different code page, so prefer UNICHAR.

About the letter ä

ä is Unicode U+00E4, named LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS. It is used in German, Slovak, Swedish, Finnish and Estonian. Two dots above a letter. As a German umlaut it changes the vowel sound (ä, ö, ü); as a diaeresis in French, Dutch, Spanish or English (naïve, Noël) it shows that a vowel is pronounced separately. See the ä character page for every code and shortcut.

Troubleshooting

UNICHAR is not available in Excel 2010 and earlier.
CSV files saved as plain "CSV" may lose accents. Save as "CSV UTF-8".
If accents show as question marks after import, set the file origin to 65001: Unicode (UTF-8) in the import wizard.

Frequently asked questions

What is the shortcut for ä on Excel?

=UNICHAR(228).

Can I just copy and paste ä?

Yes. Click the copy button above, then paste with Ctrl+V on Windows and Chromebook, Cmd+V on a Mac, or touch and hold and choose Paste on a phone.

What is the Unicode code for ä?

U+00E4. In HTML it is ä.

Related guides

All accent shortcuts for Excel