How to Type é (E with acute) on Excel

Q: What is the Unicode code for é?

U+00E9. In HTML it is &eacute;.

Published September 12, 2026, 2 min read

The letter é does not have its own key on an English keyboard, but Excel still makes it easy to type. Use =UNICHAR(233), or pick one of the other methods in this guide. é appears in Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian.

é on Excel: =UNICHAR(233)

É on Excel: =UNICHAR(201)

Or copy it:

Method 1: UNICHAR formula

Type =UNICHAR(233) in a cell to get é. To check a letter, =UNICODE("é") returns 233. Both work in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

Method 2: CHAR formula on Windows

=CHAR(233) also returns é 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+0233 on Windows or Option+E, then E on a Mac.

Method 4: Find and replace accented text

Use =SUBSTITUTE(A1,"é","e") 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 É

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

UNICHAR formula

Type =UNICHAR(201) in a cell to get É. To check a letter, =UNICODE("É") returns 201. Both work in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

CHAR formula on Windows

=CHAR(201) also returns É 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 é

é is Unicode U+00E9, named LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE. It is used in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian and Icelandic. A short line slanting up to the right. It marks stress in Spanish (canción), a closed vowel in French (été), vowel length in Czech, Hungarian and Irish, and a rising tone in Vietnamese and Pinyin. See the é 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 é on Excel?

=UNICHAR(233).

Can I just copy and paste é?

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 é?

U+00E9. In HTML it is é.

Related guides

All accent shortcuts for Excel