Umlauts

Are Umlauts (those little dots over vowels) important?  
YES!!!  The meaning of names, places and types of work can change if you don't add those dots.   

There are a number of ways you can add them to your GEDCOM file.  

  • The first way, where I can give you no help, is something I found in the internet:

To make umlauts, depress alt and enter on the numerical pad the following, release.

ä....... 132

ü........129

ö........148

Ü........154

Ö........153

Ä........142

ß.........225

  • Another way is to copy and paste from other documents that contain Umlauts (like this site).
  • Yet another way is to open up your Word-Processor (for example, Microsoft Word), Insert, Symbol, and then search for the umlaut or character you are looking for.  Copy and Paste the word or symbol.
  • FamilySearch.Org's Personal Ancestor File (PAF) allows you to directly add symbols in their program.
  • You can also setup Windows to be able to use "different" keyboards.  This takes a lot of time, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you know what you are doing.  Please check your Windows manual on how to do that.