List of Characters on a French Canadian Keyboard

How are the special characters on the French Canadian legended keyboard generated? First you must choose the standard French Canadian layout (as outlined here) in your operating system. Once this is done, French Canadian keyboards are legended to provide you with indications of the differences between the French Canadian layout and the standard English Layout. In some cases special characters can be generated with a single keystroke, in other cases you enter the accent first (i.e. accent grave or accent aigu) and then press the letter you wish the accent to apply to (a, e, i, o, u). If you want to generate a capitalized letter with an accent, make sure to enter a capitalized version of the letter (A, E, I, O, U).

In the list which follows, all the keys which differ from the standard keyboard are described, and the key action which is generated is indicated when you press the key alone (by itself with no modifier), Shifted (press and hold the Shift key first and then press the key in question) or Alt Car Shifted (press and hold the Alt Car key first and then press the key in question).

Sample French Canadian Legended Keyboards: KB210USB-FCB, SK595UW-CF, KB700PB-FC

Not all the keys are legended on all French Canadian keyboards, however most common characters are legended for easy reference.

Upper left corner key (usually Tilda):
Alone #
Shifted | (pipe key)
AltCar \ (backslash)

1 in number row key:
Alone 1
Shifted !
AltCar ± (plus/minus)

2 in number row key:
Alone 2
Shifted "
AltCar @ (at symbol or commercial a "arobas")

3 in number row key:
Alone 3
Shifted / (forward slash)
AltCar £ (pound sterling symbol)

4 in number row key:
Alone 4
Shifted $ (dollar sign)
AltCar ¢ (cent sign)

5 in number row key:
Alone 5
Shifted % (percentage)
AltCar ¤

6 in number row key:
Alone 6
Shifted ? (question mark)
AltCar ¬

7 in number row key:
Alone 7
Shifted &
AltCar ¦

8 in number row key:
Alone 8
Shifted *
AltCar ²

9 in number row key:
Alone 9
Shifted (
AltCar ³

0 in number row key:
Alone 0
Shifted )
AltCar ¼

- in number row key:
Alone -
Shifted _
AltCar ½

= in number row key:
Alone =
Shifted +
AltCar ¾

O letter key
AltCar §

P letter key
AltCar ¶ (paragraph symbol)

^ Key (normally left bracket/brace)
Alone ^ (Circumflex)
Shifted ^ (Circumflex)
AltCar [ (left bracket)

¸ Key (normally right bracket/brace)
Alone ¸ (Cedilla)
Shifted ¨ (Umlaut)
AltCar ] (right bracket)

< Key (normally pipe/backslash)
Alone < (less than symbol)
Shifted > (greater than symbol)
AltCar } (right brace)

; Key
Alone ; (semi-colon)
Shifted : (colon)
AltCar ~ (tilda)

`Key (Normally quotation key)
Alone ` (accent grave - press this before an e to make è, or any other letter, à è ì ò ù)
Shifted ` (e.g. press this before an E to make È)
AltCar { (left brace)

M letter key
AltCar µ

, key (comma)
Alone ,
Shifted ' (single quote)

. key (period)
Alone .
Shifted .

/ and ? key
Alone é (e accent aigu)
Shifted É
AltCar ´ (use to apply to a character i.e. á é ó í ú ý )