how to enable compose key in cinnamon?

Question

I'm running Ubuntu 16.10 with Cinnamon, and I'd really like to be able to type diacritics. I saw this post:

How can I type accentuated characters like ë?

But I can't seem to set a "compose" key. I go into Settings->Keyboard->Layout->Options.

I expand "Position of Compose Key", and choose "Right Alt".

But...nothing happens. If I go into LibreOffice and type:

RightAlt: nothing happens Shift-Quote: I get a double-quote e: I get a lowercase letter "e"

But what I want is the "e" with the umlaut (?) above it.

Which keyboard layout are you using? – Gunnar Hjalmarsson Feb 03 '17 at 20:00 — Gunnar Hjalmarsson, Feb 03 '17 at 20:00

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 14 '17 at 21:30

6

Run the keyboard application (from menu or from the settings).

Choose the Layouts tab.

At the right bottom of the window, you've a Options... button.

You've then access to different options, including "Keyboard Layout Options".

answered Nov 14 '17 at 21:30

Dereckson

160

In "Keyboard Layout Options", you have "Position of Compose Key" – pedrotech Aug 02 '23 at 13:04

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 18 '18 at 20:44

3

Menu
Preferences » System Settings
Keyboard (under Hardware)
Layouts tab
Options... (bottom right)
Expand Position of Compose Key
Check Right Alt (or other key if you prefer)

answered Aug 18 '18 at 20:44

Drew Chapin

939

This should be the accepted answer imo. Thank you. – drumfire Feb 13 '23 at 22:25

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 03 '17 at 20:25

3

I don't know anything about Cinnamon, but a generic way to designate Right Alt as a compose key is to edit /etc/default/keyboard and change the line:

XKBOPTIONS=""

to:

XKBOPTIONS="compose:ralt"

Another way to do what you want is to use a keyboard layout with dead keys. With e.g. English (US, international with dead keys) you can type ë by pressing Shift+' and then pressing E. (I'm guessing that you have a US physical keyboard.)

answered Feb 03 '17 at 20:25

Gunnar Hjalmarsson

33,540
3
64
94

Thanks for the pointer to /etc/default/keyboard. I can't get the right "alt" key to work, but I can set "compose:menu", and that works. – Chris Curvey Feb 06 '17 at 16:11
Well, it worked for a minute, and then stopped :( – Chris Curvey Feb 06 '17 at 16:40
@ChrisCurvey: Which keyboard layout are you using? – Gunnar Hjalmarsson Feb 06 '17 at 18:05
I'm using "English (US)" – Chris Curvey Feb 06 '17 at 19:45
@ChrisCurvey: That's what I guessed. And it's strange that "compose:ralt" doesn't work. Anyway, I also pointed you to another method to type letters with diacritics, which you may want to explore. – Gunnar Hjalmarsson Feb 06 '17 at 20:04
1

@drumfire: Irrelevant. This resource is about Ubuntu. – Gunnar Hjalmarsson Feb 13 '23 at 23:04
@GunnarHjalmarsson derp, sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Deleted my remark. – drumfire Feb 16 '23 at 12:08

how to enable compose key in cinnamon?

3 Answers3