The colon is one of the most used punctuation marks when writing in Windows 10 and in any other operating system.
But many people don’t know how to type them on keyboards that come in English or Spanish. That is why today we will teach you how to do it in each one.
What is the main difference between an English keyboard and a Spanish one?
First of all, it is important that you identify what language your keyboard is in, because there are some that do not allow you to use the colon. Depending on the language, the set of keys will be different.
Therefore, the keyboard layout will vary from language to language. In the case of English and Spanish they present several differences, among them:
- The “Enter” button is elongated on the English keyboard and more vertical on the Spanish one.
- The hyphens are in the last row of keys in Spanish, and in the row of numbers in the English keyboard.
There are more differences, although those are the most remarkable at first glance. Fortunately, the button for the colon appears in both.
How can you type a colon in Windows 10 if you use a Spanish keyboard?
In case you have a Spanish keyboard, you should know that there are two ways to place the colon. One of them is with the “Shift” key; the other, with the on-screen keyboard. We will explain each one in more detail below.
Combining the ‘Shift’ keys
This is undoubtedly the easiest option. Basically, you have to locate the “Shift” button and the key on which the colon is drawn. Then press both at the same time, and you will see the signs appear.
Using the ‘On-Screen Keyboard’ app
The other way to get the colon is to use the on-screen keyboard, also known as the “virtual keyboard.” This feature comes in all versions of Windows 7 up to the latest.
Thanks to that you will not have to download it or obtain it from another source, which would take time and effort. You just have to perform this procedure:
- Go to the start menu.
- Type “On-Screen Keyboard” in the search bar and press “Enter”.
- As soon as the keyboard appears, click on it.
- Already inside the keyboard press “Caps Lock” and the key in which the colon appears.
How to insert a colon if you use an English keyboard?
If your keyboard is natively in English and you don’t want to complicate your life by changing the language, you don’t have to worry. In this case there are also the same two options.
With the on-screen keyboard
In this case, you must repeat the procedure that we taught you in the previous section to find the on-screen keyboard from the start menu. After that, you should be able to repeat the other steps, i.e. press “Caps Lock” again with the colon key.
However, sometimes it happens that the colon does not come out. If this happens to you, press the semicolon key (;) instead of the other, and you will see that now the colon does appear.
‘Shift’ + ;
If the first method doesn’t work, look on your physical keyboard for the “Shift” button. Then press it at the same time as the semicolon key. The two points will automatically be marked.
What option allows you to add a colon on any type of keyboard?
With everything we have taught you, you should already be able to write the colon, regardless of whether the keyboard is English or Spanish.
However, we know that anything can go wrong, so even the methods we’ve seen may not work on certain keyboard models. But do not be alarmed, since there is still one last option: the ASCII code.
the ascii code
ASCII code is present on absolutely every keyboard, so there’s no way you can’t use it.
In short, it is about pressing a combination of buttons, something similar to what we did with “Shift”. In this case you will have to press the “Alt” key and keep it pressed while typing “58”. The colon will be written immediately.
