Enabling your compose key for Unity in Ubuntu 13.04

If you ever write in a language other than English that uses Roman letters, the compose key is a huge help to doing so. It's also useful for times when you need to write a name with an accent, for example, Miéville.

Unfortunately, the compose key doesn't seem to be active by default in Ubuntu 13.04 (at least, for me it wasn't). Fortunately, you can restore the functionality quite easily.

First, open up the system settings application, either by clicking the icon in the sidebar or typing "system settings" into the Unity search bar.

Then, select "Keyboard Layout"

In the "Keyboard Layout" window, click the "Options" button in the lower right of the window.

Find "Compose Key position" in the list, and click it to open it up. Select the desired key(s).

 

Now, you should be able to create accented characters easily:

Compose + ' + e => é

Compose + ' + o => ó

Compose + ` + e => è

Compose + ^ + o => ô

Compose + ~ + n => ñ