To type M with an accent, the main precomposed forms are Ḿ and ḿ (M with acute), Ṁ and ṁ (M with dot above), and Ṃ and ṃ (M with dot below). None of these carry a legacy Windows Alt code, so the fastest routes are copying the glyph from the table below, or in Microsoft Word typing the hexadecimal code and pressing Alt+X. On Mac, Chromebook, and mobile you rely on the symbol picker or a paste, since the standard M key has no accent popup.
| Glyph | Character name | Code point | Windows Alt code | Word Alt+X | HTML |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ḿ | Latin Capital Letter M with Acute | U+1E3E | No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 1E3E then Alt+X | Type 1E3E, then Alt+X | Ḿ |
| ḿ | Latin Small Letter M with Acute | U+1E3F | No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 1E3F then Alt+X | Type 1E3F, then Alt+X | ḿ |
| Ṁ | Latin Capital Letter M with Dot Above | U+1E40 | No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 1E40 then Alt+X | Type 1E40, then Alt+X | Ṁ |
| ṁ | Latin Small Letter M with Dot Above | U+1E41 | No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 1E41 then Alt+X | Type 1E41, then Alt+X | ṁ |
| Ṃ | Latin Capital Letter M with Dot Below | U+1E42 | No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 1E42 then Alt+X | Type 1E42, then Alt+X | Ṃ |
| ṃ | Latin Small Letter M with Dot Below | U+1E43 | No standard Windows Alt code; Word: 1E43 then Alt+X | Type 1E43, then Alt+X | ṃ |
Which accent marks these letters carry
This set covers three distinct diacritics placed on the letter M. The acute is a short stroke rising to the right (Ḿ), the dot above sits centered over the letter (Ṁ), and the dot below hangs directly beneath it (Ṃ). Each mark produces a separate Unicode character, so they are not interchangeable even though they share the same base letter.
Uppercase and lowercase forms are paired as consecutive code points. Ḿ (U+1E3E) is the capital of ḿ (U+1E3F), Ṁ (U+1E40) pairs with ṁ (U+1E41), and Ṃ (U+1E42) pairs with ṃ (U+1E43). When you change case in a document, a well-behaved application maps between these paired points automatically, keeping the accent intact.
Type M with an accent on every platform
Windows
These glyphs sit in the Latin Extended Additional block and have no legacy Alt code, so the reliable built-in tool is Character Map. Open it from the Start menu, tick “Advanced view,” search a name such as “M with dot above,” then Select and Copy. As a shortcut you can also open the emoji panel with Win + period and search the character name there.
If you type these often, enable hex Unicode input by adding the EnableHexNumpad registry value, after which you can hold Alt and type the hex code on the numeric keypad. Most users find copying or the Word method below quicker than editing the registry.
Mac
The Mac M key has no accent popup, so use the Character Viewer. Press Control + Command + Space in any text field, search for “M with acute” or “M with dot below,” and double-click the result to insert it. You can drag frequently used glyphs into the Favorites row so they stay one click away.
Microsoft Word
Word gives you the cleanest method. Type the code point without the U+ prefix, then press Alt+X and Word converts it in place.
For example, type 1E40 and press Alt+X to get Ṁ, or 1E43 then Alt+X for ṃ. Pressing Alt+X again right after a character toggles it back to the code so you can verify it.
If you prefer a menu, go to Insert, Symbol, More Symbols, set the subset to Latin Extended Additional, and pick the glyph. Word also lets you assign an AutoCorrect entry so a short trigger expands to the accented M.
Excel
Excel does not support Alt+X inside cells, so use the UNICHAR function instead. Enter =UNICHAR(7744) for Ṁ or =UNICHAR(7747) for ṃ, using the decimal code point from the table. To keep the letter as static text, copy the cell and paste it back as Values, or paste a copied glyph directly.
PowerPoint
Alt+X is unavailable in PowerPoint too. Click into a text box, open Insert, Symbol, choose the Latin Extended Additional subset, and insert the character you need. Pasting a glyph copied from the reference table works just as well and keeps formatting consistent across slides.
Google Docs and Sheets
In Google Docs, open Insert, Special characters, then either search the name like “dot above” or sketch the accent in the draw panel to find the letter. In Google Sheets there is no special-character menu, so use =CHAR(7742) with the decimal value, or paste the glyph straight into the cell.
iPhone and Android
Standard mobile keyboards do not offer these M variants on a long-press, because the M key has no accent options in the default layout. The dependable approach is to copy the glyph once and reuse it, or save it as a text-replacement shortcut. On iPhone go to Settings, General, Keyboard, Text Replacement; on Android use your keyboard’s personal dictionary to bind a short phrase to the character.
Chromebook
ChromeOS has native Unicode input. Hold Ctrl + Shift + U, type the four-character hex code such as 1e41, then press Space or Enter to convert it to ṁ. Confirm the Unicode input method is active in your keyboard settings if the sequence does not trigger.
Notion, Slack, Discord, and Canva
None of these apps include a symbol picker for extended Latin letters, so paste is the practical route. Copy the glyph from the table, then drop it into a Notion page, Slack message, Discord chat, or a Canva text box. Slack and Discord will not offer these as emoji shortcodes, and Canva renders whatever your chosen font supports, so pick a broad font if the letter looks off.
Precomposed characters versus combining marks
Every glyph in the table above is precomposed: a single code point that already includes the base letter and its accent. The alternative is a base M followed by a combining diacritic, such as M plus the combining acute (U+0301), which renders as an identical-looking Ḿ made of two code points.
The visual match hides a real difference. A search box may find one form and miss the other, filenames can sort or compare unequally, and web forms sometimes reject or transform the two-code-point version. Copy and paste can also silently carry the decomposed form between apps.
The fix is normalization. Converting text to NFC (Normalization Form C) collapses base-plus-combining sequences into the single precomposed character wherever one exists, which is what you want for consistent search and storage. Prefer the precomposed values from the table so your text stays in one canonical shape.
Troubleshooting
If the letter shows as a box, a question mark, or a blank rectangle, the current font lacks the glyph rather than the text being wrong. Switch to a font with wide coverage such as Arial, Times New Roman, or DejaVu Sans, and the accented M should appear.
Getting the wrong variant usually means confusing the dot above with the dot below, or the acute with a combining mark. Check the code point in the table: Ṁ is U+1E40 while Ṃ is U+1E42, and the names spell out “above” versus “below.”
Do not expect a numeric Alt+number sequence to work; there is no standard Windows Alt code for any of these, so use Character Map, hex input, or the Word Alt+X method instead. A US or US-International keyboard layout will not generate them from dead keys either.
When a saved name or search term will not match, suspect a normalization mismatch between a precomposed glyph and a combining sequence. Re-enter the letter from the reference table, or run the text through an NFC conversion, and comparisons should line up again.
Quick examples
To place a lowercase dot-above ṁ in a Word document, type 1E41 and press Alt+X. For the uppercase acute Ḿ in the same document, type 1E3E and press Alt+X.
In a spreadsheet cell, =UNICHAR(7746) returns Ṃ and =UNICHAR(7743) returns ḿ. On a Chromebook, Ctrl + Shift + U then 1e42 and Space yields Ṃ, while copying any row from the table works everywhere else.
Related guides
For a broader reference, see the complete guide to typing accented letters, or open the on-screen accent keyboard tool to click characters straight into your clipboard. You can also browse more accented-letter guides for other letters.
Readers who work with similar consonants often need N with an accent and L with accents, and vowels like O with accents come up in the same documents.
Frequently asked questions
Does M with an accent have a Windows Alt code?
No. None of the accented M characters have a standard Windows Alt code. Use Character Map, enable hex numpad input, or in Microsoft Word type the hexadecimal code and press Alt+X.
Why does my Ṁ show as a box or blank square?
The text is fine, but the current font has no glyph for that code point. Switch to a font with full Latin Extended Additional coverage, such as Arial, Times New Roman, or DejaVu Sans, and the letter will display.
What is the difference between Ṁ and Ṃ?
Ṁ (U+1E40) carries a dot above the letter, while Ṃ (U+1E42) carries a dot below it. They are separate Unicode characters, so choose by the code point or by the name that specifies “above” or “below.”
How do I type an accented M on my phone?
The default M key offers no accent popup on iPhone or Android. Copy the glyph from the table once, then save it as a text-replacement or personal-dictionary shortcut so you can type a short trigger to insert it later.
Why can’t my search find an accented M I can clearly see?
The visible letter is probably a base M plus a combining mark, while your search uses the precomposed form, or the reverse. Normalize the text to NFC or re-enter the character from this reference so both sides match.
Can I use Alt+X in Excel or PowerPoint?
No, Alt+X only works in Word. In Excel use =UNICHAR() with the decimal code point, and in PowerPoint use Insert, Symbol, or paste the glyph you copied from the table.
How do I get the uppercase version of these letters?
Each accent has a paired capital: Ḿ, Ṁ, and Ṃ. Type the uppercase code point directly (for example 1E3E then Alt+X in Word), or apply your app’s change-case command, which maps the lowercase form to its capital while keeping the accent.