This is old news to anyone who types at all in Spanish, but I wanted to post a reference for typing accented characters. There are a few ways to make them; it depends on your computer. These are only the most common characters. You might need one from another Spanish dialect.
Windows: Press and hold the ALT key. While holding ALT, type in the numbers associated with each letter. After you’ve typed in the numbers, release the ALT key and the character appears:
á = ALT + 160
é = ALT + 130
à = ALT + 161
ñ = ALT + 164
ó = ALT +162
ú = ALT + 163
ü = ALT + 129
¡ = ALT + 173
¿ = ALT + 168
Mac: Press and hold the OPTION key, and while holding OPTION, press “e.” Release both keys and type the letter you want accented. Note that for the tilde, umlaut/diaeresis and upside down exclamation/question marks it’s slightly different:
á = OPTION + e — a
é = OPTION + e — e
à = OPTION + e — i
ó = OPTION + e — o
ú = OPTION + e — u
ñ = OPTION + n — n
ü = OPTION+ u — u
¡ = OPTION + 1
¿ = OPTION + SHIFT + ?