Accent Cycling
Press the leader key repeatedly to step through all variants of a character. One gesture, every accent.
é
è
ê
ë
The PowerToys Quick Accent experience, native on Linux.
Hold a key, press Space — get ä, ö, ü, ß, é, ñ instantly.
No daemons. No clipboard. No compromises.
Six reasons why Schnelle Umlaute is the right choice for Linux power users.
Press the leader key repeatedly to step through all variants of a character. One gesture, every accent.
Direct insertion via commitString(). Clipboard stays yours.
One key. Any command.
Map any Unicode — if it exists, you can type it.
Native on both display protocols. No root, no daemons.
Unlimited mappings · adjustable delay · Space, Arrow, Alt, or custom leader keys · per-app blacklist & whitelist.
Press and hold a o u s
Within 400ms, tap Space
ä ö ü ß — instantly
Press again: á → à → â
This is EXACTLY what I was looking for and unlike all other solutions I tried it works easy and like a charm! Thank you so much for your work!"
Your tool is getting reliable for daily use, now even with other languages than German!"
Congratulations on this excellent add-on!"
A native Fcitx5 addon for Linux. Type German umlauts, French accents, or any Unicode character using the same hold + space gesture as Windows PowerToys Quick Accent. System-wide, lightweight, no root needed.
Yes. Natively on both X11 and Wayland, no extra configuration. It integrates directly with Fcitx5.
Never. Unlike xdotool-based workarounds, Schnelle Umlaute uses Fcitx5's commitString() API — direct insertion, clipboard untouched.
German umlauts by default (ä ö ü ß Ä Ö Ü). With unlimited configurable mappings: French accents, Spanish, Portuguese, Braille Unicode, emojis, math symbols, full text snippets.
Supported on Arch Linux, Ubuntu/Debian, Linux Mint, Fedora, and openSUSE. Works on any distro with Fcitx5.
Yes, via fcitx5-config-qt. Default: 400ms lowercase, 700ms uppercase. Adjustable from 50ms to 2000ms to match your typing speed.
Yes. Map any key to a full phrase — e.g. hold m + Space to insert your email address, g for a Vim command like ggVGy (select all + yank), or u for sudo apt update. Works with any length of text.
Space (default), Arrow keys, Alt/AltGr, or up to two custom keys of your choice. Multiple leader keys can be active at the same time. Custom leaders support dual hand-split mode for ergonomic typing.
Yes. The App Filter lets you set a blacklist (disable in listed apps) or a whitelist (enable only in listed apps). Useful for games, password managers, IP/number-only fields, or apps with conflicting shortcuts.
Open Source · Free forever
Schnelle Umlaute will always be free and open source. If it makes your daily typing a little better, a coffee helps keep the project alive and growing.
Free. Open source. Two minutes to install.