One layout for two countries
The Swedish and Finnish keyboards are the same ISO board. The Nordic letters take the keys right of P and L: Å after P, then Ö and Ä after L. The key left of 1 types § and ½, the key right of 0 types + and ?, and the one after it holds the dead accents ´ and `. Next to Å is the key for ¨, ^ and ~, all dead, and ’ and * sit on the key beside Enter. < and > have their own key next to left Shift.
Most programming symbols are on AltGr: @ £ $ € on 2 to 5, { [ ] } on 7 to 0, \ on +, | on <, µ on M. The table under this text lists every key that differs from a US keyboard and marks the dead keys.
Switching to Swedish or Finnish
- Windows: Settings, Time & language, Language & region, Add a language, Svenska or Suomi. Switch with Win+Space.
- macOS: System Settings, Keyboard, Text Input, Edit, +, Swedish or Finnish. macOS also has variants, such as Swedish – Pro, that move a few symbols.
- Linux (GNOME): Settings, Keyboard, Input Sources, +, Swedish or Finnish.
Testing it
Press every key: each one lights up under its Nordic legend. Dead keys light up like the others even though nothing is typed. If Ö types ; the key is fine and the computer’s layout is set to English; in Chrome and Edge the line under the picture says so, so you can check it here. Keys that stay grey have a fault, and a key that registers twice from one press shows up in the chatter detector.
The Swedish and Finnish keys at a glance
These keys differ from a US keyboard. The browser code is the name the key sends in the event log, taken from the US key in the same place. AltGr is the right Alt key; on Windows, Ctrl+Alt does the same. Keys marked "dead" type nothing on their own: press one, then a letter, for an accented letter (or Space for the mark itself).
| Key | Shift | AltGr | Browser code | US keyboard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| § | ½ | Backquote | ` | |
| 2 | " | @ | Digit2 | 2 |
| 3 | # | £ | Digit3 | 3 |
| 4 | ¤ | $ | Digit4 | 4 |
| 5 | % | € | Digit5 | 5 |
| 6 | & | Digit6 | 6 | |
| 7 | / | { | Digit7 | 7 |
| 8 | ( | [ | Digit8 | 8 |
| 9 | ) | ] | Digit9 | 9 |
| 0 | = | } | Digit0 | 0 |
| + | ? | \ | Minus | - |
| ´ dead | ` dead | Equal | = | |
| E | € | KeyE | E | |
| Å | BracketLeft | [ | ||
| ¨ dead | ^ dead | ~ dead | BracketRight | ] |
| Ö | Semicolon | ; | ||
| Ä | Quote | ' | ||
| ' | * | Backslash | \ | |
| < | > | | | IntlBackslash | none (ISO only) |
| M | µ | KeyM | M | |
| , | ; | Comma | , | |
| . | : | Period | . | |
| - | _ | Slash | / |