Comparison of AZERTY layouts
Compare the characters you can type and the keys that change on three layouts: the traditional Windows AZERTY, the AFNOR AZERTY and AZERTY Global. All three keep the letters A to Z in the same order. All the improved AZERTY layouts, beyond these three (in French).
Ten criteria, three layouts
| Criterion | AZERTY Global | Traditional AZERTY | AFNOR AZERTY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Direct | Shift + ; | Direct, but swapped with the comma |
| At sign @ (in French) | Direct, top left | AltGr + 0 | Direct |
| Accented capitals É (in French) È (in French) Ç (in French) À (in French) | Caps Lock + é è ç à | None in one keystroke | AltGr + Shift + number row |
| Smart Caps Lock | Yes | No | No |
| Braces { } (in French) | AltGr + D / F, home row | AltGr + 4 / = | AltGr + T / Y |
| Brackets [ ] (in French) | AltGr + J / K, home row | AltGr + 5 / ) | AltGr + 5 / 6 |
| French quotation marks « » (in French) | AltGr + W / X | Alt + number codes | Available |
| The œ ligature œ Œ (in French) | AltGr + O | Alt + number codes | Available |
| International accents (á, ø, å) | Dead keys | Alt + number codes | Dead keys |
| Transition from the traditional Windows AZERTY | Smooth: five changes | This is the baseline | Major disruption |
Two of the four accented capitals can still be typed on the traditional AZERTY: È and À come from the grave accent dead key, AltGr + 7 followed by the vowel, and that legend is printed on keyboards sold in France. É and Ç have no sequence: you need an Alt code or a copy and paste. None of the four can be typed in one keystroke.
Impact on typing, in numbers
| Measure | AZERTY Global | AFNOR AZERTY |
|---|---|---|
| Existing characters moved | 13.8% | 30.3% |
| Share of keystrokes affected | 1.01% | 4.50% |
The first row counts the characters that move. The second takes into account how often they appear in French text: moving a rare character changes fewer keystrokes.
Sources and calculation method
Of the 109 characters on the traditional Windows AZERTY, 15 change key or level with AZERTY Global, against 33 with AFNOR. The share of keystrokes affected is calculated on the frequencies of the AFNOR corpus (text half formal, half informal). It depends on the type of text typed.
The layout definitions and the calculations are available in the source repository of the site.
Why AZERTY Global rather than AFNOR?
Since Windows 11 24H2, the AFNOR AZERTY ships with the system, under the name “French (Standard, AZERTY)”. The historical AZERTY is now “French (Traditional, AZERTY)”. You select the standard in Settings, with no installation and no administrator rights.
| What you have to relearn | AZERTY Global | AFNOR AZERTY |
|---|---|---|
| Characters affected | 15 | 33 |
| That change key | 12 | 31 |
| Distinct destination keys | 12 | 22 |
The 15 AZERTY Global characters are the five announced changes, counted one by one. On an AZERTY keyboard, 31 keycap legends become wrong with AFNOR, against 12 with AZERTY Global. See the calculation method.
Two gaps remain, regardless of key positions. The standard ships with the system only from Windows 11 24H2: not Windows 10, not macOS, not Linux. On those last two, it exists only as drivers that users built and that you install yourself, listed on norme-azerty.fr (in French). AZERTY Global provides layout files for all three systems. Its Windows app also includes lessons, a virtual keyboard and a character search.
“I tested the standardized AFNOR AZERTY for months. Then I tested AZERTY Global for 2 days. The winner: AZERTY Global, by far. Adjusting is super fast and it improves everything else.”
Where do the moved characters end up?
AFNOR does have a logic: it groups characters by category. AZERTY Global groups them by gesture, and a rule is easier to remember than isolated positions.
How AZERTY Global groups characters
- AltGr + the home row for the six programming symbols, grouped
in pairs: the braces
{}on D and F, the backslash and the vertical bar\|on G and H, the brackets[]on J and K. @and#on the key at the very top left: the at sign direct, the hash with Shift. And the old AltGr + 0 still gives@.%with Shift on the key to the right of 0: it sits next to the digits. The°stays on that key.- Three of the most-used dead keys are grouped on the ù key: acute, grave and tilde. The circumflex and the diaeresis keep their usual key.
What the AFNOR AZERTY moves
- The period and the comma swap keys. The comma key gives the period, the period key gives the comma, and the semicolon moves to the exclamation mark key. These are the most frequent punctuation marks in French, and the best-ingrained gesture.
- The apostrophe and the straight double quote move to the very top right, onto the parenthesis key to the right of 0: the apostrophe direct, the double quote with Shift.
- The same six programming symbols move to six keys across three
rows:
{on AltGr + T,}on AltGr + Y,[on AltGr + 5,]on AltGr + 6,\on Shift + Ù,|on AltGr + L. àmoves from the 0 key to the 1 key,èfrom the 7 key to the 3 key, and%moves to AltGr + P.
What about bépo, Optimot and Ergo-L?
Bépo, Optimot and Ergo-L are ergonomic layouts: they rearrange the letters to reduce finger movement. Adopting one means relearning how to type: several weeks, even several months, before you get your speed back. AZERTY Global keeps the letters A to Z where they are and changes how you reach accents and symbols.
bépo (in French)
A free layout derived from the Dvorak method, developed by a community since 2005 and adopted by AFNOR in 2019 as the second layout of the NF Z71-300 standard, alongside the standardized AZERTY. Entirely reorganized alphabet.
Optimot (in French)
Created by Patrick Jamet and developed since 2022, optimized jointly for French and English, with common characters reachable without AltGr. Published under the CC BY-NC-SA license.
Ergo-L (in French)
An original design drawing on the QWERTY-Lafayette and bépo projects, at version 1.0.0 since May 2024. Optimized in equal parts for French, English and code, with a dead key that keeps all the French letters on the three central rows.
To keep your typing habits for letters, choose AZERTY Global. If you want to learn a new letter arrangement to reduce finger movement, compare bépo, Optimot and Ergo-L.
Common questions about choosing a layout
Do I need to buy a keyboard or stickers?
No. AZERTY Global is purely software and your current keyboard works: no keyboard with AZERTY Global legends exists yet, and none is needed. The letters and digits do not move, so your keycap legends stay right for the most part; three keys change meaning (; ² ù), and the AltGr symbols are on the cheat sheet. Four printable sticker sheets are provided, one of which shows the old and the new placement side by side. No sticker set is sold today: where to find them and how to print them is in the FAQ.
AZERTY Global or the US International QWERTY?
The US International layout is the usual answer for English speakers who need é and ñ. It works until you write French for real. The apostrophe is a dead key, so don’t and it’s take ' followed by a space, dozens of times a day. There is no œ ligature (cœur, sœur, œuvre), and the French quotation marks « » sit behind shortcuts few people know (AltGr + [ and ]). Keyboards in France are physically AZERTY, so the printed keycaps do not match a US International layout.
AZERTY Global keeps the AZERTY base used in France and fixes its real flaws: accented capitals with Caps Lock, programming symbols on the home row, a direct period, plus dead-key accents for Spanish, German, Portuguese, Polish and more than 300 other languages. Coming from a US layout, you relearn the letter positions of the keyboard used in France.
AZERTY Global or the AZERTY of macOS?
Apple’s AZERTY is a step ahead of the Windows one, and AZERTY Global takes its best choice: the at sign direct at the very top left, the hash with Shift on the same key. The gaps remain clear. The period still needs the Shift key. The braces, brackets, backslash and vertical bar are scattered across Option combinations spread over three rows, and are printed on no key. AZERTY Global groups them in pairs on the home row. AZERTY Global also installs on macOS.
AZERTY Global or the fr-oss layout on Linux?
The fr-oss layout is the closest to AZERTY Global: it already has the smart Caps Lock for É È Ç À, the French quotation marks on AltGr + W and AltGr + X, and the œ on AltGr + O, in the same places. Three gaps remain: the period still needs the Shift key, the at sign stays on AltGr + 0, and the programming symbols stay scattered over the number row instead of the home row. And fr-oss exists only on Linux, whereas AZERTY Global also covers Windows and macOS.
Do I have to relearn how to type with AZERTY Global?
No. All the letters and all the digits stay in place. Fifteen characters change, twelve of them changing key, and the share of keystrokes affected is 1.01% on the frequencies of the AFNOR corpus (text half formal, half informal): 99% of the keystrokes of a French text stay unchanged.
Our vision
Our goal: to offer a pragmatic alternative that works for as many people as possible. The traditional Windows AZERTY is more than 40 years old and was never designed to write French properly. AFNOR took a step in the right direction, but 31 characters change key and its programming symbols remain hard to reach. AZERTY Global fixes the real problems while keeping everything that already works.
Public feedback
“This is a much-needed project. I use it for Italian and German on top of French — it has really simplified my work.”
“Infinitely more satisfying than the classic AZERTY. I can write in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and German — it’s a real game-changer.”