US Keyboard Layout with Swedish Comparison
Keys are split to show: Left side (blue) = US layout | Right side (gray) =
Swedish layout (reference)
Top character = Shift, Bottom character = normal press
💡 How to read split keys:
• Left half (blue background) = What you get with US layout active
• Right half (gray background) = What you get with Swedish layout active (for reference)
• Top character = Press with Shift
• Bottom character = Normal press
• Blue background = US layout - standard for programming and IDE shortcuts
• AltGr key = On US layout, this is just a regular Alt key. On Swedish layout, it's AltGr (used for special characters)!
Key Insights: IntelliJ Shortcuts on Swedish Keyboard
IntelliJ shortcuts are designed for US layout. This table shows which
physical key to press on your Swedish keyboard:
| Expected character |
Key to Press (Swedish keyboard with US layout active) |
| [ (left bracket) |
Å |
| { (left curly brace) |
Shift + Å |
| ] (right bracket) |
¨ (next to Å) |
| } (right curly brace) |
Shift + ¨ |
| \ (backslash) |
' (right of Ä) |
| | (pipe) |
Shift + ' |
| - (minus / hyphen) |
+ (right of 0) |
| _ (underscore) |
Shift + + |
| / (forward slash) |
- (far right bottom row) |
| ? (question mark) |
Shift + - |
| ; (semicolon) |
Ö |
| : (colon) |
Shift + Ö |
| ' (single quote / apostrophe) |
Ä |
| " (double quote) |
Shift + Ä |
| < (less-than) |
Shift + , |
| > (greater-than) |
Shift + . |
| @ (at sign) |
Shift + 2 |
| $ (dollar sign) |
Shift + 4 |
| ` (backtick / grave accent) |
§ (top left) |
| ~ (tilde) |
Shift + § |
🎯 The Key Insight: When IntelliJ says "press [", you press your Å key.
When it says "Ctrl+/", you press Ctrl+- (your minus key). With
US layout active, your Swedish character keys become programming shortcuts!
⚡ Bonus: The right Alt key (AltGr on Swedish layout) becomes just a regular Alt key on US
layout, so you lose the AltGr functionality but gain simpler access to all programming symbols!
How to Add US Keyboard Layout on Windows 11
📝 Quick Setup Guide:
- Open Settings (Windows Key + I)
- Go to Time & Language → Language & Region
- Click on Swedish (or your current language)
- Click Options
- Under "Keyboards", click Add a keyboard
- Select US (or English (United States))
⌨️ Pro Tip - Quick Layout Toggle:
Press
Win +
Space to quickly toggle between Swedish and US
keyboard layouts. A small popup will show which layout is active (SV or ENG). This makes it easy to switch to US
layout when coding in IntelliJ, then switch back to Swedish for writing emails or documents!
💡 Recommended workflow: Keep Swedish layout active by default, then press Win + Space when you open IntelliJ to switch to US layout.
The muscle memory develops quickly!