Pressing the tilde key (~) waits for a second key stroke, how do I disable this?

When pressing tilde in Windows 7, using a Swedish keyboard layout, the computer waits for a second key to be pressed. The reason behind the wait is to allow users the ability to construct characters such as ã and ñ, which I never type. Can I disable this so that pressing tilde once actually generates a tilde?

• I assume you want to otherwise keep the Swedish keyboard layout though, right? Probably best to make this explicit.– ShinraiApr 19, 2012 at 16:47
• Yes, I to preserve it otherwise.– JonatanApr 19, 2012 at 16:48
• read this solution : superuser.com/questions/890624/… Sep 27, 2022 at 9:36

3 Answers

First, download and install Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator. Then, follow these steps:

• open KLC and go to File -> Load Existing Keyboard…
• select your keyboard layout and click OK
• when the layout has loaded, double-click on the key that produces the tilde character

• in the new window, click “All…”

• find the combination that produces the tilde character and uncheck the “Dead Key?” checkbox

• click OK
• optional: go to Project -> Test Keyboard Layout to make sure the key behaves the way you want to
• optional: go to Project -> Properties and change the layout name and description
• go to Project -> Build DLL and Setup Package, wait for the process to complete and click Yes to open the directory where the setup files are located
• run the setup.exe file to install the new layout
• finally, go to Regional Settings in Control Panel (or use the Language Bar) to switch to the new layout

• 1Exactly what I wanted, thank you very much to the explanation!– JonatanApr 19, 2012 at 17:17
• 8Been pressing~twice for ages, now I can use it as it should, thank you! After applyling this fix any application running must be restarted to use new layout.– PeterMJul 23, 2015 at 9:51
• 2Under Windows 10 I had to restart the system (obviously) for the new keyboard layout option to appear. Indrek – you, sir, make the world a better place.– mikoszJan 31, 2016 at 9:02
• 2Why it is not a default behaviour, I don’t know. Thanks for the tip!– toprMay 21, 2017 at 8:56
• I tested it in the Creator and it was working correctly and after applying changes in Windows 10 settings it doesn’t work. I restarted the PC. Why?– Ap0st0lSep 7, 2020 at 14:09

Visit The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator web page and download MSKLC.EXE (10.1 MB).

Some of this program’s features allow you to base new layouts off of existing ones. (This means that you can take the current Sweedish keyboard layout and remove the current character/action and replace it with a tilde.)

Not an answer to your exact question, but since I see someone in the comments talking about pressing ~ twice, you can also press AltGr+~ followed by space, might be a faster way to type it without having to modify your keyboard layout.

(This is how I typed ~ for a long time on my Norwegian (works the same as Swedish for this particular thing) keyboard before eventually giving in and switching to a US keyboard)