How do I tell which AZERTY layout I have?

Open the Windows language settings and read the name of the active layout. It will say either French (Traditional, AZERTY) or French (Standard, AZERTY). The two feel the same in ordinary use, so the name is the only dependable clue.

Do the letters move under NF Z71-300?

No. Unaccented letters and the digits stay exactly where they sit on a traditional AZERTY. The standard adds characters that were missing rather than relocating the ones you already use every day.

Why is a capital E-acute so awkward to type on AZERTY?

Because the traditional layout was built around lowercase accented letters in direct reach and never allocated space for their capitals. NF Z71-300 exists largely to fix that gap, and it puts accented capitals within direct reach.

Can I type the oe ligature and guillemets on a traditional AZERTY?

Not directly. Those are among the characters the standardised layout adds. On the traditional keyboard you need a system shortcut, a numeric code, or your word processor's autocorrect to produce them.

Should I change layout before a competitive exam?

No, work with the one you know. Changing layout demands a period of readjustment even when the letters stay put, and the evening before an exam is the wrong moment to begin it.

ANSWER

Traditional or standard AZERTY: what is the difference?

Since Windows 11 version 24H2 there are two French layouts. French (Traditional, AZERTY) is the one nearly everyone has. French (Standard, AZERTY) implements the NF Z71-300 standard: letters and digits stay put, and around 60 characters are added, including E-acute, the oe ligature and French quotation marks.

Test your layout on French text →

Two AZERTY layouts in the same Windows

For decades Windows offered one French layout. Since version 24H2 it offers two, listed under names that differ by a single word: French (Traditional, AZERTY) and French (Standard, AZERTY). The first is almost certainly the one you have. The second is new, installed but not switched on by default, and it implements a standard published by AFNOR as NF Z71-300, following a project begun by the French Ministry of Culture. The only reliable way to tell which is active is to open the language settings and read the layout name, because the two behave identically until you reach for one of the characters that separates them.

What the standard changes, and what it leaves alone

The reassuring part first: unaccented letters and the digits were not moved. A standardised AZERTY is still an AZERTY, and muscle memory built on the traditional layout carries over. What the standard adds are the characters written French actually requires and the old layout never provided: accented capitals such as E-acute and A-grave, the oe and ae ligatures, the French guillemets, and about sixty further signs useful for foreign languages and technical text. It is the first time a formal standard has fixed where characters sit on a French keyboard, and the placement was computed from French text corpora rather than chosen by hand.

Why it matters on a typing test

On a speed test the two layouts give nearly identical results, because ordinary prose is letters, spaces and common punctuation, and all of that is unchanged. The difference shows up on the words the traditional layout cannot produce directly. French words carrying the oe ligature belong to that group, as do quotations wrapped in guillemets and any sentence opening on an accented capital. If a passage stops you dead on one specific character while everything around it flows, the layout is almost always the reason rather than your speed. Typetera's French passages are written to be typeable on a French keyboard, and that check is made against the standardised layout, which is the more complete of the two.

Should you switch?

For most people, no, and certainly not the night before an exam. Switching costs a relearning period even though the letters do not move, because reflexes cover punctuation and dead keys as well. The case for switching is real if you write careful French all day, if accented capitals and guillemets are a daily irritation, or if you type foreign languages regularly. If that is you, enable the standardised layout, keep the traditional one installed through the transition, and practise on text that actually contains the characters you have just gained.

Frequently asked questions

How do I tell which AZERTY layout I have?
+
Open the Windows language settings and read the name of the active layout. It will say either French (Traditional, AZERTY) or French (Standard, AZERTY). The two feel the same in ordinary use, so the name is the only dependable clue.
Do the letters move under NF Z71-300?
+
No. Unaccented letters and the digits stay exactly where they sit on a traditional AZERTY. The standard adds characters that were missing rather than relocating the ones you already use every day.
Why is a capital E-acute so awkward to type on AZERTY?
+
Because the traditional layout was built around lowercase accented letters in direct reach and never allocated space for their capitals. NF Z71-300 exists largely to fix that gap, and it puts accented capitals within direct reach.
Can I type the oe ligature and guillemets on a traditional AZERTY?
+
Not directly. Those are among the characters the standardised layout adds. On the traditional keyboard you need a system shortcut, a numeric code, or your word processor's autocorrect to produce them.
Should I change layout before a competitive exam?
+
No, work with the one you know. Changing layout demands a period of readjustment even when the letters stay put, and the evening before an exam is the wrong moment to begin it.

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