Quick Accent

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Overview

Quick Accent (formerly known as Power Accent) is a PowerToys module that allows users to quickly insert accented characters by holding a key and pressing an activation key (like the Space key or arrow keys). For example, holding 'a' might display options like 'à', 'á', 'â', etc. This tool enhances productivity by streamlining the input of special characters without the need to memorize keyboard shortcuts.

Architecture

The Quick Accent module consists of five projects:

poweraccent/
├── PowerAccent.Common/             # Language data, character mappings, LetterKey enum
├── PowerAccent.Core/               # Accent logic, settings, positioning, usage statistics
├── PowerAccent.UI/                 # WinUI 3 character selector app (PowerToys.PowerAccent.exe)
├── PowerAccentKeyboardService/     # WinRT keyboard-hook component
└── PowerAccentModuleInterface/     # Native runner module DLL

Module Interface (PowerAccentModuleInterface)

The Module Interface, implemented in PowerAccentModuleInterface/dllmain.cpp, is responsible for:

• Handling communication between PowerToys Runner and the PowerAccent process
• Managing module lifecycle (enable/disable/settings)
• Launching and terminating the PowerToys.PowerAccent.exe process

Shared Data (PowerAccent.Common)

PowerAccent.Common holds the UI- and runtime-agnostic data the other projects share:

• The language / character-set definitions and per-letter accent mappings
• The managed LetterKey enum (kept in sync with the WinRT LetterKey in PowerAccentKeyboardService/KeyboardListener.idl)

It has no UI or WinRT dependencies and is unit-tested in isolation (PowerAccent.Common.UnitTests).

Core Logic (PowerAccent.Core)

The Core component contains:

• Main accent character logic, consuming the language data from PowerAccent.Common
• Toolbar positioning math (9 anchor points with per-monitor DPI) and settings handling
• Management of special characters (currency, math symbols, etc.) and usage statistics

Core carries no UI-framework dependency: it raises events and accepts a UI-thread marshaller delegate instead of touching WPF/WinUI directly, and its positioning math is covered by PowerAccent.Core.UnitTests.

UI Layer (PowerAccent.UI)

The UI component is a self-contained WinUI 3 (Windows App SDK) app, migrated from WPF. It is responsible for:

• Displaying the accent toolbar — a non-activating, always-on-top TransparentWindow overlay shown with SW_SHOWNA so it never steals focus from the app being typed into
• Handling selection and the toolbar's sizing / positioning
• Following the system theme while the long-lived process runs

It builds to PowerToys.PowerAccent.exe together with its .pri and the bundled Windows App SDK runtime, all under the WinUI3Apps output folder.

Keyboard Service (PowerAccentKeyboardService)

This component:

• Implements keyboard hooks to detect key presses
• Manages the trigger mechanism for displaying the accent toolbar
• Handles keyboard input processing

Implementation Details

Activation Mechanism

Quick Accent supports two activation styles, selected by the Activation key setting.

Trigger-key modes (Left/Right arrow, Space, or Both — the default):

1. A user presses and holds a character key (e.g., 'a')
2. User presses the trigger key
3. After a brief delay (around 300ms per setting), the accent toolbar appears
4. The user can select an accented variant using the trigger key
5. Upon releasing the keys, the selected accented character is inserted

Press-and-hold mode (Press and hold the letter, iOS/macOS style, opt-in):

1. A user presses and holds an accent-capable character key (e.g., 'a'); the base letter is typed immediately
2. After the configured Hold duration (around 500ms per setting), the accent toolbar appears automatically — no separate trigger key is required
3. The user navigates the options with the arrow keys or Space
4. Upon releasing the letter, the selected accent replaces the base letter; if no option was selected, the base letter that was already typed simply remains
5. A quick tap (shorter than the Hold duration) types the base letter only, and modifier combinations (Ctrl/Alt/AltGr/Win + letter) are left untouched

Character Sets

The module includes multiple language-specific character sets and special character sets:

• Various language sets for different alphabets and writing systems
• Special character sets (currency symbols, mathematical notations, etc.)
• These sets are defined in the core component and can be extended

Known Behaviors

• The module has a specific timing mechanism for activation that users have become accustomed to. Initially, this was considered a bug (where the toolbar would still appear even after quickly tapping and releasing keys), but it has been maintained as expected behavior since users rely on it.
• Multiple rapid key presses can trigger multiple background tasks.

Future Considerations

• Potential refinements to the activation timing mechanism
• Additional language and special character sets
• Improved UI positioning in different application contexts

Debugging

To debug the Quick Accent module via runner approach, follow these steps:

0. Get familiar with the overall Debugging Process for PowerToys.
1. Build the entire PowerToys solution in Visual Studio
2. Navigate to the PowerAccent folder in Solution Explorer
3. Open the file you want to debug and set breakpoints at the relevant locations
4. Find the runner project in the root of the solution
5. Right-click on the runner project and select "Set as Startup Project"
6. Start debugging by pressing F5 or clicking the "Start" button
7. When the PowerToys Runner launches, enable the Quick Accent module in the UI
8. Use the Visual Studio Debug menu or press Ctrl+Alt+P to open "Reattach to Process"
9. Find and select "PowerToys.PowerAccent.exe" in the process list
10. Trigger the action in Quick Accent that should hit your breakpoint
11. Verify that the debugger breaks at your breakpoint and you can inspect variables and step through code

This process allows you to debug the Quick Accent module while it's running as part of the full PowerToys application.

Alternative Debugging Approach

To directly debug the Quick Accent UI component:

0. Get familiar with the overall Debugging Process for PowerToys.
1. Build the entire PowerToys solution in Visual Studio
2. Navigate to the PowerAccent folder in Solution Explorer
3. Open the file you want to debug and set breakpoints at the relevant locations
4. Right-click on the PowerAccent.UI project and select "Set as Startup Project"
5. Start debugging by pressing F5 or clicking the "Start" button
6. Verify that the debugger breaks at your breakpoint and you can inspect variables and step through code

Known issue: A first incremental build can surface transient errors (for example from CsWinRT projection / WinUI XAML codegen ordering).

Solution: Right-click the PowerAccent folder in Solution Explorer and select "Rebuild", then start debugging again.