German extended keyboard layout

The German extended keyboard layout is an extended version of the basic German keyboard layout. It enables users to enter all letters and diacritical marks used in the primary official languages of all countries worldwide and in European minority languages, provided these languages use the Latin script. It also enables the input of all punctuation marks regularly used in Europe and various frequently used special characters such as bullet points and arrows, as well as transcription characters for other writing systems.

There are two variants: The "E1" variant is compliant with the common German key arrangement (which employs an extra key right of the left Shift key, in comparison with the common US QWERTY key arrangement), to be used on existing German standard keyboards where only additional engravings are appropriate, but no changes. The "E2" variant complies with the common US QWERTY key arrangement hardware (but would require a different key labelling).

The layout variants can be selected in Microsoft Windows since the 24H2 update for Windows 11 as "German extended (E1)" and "German extended (E2)" ("Deutsch erweitert (E1)" and "Deutsch erweitert (E2)" if German language is selected).

The "E1" and "E2" variants were first defined in the 2018 version of the German DIN standard and were slightly revised in the current 2023 version (DIN 2137-01:2023-08). Thus, they are two of the three current standard German-language keyboard layouts for Germany and Austria (alongside the basic keyboard layout now called "T1", which has been standardized since 2003). They replace the extended layouts T2 and defined in the 2012 version of DIN 2137, which did not gain widespread use.