It does depend on if you're on a mac or pc.
PC
Microsoft Word will allow you to insert characters with accents by clicking Insert-Symbol. Even better, however, are the keyboard shortcuts available since Word 97:
é: Press Ctrl and type "'" (apostrophe). Release both keys and type "e".
à-è-ù: Press Ctrl and type "`" key (left-hand side, top of the keyboard). Release both keys and type "e", "a", or "u".
â-ê-î-ô-û: Press Ctrl and Shift and type "^" key. Release both keys and type "a", "e", "i", "o", or "u".
ç: Press Ctrl, and type "," key. Release both keys and type "c".
ä-ë-ï-ü: Press Ctrl, Shift, and type ":" key. Release both keys and type "a", "e", "i", or "u".
œ: Press Ctrl, Shift, and type "&" key. Release both keys and type "o".
Macintosh
Using the Option key (all applications)
You can generate all the characters you need in Macintosh by using the "Option" key. To generate accents, you press the Option key and another key together to generate the accent, and then type the letter which contains the accent:
é: Press option and type "e". Release both keys and type "e".
à-è-ù: Press option and type "`" key (left-hand side, top of the keyboard). Release both keys and type "e", "a", or "u".
â-ê-î-ô-û: Press option and type "i" key. Release both keys and type "a", "e", "i", "o", or "u".
ä-ë-ï-ü: Press option and type "u" key. Release both keys and type "a", "e", "i", or "u".
ç: Press option and type "c".
œ: Press option and type "q".
«: Press option and type "|" key (right below the delete key).
»: Press shift + option and type "|" key (right below the delete key).