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Computers & Writing Systems
You are here: Input > Tutorials Keyboard Installation and Use
Note: This page is obsolete. For using the Keyman program, please go to the Contents
Computers were designed to work primarily with English. The problem is that many of us wish to input other languages into the computer. This is possible by switching keyboards (not the physical keyboard) on the computer. In this overview we give details of how to use Microsoft and Keyman keyboards. Microsoft keyboards are probably preferable to use if you wish to input text in one of the languages for which they have supplied a keyboard. If you need a keyboard for some other language, or you do not like Microsoft's layout, you may want to use a keyboard manager like SIL's Keyman. Keyman allows you to create your own customized keyboard, or if you choose, you may use a Keyman keyboard someone else has created. Instructions are given here for installing Microsoft keyboards as well as Keyman keyboards. Microsoft-supplied Unicode keyboardsMicrosoft provides numerous Unicode keyboards as part of their operating system language support. These have to be selected and installed individually. You may need your Windows installation CD for this. The keyboard layouts are not provided on the CD, but are available on the Internet. To add an input locale and keyboard layoutNext you will select a language and keyboard. There may be several keyboards available for a given language. You can install as many as you want. Open Windows9xOn the tab, click
![]() Windows 2000Go to . You should already be at the tab. Select the language you want to enable. You may need your Windows installation CD for this step. Follow the installation instructions.![]() Next, on the tab, click and (you can add multiple layouts for a given locale).![]() Windows XPOpen On the tab, click
![]() Windows VistaOpen On the tab, click
![]() Finish adding input locale and keyboard layoutSelect the language and click ![]() Then choose a keyboard from the list and click .![]() Select (for Win 9x and Win 2000, in lower left corner) (or for Vista, WinXP or Win 2000 with Office XP enabled, click on and select Indicator appears - RESTART. Now you can select whatever keyboard you have addedTo find out what the keyboard layout isThere are several options depending on your needs. Choose one and follow the steps. Once you have the Visual keyboard open, you can either type using keys or just mouse click on each key and it will insert the character you clicked on - in whatever app you have open at the time. View keyboard on the internet
Windows XP SP3
Windows Vista and Windows 7
Microsoft Office 2000
If there is no language support for the language you want (For Windows 98/ME)
If you have Internet Explorer 5 or later, such keyboards can be downloaded from Microsoft using one of these two methods:
On some machines, for reasons we don't understand, some languages are not listed in Windows Update. In that case, try this method:
After completing either (a) or (b), then you use as described above to add the desired language.Microsoft Office Language SettingsIn order for your language to have proper behavior in Office documents, you will need to add your language for Office use. This will allow spell checking, etc for your language. Office 2000 Language SettingsBefore installing a keyboard, you must make sure the language is installed on your system. Go to . If not already enabled, checkmark the languages you wish to install.![]() Follow the directions on the screen and restart your computer when it asks you to. Office XP Language SettingsBefore installing a keyboard, you must make sure the language is enabled on your system. Go to . Highlight the language you wish to enable.![]() Click on and then . Follow the directions on the screen and restart your computer when it asks you to.Office 2007 Language SettingsBefore installing a keyboard, you must make sure the language is enabled on your system. Go to . Highlight the language you wish to enable.![]() Click on and then . Follow the directions on the screen and restart your computer when it asks you to.Keyman KeyboardsKeyman is a keyboard management utility that makes it practical to input many different languages in almost any Windows application. Keyman fully supports Unicode, as well as legacy codepage-based applications. Keyman includes features such as an on-screen keyboard, phonetic and visual-order input methods, and seamless integration with the Windows XP Language Bar. Keyman 5.0/6.0 supports the following operating systems:
Keyman Install
Keyboard InstallKeyman keyboards use the extension .kmx. In the instructions we will use the name foo.kmx to represent your keyboard.
Alternatively, you can install it by:
Associating Keyman keyboards with languages in WindowsLanguage Settings (when Office XP is installed on your computer)Use this step if you have Office XP installed on your computer. If you do not have Office XP, move to the next step. (Office XP makes changes to the Windows language settings which makes the instructions somewhat different.) To work with a keyboard in Windows XP, you should associate it with a language. This can be done through the Keyman Configuration dialog box.
Language SettingsUse this step if you do not have Office XP installed on your computer. If you do have Office XP installed, you should use the previous step. To work with a keyboard in Windows, you should associate it with a language in . If not already installed, select the language for the keyboard or the nearest equivalent. The language you choose should have the same codepage as your keyboard (normally U.S. English or 1252). An additional tip is that if your keyboard is for a language that Microsoft does not have a keyboard, you should choose a language for which the Proofing Tools are not installed. When you switch languages in an Office program, it looks to see if it has proofing tools for that language. If there aren’t any, Office turns off proofing for all text in that language. Otherwise, you may have red and green squiggly lines under your data.
![]() When you click , you may then be asked the following:![]() Follow the directions on the screen. You can delay restarting until finishing these installation instructions. Languages that use Codepage 1252The legacy Keyman IPA93 keyboard was created assuming codepage 1252, so it can be associated with any of the following languages. These all have a default legacy codepage of 1252. This list is from “Appendix F Locale-Specific Code Page Information” on This is particularly important when running an application like Microsoft Word on Win9x/ME. These understand Unicode but can run in an 8-bit context.
Input Locales (for Windows 2000)
Using the Keyboard in Windows 2000To use the keyboard, go to your application, set the font to a Unicode font which contains the Unicode range you need. Click the language icon on your system tray ('EN' for English) and select your keyboard. Begin typing. The keyboard layout should be described in the documentation folder of the font package. Input Locales (Text Services for Windows XP)
You may install more than one keyboard for a given language. For instance, you can assign more than one keyboard to Hebrew, or add a keyboard to a language which also has a system keyboard. If a language has multiple keyboards assigned, you will see a small 'keyboard' icon appear in the system tray when you select that language. Click it and select the keyboard you wish to use. Using the Keyboard in Windows XPTo use the keyboard, go to your application, set the font to a Unicode font which contains the Unicode range you need. Click the language icon on your system tray ('EN' for English) and select your language. Then click the small 'keyboard' icon and select the keyboard "foo". Begin typing. The keyboard layout should be described in the documentation folder of the font package. Known Keyman Unicode keyboards by languageBecause the design of keyboards is a matter of preference, SIL has not included Keyman keyboards with the Doulos SIL package, but there are numerous Keyman keyboards in existence. SIL does not endorse or provide support for these. The contact address at the website should be used for any user support. © 2003-2024 SIL International, all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted elsewhere on this page. |