Virtual Keyboards for all languages: Type, save, search, copy and use anywhere
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Entering characters using a mouse
Select the virtual keyboard you want to use from the Select Virtual Keyboard list. The Keyboard Setting list doesn't apply here. Shortly, the characters from the selected virtual keyboard will be displayed on the virtual keyboard layout. From there you can enter your characters by clicking on them.
Entering characters using a keyboard
To enter characters using your keyboard, first, select the virtual keyboard you want to use from the Select Virtual Keyboard list.This action loads the characters onto the virtual keyboard layout. The layout shows the relationship between your keyboard and the virtual keyboard you would select. Note that the layout shows only the location of your character. The [A] sound in your language may not be assigned to the [A] key.
When you select a virtual keyboard, the grayed out Keyboard Setting list is activated. You probably don't need to change the selection since you may already have your locale input set to US QWERTY keyboard. Local input is the logical keyboard you are using when typing text on your computer. If your selection and your locale input differ, you may get unexpected results.
Once you match your selection with your local input, you enter your characters by pressing the corresponding keys on your physical keyboard. When you are entering characters using your keyboard, make sure the text box has the focus (the caret is blinking in the text box).
After you entered some text into the text box, you can copy and use it anywhere. You can also follow one of the search links to get the search results for the text you just entered.
You may need to watch this YouTube video for a live demonstration of how the virtual keyboards work.
Boxes, Vertical bars, or Question marks
These may appear on your screen instead of your characters for a number of reasons. Make sure a Unicode font for your characters is installed on your machine. You can download Unicode fonts from Alan Wood's website.
Missing characters
Some keyboards use shift state for two completely different chararacters on alphabetic keys. Alphabetic keys are the [A - Z] keys on the US keyboard. The punctuation and numeric keys behave the same way. In such keyboards, the shift key is one of the places to check for the existance of the missing character.
Other keyboards use what are called dead keys. These keys don't produce a character on their own but when followed by another key, they produce characters. For example, on a Spanish keyboard, the accent [`] key is a dead key. When this accent key is followed by either one of [A, E, I, O, U, Y] keys, accent characters are produced.
Some keyboards also have keys for the base sound for a set of characters. When these keys are pressed, the variants will be visible for entry. And there are others ...
Special characters
You may use the Unicode character picker to enter characters not available in the virtual keyboards. The range of text you can enter using the Unicode character picker includes accent characters, scientific symbols, and musical notes.
Writing systems supported
Currently, Arabic العربية, Armenian Հայկական, Bengali বাংলা লিপি, Cyrillic Кириллица, Devanagari देवनागरी, Ge'ez / Ethiopic ግዕዝ, Georgian / Mkhedruli ქართული, Greek Ελληνικά, Gujarati ગુજરાતી, Gurmukhi / Punjabi ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ, Hebrew עִבְרִית, Kannada ಕನ್ನಡ, Korean 한국어, Latin, Malayalam മലയാളം, Tamil தமிழ், Telugu తెలుగు, Thaana ތާނަ and Thai อักษรไทย are supported. You can find a list of the languages written by these writing systems at Omniglot website.
Use the [+] and [-] keys to navigate the suggested characters.
The space bar can be used to enter the first suggestion.