How to Type International Characters With a U.S. Keyboard (Part 1)

Do you miss writing international characters such as ñ or ü just because your computer has a U.S. keyboard? Do you have to use those pesky and awkward Alt-number combinations? Then this article series is for you. In this first article you will set up your keyboard to more intuitively write international characters. In the second article you will learn how to use it. In the third article you will understand some of its quirks and how to deal with them. And, in the fourth and last article you will learn how to put your keyboard back to its default operation. Why? Because, among other situations, your friends may not appreciate what you did to their keyboards...

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Computer running Windows XP Professional, with keyboard layout set to U.S. (This is the default for Windows XP Professional.)

Navigate to

1. Close all your applications, so your desktop (and taskbar) is clean. Opened applications will interfere with your keyboard layout change.
2. Click the "Start" button, on the lower left-hand side of your screen. A window will come up.
3. On the middle right half, click "Control Panel." This Start window will close up, and the Control Panel window will come up instead.
4. Depending on whether Control Panel has been customized or not, you may have a different set of icons:
   
   If your window has the phrase "Pick a Category," then it is in Category View. Click the icon Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options. The contents will change, and the window title will change to (predictably) Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options. Click the task "Add other languages," and go to next step.
   
   If your window doesn't have the phrase "Pick a Category," then it is in Classic View. Double click the icon Regional and Language Options. The window Regional and Language Options will open up. On the top, there are 3 tabs. Click "Languages" and continue to next step.
5. On the upper section (Text services and input languages), click the "Details...." button. The window Text Services and Input Languages will come up after a brief delay.
6. On the center section (Installed Services) click the "Add..." button. The window Add Input Language will come up. In our next section, we will change your keyboard behavior (or layout, as Microsoft calls it).

Add and Select the United States-International Keyboard Layout

7. In the Add Input Language window, ensure that Input Language is English (United States), and then click the Keyboard layout/IME checkbox. The rectangle below (Keyboard Layout/IME) will be enabled (technically, it is called the combo box).
8. Click the down arrow located at the end of this combo box. A list will come up.
9. Choose "United States-International" as the keyboard layout, and click "OK." The window Add Input Language will close, and you will be back to the window Text Services and Input Languages. At this point, you will have 2 keyboard layouts to choose from.
10. On the Text Services and Input Languages window there is a section on the top called Default Input Language. It has a combo box that should read English (United States)--U.S. Click at the right end. Two choices will now come up. One of them is English (United States)--United States-International. Click it. The combo box will close with the choice English (United States)--United States-International.
11. Click the "Apply" button, at the lower right corner of this window (Text Services and Input Languages). The keyboard layout at the Installed Services section will have the selection United States-International under its Keyboard section in bold. If an extra toolbar also shows up in the taskbar or elsewhere in the screen, ignore it for now. It will go away when you are finished.
12. To avoid issues, you will now erase U.S. keyboard layout, so there is only one selection under Keyboard in the Installed Services section. Under Keyboard, click "U.S." so it is selected. It will be just below United States-International. Click the button "Remove," to the right. U.S. will be removed from under Keyboard, and only United States-International will be left.
13. Click the "OK" button, on the lower center of the Text Services and Input Languages window. The window Text Services and Input Languages will now close. Also, the extra toolbar, called Language Toolbar, will disappear. You can proceed to close the rest of the opened windows (Regional and Language Options and others) until your taskbar is clean.

Tips & Warnings

• You can abort right here and close all opened windows. Nothing will have been changed.
• Refer to eHow "How to Type International Characters With a U.S. Keyboard (Part 2)" to learn how to use this new keyboard behavior, or "layout."

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