Keyboard shortcut for...

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dilation Author

Level 1

5 points

Keyboard shortcut for...

Is there a keyboard shortcut to change input language? If not could I assign a keyboard shortcut?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Posted on May 7, 2006 12:37 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Graham K. Rogers

Level 5

5,431 points

May 7, 2006 1:13 AM in response to dilation

It used to be the Apple/Command key plus the Space Bar but Spotlight now uses that.

In System preferences > Keyboard and Mouse, there is a button for "Keyboard Inputs" where you can allocate your own keys. (What I did was reallocate the Spotlight fields to F1 and F2 then go back to Command plus Space bar -- but that is MY choice.)

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Answer 2

May 7, 2006 1:18 AM in response to dilation

Hi dilation

Select the previous input source Command-Space

Select the next input source in the input menu Command-option-space

You can always look through the list of keyboard shortcuts in System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts. And add new shortcuts or customize them.

See the Mac Help document:

Creating keyboard shortcuts for applications

Matthew Whiting

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Answer 3

May 7, 2006 1:22 AM in response to Graham K. Rogers

Hi Graham

On both my Powerbooks the Input shortcut remains as Command-Space, with no change on my part. My Spotlight shortcut is Control-Space.

I guess it's worth looking in the list.

Matthew Whiting

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Answer 4

May 7, 2006 2:52 AM in response to matthew whiting

Thanks for the heads-up, Matthew.

I would rather have had it that way, but on all the machines I have, Spotlight took over those keys (I had presumed this was normal) either on the update (eMac, Mac minis and PBook) or with as it arrived (Mac mini) with 10.4.x

But the original poster asked, How to do it.

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Answer 5

dilation Author

Level 1

5 points

May 7, 2006 11:30 AM in response to Graham K. Rogers

Thanks both,

I was able to assign F13 key to "Select the previous input source" and it does appear to work as the flag indicating the language appears on the top right next to the volume control. However, when I type it does not change the language, only the flag will change. In fact I have to reselect what's been selected with F13 key with the mouse. It will only then really switch over giving me the ability to type with the selected language. Am I doing something wrong here?

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Answer 6

May 8, 2006 8:51 AM in response to dilation

Which langauge are you trying to write in? And in which application? I just selected a number of alternative langauges and each switched right away when I tried in TextEdit (a Cocoa application).

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Answer 7

dilation Author

Level 1

5 points

May 9, 2006 4:31 AM in response to Graham K. Rogers

My main language is English but trying to add Korean. I thought there might be a problem with Korean so I tried with other languages, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese but they all show the same problem with the keyboard shortcut - only the flags change but not the input language.

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Answer 8

May 9, 2006 4:41 AM in response to dilation

Korean should not be a problem as it is one of the official Apple languages. Are you using the Fn key when you use F13?

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Answer 9

dilation Author

Level 1

5 points

May 9, 2006 4:52 AM in response to Graham K. Rogers

I simply key in F13. I know that keyboard shortcut works, sort of, as it does switch from one flag to the next but until I manually go and reselect the already selected flag using the mouse the language won't switch.

I have tried with text documents and Safari and the same problem.

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Answer 10

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,940 points

May 9, 2006 6:30 AM in response to dilation

I simply key in F13. I know that keyboard shortcut
works, sort of, as it does switch from one flag to
the next but until I manually go and reselect the
already selected flag using the mouse the language
won't switch.

Will the normal keyboard shortcuts like Command + Space for this function work correctly on your machine or not?

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Answer 11

dilation Author

Level 1

5 points

May 10, 2006 6:08 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

It works on the default setting, i.e. Command>Space and I assigned F13 to Spotlight. I guess this will have to do but I thought Keyboard shortcut would allow me to assign any among selected keys. It is strange that some keys work for some and not others.

Thanks,

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Answer 12

xexpat

Level 1

25 points

Jul 20, 2006 8:44 AM in response to matthew whiting

hello - i've just searched for the help document you mention, "Creating keyboard shortcuts for applications" - cut cannot seem to find it. do you have any links/locations that might help? thank you.

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