Hebrew Keyboard in Windows
Go to Start > Control Panel > Regional and Language Options (the wording may be different depending on your version of Windows).
See that Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including Thai) is enabled. If it is not already selected, that is the first thing you need to install: select it and click OK.
You may be prompted to insert your Windows CD and/or restart your computer.
When that is complete, return to the same place (if you need to) and click the Details button.
Notice that your default input language is shown at the top. Below are listed any language keyboards you have installed—English will likely be the only one listed. Click the Add button next to the pane showing the languages already installed.
This will bring up a new window, with a pull-down menu of languages. Click on the arrow to open the list and find Hebrew. (If you can’t find Hebrew, go back and make sure again that you have already enabled the right-to-left keyboard installation. That needs to be installed before Hebrew becomes one of the options.)
Once you have selected Hebrew, click OK and then OK again. One more time, you may be prompted to insert your Windows CD.
You should now see a blue box at the bottom of your screen, toward the right. You can click on this box and select a language from the menu that pops up to toggle between languages, or you can click the Alt and Shift buttons at the same time to toggle between them. You are now able to type in Hebrew. (Note that, in some word processing programs, you need to select a Hebrew font as well as be in the Hebrew keyboard before you can type in Hebrew, or the word processor may override the keyboard setting.)
You can now type Hebrew letters.
Switching Between Hebrew and English Typing
Once you install your Hebrew keyboard capability, you will now see a small blue square that says either "EN" or "HE" at the bottom right corner of your screen, to the left of the task bar containing the computer clock and any other continuously running tools you have on. This icon is pointed to with a red arrow in the below illustration.
You can click this to toggle between the languages. Click it and a menu will appear so that you can select Hebrew. The below illustration shows that English is currently checked, before you select Hebrew with your mouse.
Below, the language has been changed to Hebrew.
Note that your computer will remember which language you were using in a particular application. So if you are using a Web browser and a Word processor, if you switch languages while using one, this change will not affect the other. You can continue using English in a Word processor while typing in Hebrew in a Web browser, or vice versa, unless you switch the language in both applications.
Typing Hebrew Letters
Here's an image of my computer layout. As explained below this layout, you need to click Caps Lock, then hold the Shift key in order to use the numbers keys to apply vowel or other markings to a letter you just typed.
ְ |
ֱ |
ֲ |
ֳ |
ִ |
ֵ |
ֶ |
ַ |
ָ |
ׂ |
ׁ |
ֹ |
ּ |
BACKSPACE |
TAB |
/ |
' |
ק |
ר |
א |
ט |
ו |
ן |
ם |
פ |
] |
[ |
\ |
CAPS |
ש |
ד |
ג |
כ |
ע |
י |
ח |
ל |
ך |
ף |
, |
ENTER |
|
SHIFT |
ז |
ס |
ב |
ה |
נ |
מ |
צ |
ת |
ץ |
. |
SHIFT |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Typing Vowels (Nikud)
Most likely, you also need to type nikud. After you type a letter, you can add the necessary nikud. To access this capability in Windows, hit Caps Lock, then hold down Shift while you type. This transforms the numbers row into nikud as follows:
` |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
0 |
- |
= |
|
ְ |
ֱ |
ֲ |
ֳ |
ִ |
ֵ |
ֶ |
ַ |
ָ |
ׂ |
ׁ |
ֹ |
ּ |
You will quickly notice that you cannot type Hebrew characters while you have caps lock on—you have to switch back and forth or type your letters and then apply nikud after the fact.
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