Use Visual Keyboard to work with different keyboard layouts

If you change your keyboard layout to that of a different language, the characters that appear on the screen when you type may no longer correspond to the characters printed on your keyboard. Microsoft Visual Keyboard is an on-screen keyboard layout program that displays the keyboard layout corresponding to the language your keyboard is set to. You can also use Visual Keyboard to enter text.

1. Install Visual Keyboard.

   How?

   Microsoft Visual Keyboard is available for download from the Microsoft Office Web site.

   1. Go to the Microsoft Visual Keyboard page on the Microsoft Office Web site.
   2. Follow the download instructions.
2. Start Visual Keyboard.

   How?

   1. Start the Microsoft Office program you want to use.
   2. On the Microsoft Windows Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Office Tools, and then click Microsoft Visual Keyboard.
3. Switch to the keyboard layout you want to use.

   How?

   • On the Microsoft Windows taskbar, click the keyboard layout indicator , and then click the layout that you want.

   The keyboard on the screen will change to reflect the keyboard layout you're using.

For more information, such as how to type text by using Visual Keyboard, see Visual Keyboard Help. On the Help menu, click Microsoft Visual Keyboard Help.

Note   The hyperlink in this topic goes to the Web. You can switch back to Help at any time.