Microsoft is now more focused than ever on improving the user experience, which means expanding its audience. This is accomplished by supporting various languages spoken around the world in Windows. Windows supports displaying, writing, and listening in various languages.
You can configure Windows to change its display language and it automatically translates its UI from one language to another (supported). You can also keep your current display language while only changing the input language, meaning typing in another language.
If you are a user who occasionally has to type in different languages, this is the post for you. Here, we discuss how to set keyboard shortcuts to quickly shift between the different keyboard layouts to instantly change typing languages in Windows.
Table of Contents
Windows Default Shortcuts to Change Language
Before we show you how to customize the keyboard shortcuts for changing the keyboard layout, let us discuss the default shortcuts.
Left ALT + Shift: If you have more than one input language installed on your computer, you can switch between them by pressing the left ALT key and the Shift key simultaneously. This will rotate the keyboard layout from the list of installed languages.
Windows Key + Spacebar: This is another default Windows shortcut to shift between the different keyboard layouts installed on your computer. However, this pops up in the Keyboard Layout Flyout in the corner of the Taskbar showing you the different languages installed.
CTRL + Shift: If a language supports more than one keyboard layout, this shortcut switches between them without changing the input language.
Each of these shortcuts reacts differently. However, shortcuts keys apart from the Windows Key + Spacebar can be changed. Let us show you how.
How to Change Keyboard Language Shortcut Keys
Follow the steps below to change the keyboard language shortcuts in Windows.
For Windows 11/10:
- Navigate to the following path:
Settings app >> Time & Language >> Language and region >> Typing >> Advanced keyboard settings >> Input language hot keys
For Windows 7:
- Navigate to the following:
Control Panel >> Region and Language >> Region and Language - From the Region and Language window, switch to the “Keyboards and Languages” tab and click Change keyboards.
The following steps are common for all mentioned Windows versions.
- From the “Text Services and Input Languages” window, switch to the Advanced Key Settings tab. Here, select “Between input languages” and click Change Key Sequence.
- Here, select a combination for switching input language as well as the keyboard layout. Once done, click Ok.
Note: You cannot select the same combination for both.
- Now, back to the previous window, click Apply and OK to save the changes.
You will now have successfully changed the shortcut keys to switch between the different keyboard languages and layouts.
How to Set Shortcut to Switch to Specific Language
You can also assign a specific shortcut to a language to change directly to it, without having to scroll through every language pack installed on your PC. Here is how:
- Navigate to the “Text Services and Input Languages” window using the above steps for your Windows version.
- Switch to the Advanced Key Settings tab and click on the language you want to set the shortcut. When selected, click Change Key Sequence.
- From the pop-up window, check the box next to “Enable Key Sequence.” Then select the shortcut key combination from the drop-down menu. When selected, click Ok.
- Back in the previous window, click Apply and OK to save the changes.
Now you use these specific shortcut keys to jump directly to the selected keyboard layout. You can repeat the steps above to assign more shortcut keys to the different keyboard layouts.
Closing Words
Having keyboard shortcuts for specific tasks is always a blessing. It gets things done quicker and more conveniently.
Of course, you will need to install a language pack before you can switch back and forth its keyboard layout.
