In the Start menu search box, type “Change keyboards or other input methods”. Press Enter and this window will open:

Click “Change Keyboards” and this opens the dialog box for Text Services and Input Languages.

This shows the default language as German (Germany). Click Add and insert another language. This will leave the default language installed, so don’t worry about that aspect. If you use the drop menu to change the keyboard language, the default will become the language selected. If this is what is desired, do that instead. In this instance, English US and English UK have been selected, but not as a default.

Select any language desired and use the Preview option to view the layout. You may need to use Shift key options for many languages, Chinese in particular. After you have previewed the layout and become familiar with the key options, click Close and then OK. The language options are displayed in the Installed services box. You can add as many as you like for versatility. As mentioned earlier, the default language can be changed from the top menu. To set the default, reboot the computer after choosing the desired default. If English is the primary language that you use for your keyboard, leave the default as English and simply toggle the language options as needed.

You can create keyboard options to change the language by going back to the Input Languages dialog box and select the “Advanced Key Settings” tab.

Three languages are chosen here so you can use Left Alt+Shift to toggle or Ctrl+Space to switch to English US or English-UK or any language chosen. You can change the key sequence by clicking the “Change Key Sequence” option.

Click “OK” to set the keyboard locale changes.

This is useful if multiple languages are selected, as you may easily customize the key sequence options as you wish. This becomes reflex after you use it a few times, so set a key sequence that you can easily recall. If you forget, just open the Text Services dialog box again and click the “Advanced Settings” tab to see the key sequence for the language.

Before making these changes, set a restore point so that you can reverse the “damage” if you mess with the default. This makes the reversal easy by point and click alone. Some languages will drastically alter keyboard commands and this can be an unpleasant inconvenience in the event that you change the default unintentionally.

What the developer of the software program Capswitch did not know is that the Windows operating system comes with options to switch keyboard locales with keyboard shortcuts. The Windows XP operating system for example provides this option in the Regional and Language options module of the Control Panel. A click on the Details button under the Languages tab will open all installed input languages.

A click on the Key Settings button will open another menu with the option to define keyboard shortcuts to switch instantly to the input language.

Only the keyboard shortcut to switch between all installed keyboard layouts is configured by default. It is however possible to define shortcuts for specific switches, e.g. From English to German and vice verse.

These keyboard shortcuts provide the easiest way to quickly switch between keyboard locales. The additional benefit is that no extra software needs to be running in the background for the functionality.