Custom Keyboard Layout
Microsoft New Phonetic IME provides a Custom keyboard mapping function. If the provided seven phonetic keyboard layouts do not meet your need, you can customize your own phonetic keyboard layout.
- To customize a phonetic keyboard layout, first select Custom in Keyboard layout field.
- You will see the screen shown below after Custom is selected.
- On the left of the above dialog box is the phonetic symbols to be set, on the right is the English Keyboard for mapping. You can drag a phonetic symbol onto the desired key on the keyboard. For example: To place phonetic symbol ㄅ to key b on the English keyboard, drag it onto key b, as shown in the picture below.
- In the above picture, if a key is in gray color, it is not available for phonetic symbol mapping. This only happens when you are performing the dragging (left mouse button not released) operation. Once you have decided the position and released the mouse left button, the phonetic symbol will be placed on the key, and the phonetic symbol will be deducted from the list on the left.Please refer to the picture below.
- Before you have mapped all phonetic symbols, the Finish key will remain in gray. Once you have finished mapping, it turns black.
- You can save the unfinished settings in a file. To do this, click Exit first, and the program will know that you haven't saved the settings yet and display the dialog box below asking whether you want to save it.
- If you select Yes, the program will display the Save As dialog box below for you to input the name of the keyboard layout file. The extension of this file is .KBD, see picture below.
- Your settings will be saved into the specified file after you click Save. To continue mapping next time, click Import and select the setting file, the previous settings will be resumed.
- To clear a mapped phonetic symbol, move the cursor on the key and right click, a Clear window appears. Select the Clear option, the phonetic symbol on that key will go back to the list on the left.
- When all phonetic symbols are defined, the Finish button will be enabled. Click it and you will see the customized keyboard layout, as shown in the picture below.
- To customize the keyboard layout again, click Customize on the above picture to display the screen of Custom keyboard mapping.
