With the Keyboard Switcher you can write in over 30 European languages - even include multiple languages within the one document.

In order to prepare a document in the desired language, eg. Latvian, you need to do the following:

• Click the Switcher's flag in the taskbar

• Choose Latvian (~) as the input language
• Proceed to type your text in Latvian (and access the diacritical letters via the tilde key)

Note: Refer to Configuration of Your Keyboard Switcher if the desired language is not shown and you wish to add it to the menu. If you need to write in a language for which a physical keyboard is not available, that is, the language specific characters are not on the keyboard you will need to use the Onscreen Keyboard utility.

In order to configure the Keyboard Switcher, open the Switcher's control menu by positioning the mouse pointer over the Switcher icon and right clicking the mouse button.

If you need to add new languages, remove old ones or change other layout properties, or change the system default language, select Properties...

This window shows the current layouts. To view the locale names beside each of the flags check the Show languages checkbox. To change the default layout highlight the new layout and click on Set As Default. This layout will then become the default layout in all Windows applications.

In order to add or remove one or several layouts highlight the selection and click the Add... or Remove buttons respectively.

Choose the desired layout and its input locale (language) from the list. When closing the Keyboard Switcher properties window you may be prompted to insert the Windows CD in your CD-ROM in order to install the selected layout.

If you wish to edit one of the current layouts highlight it and click on the Edit... button. The Keyboard Editor will be activated allowing you to change the layout settings. See Customising the Keyboard Layout for more details.

If you would like to change the layout properties, eg. rename your keyboard layouts in your native language or select the hotkey to instantly active this layout without using your mouse then highlight the desired layout and click on Properties...

The language will determine which flag is displayed with its respective layout name and which language will be used for spellchecking when working with text editor applications.

If you have created your own layouts and want to use them on another computer, use the Export... button to export the layout and Import... to import the layout.

Do you often need to type special symbols and characters? Keyboard Editor will allow you to custom define your own keystrokes to get special symbols, as well as create layouts that combine several languages, eg. German and French.

Open Keyboard Editor by right clicking the Switcher's flag and selecting Keyboard Editor.... Alternatively click on Start, select Programs, LinguaType European and choose Keyboard Editor.

To edit a current layout select Open an existing layout tab and double-click the desired layout name.

To create a new layout select New like... double-click on an existing layout and a new untitled layout similar to the existing one will be created.

You will notice that the keyboard layout consists of several layers: Normal, Shift, Ctrl, Ctrl+Shift, Ctrl+Alt, Ctrl+Shift+Alt, Shift Lock and Dead key so it possible to define just about any key combination for your special character.

For example, if you want to type the registered trademark symbol (R) by pressing the key combination Ctrl+R you will need to do the following:

• In Keyboard Editor open the current keyboard layout;
• Select the Ctrl keyboard layer by clicking the respective tab;
• Find the symbol (R) in the character list and click on it;
• Type R on the keyboard as shown below. Alternatively you can click and drag the symbol (R) onto the R position on the keyboard.

• Choose the Save in File menu or press the key combination Ctrl+S

Some European languages use special characters that are obtained by firstly hitting a key which indicates the diacritical mode (also referred to as the dead key) followed by the required nondiacritical character. For example, in Latvian the apostrophe (') or tilde (~) key are commonly used as dead keys to access all of the necessary diacritics. To define the dead key select the layer, highlight the desired key (or right click on it) and select Set Dead Key... in the Edit menu (or popup menu).

Similarly to remove a dead key highlight the key or right click it ans select Remove Dead Key in the Edit menu (or popup menu).

With the On-screen Keyboard you can enter non-Latin characters using the mouse, eg. Russian Cyrillic characters. Right-click on the mouse button on the Switcher's flag and select On-screen Keyboard or click on Start/Programs/LinguaType European and select the On-screen Keyboard.

In order to enter characters using the On-screen Keyboard activate the program where you want the characters to be inserted and click on the respective key buttons.