Installing support for International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) text input

Both the MacOS and Windows support input for additional text input sources, such as the International Phonetic Alphabet. The following instructions will help you install Keyman software to provide this input capabilities.

MacOS

1. Start at https://keyman.com/keyboards/sil_ipa
2. Click on the Install keyboard button.
   
    
3. On the next screen, skip to #2 and click the Install keyboard button. This will download a keyboard file to your computer, typically in the Downloads folder. Ignore the download for now. Then click the Install Keyman for macOS link
   
    
4. On the next screen, click the Download Now button.
   
    
5. Next, in the Finder, open your Downloads folder.
    
6. Double-click on the Keyman 17.0.326.dmg file. A window will open with the Install Keyman application. Double-click the the installer application.
   
7. The MacOS will ask for your approval to open the application. Click Open.
   
8. The installer will ask you to confirm proceeding with the installation. Click Install.
    
9. The installer will open System Settings > Keyboard automatically and ask you to confirm enabling the input method “Keyman.” Click OK. Then close the Keyboard settings window.
    
10. You will see a window indicating that “Keyman has been successfully installed!” with additional information about where to find Input Sources, as well as a notice that, “You may be prompted to allow Keyman to receive keystrokes from any application; when prompted, follow the instructions on screen to allow Keyman to run.”
    
11. Click OK.
     
12. Close the Keyman installer window.
     
13. Back in your Downloads folder, double-click on the SIL IPA keyboard.kmp file you downloaded in Step 3.
     
14. The Keyman Configuration window will open and you will be prompted to Install Keyman keyboard for the SIP IPA keyboard. Click Install. You will then see the IPA (SIL) listed within the Keyman Configuration window.
    
     
15. The installation is now complete.

Using the IPA input (MacOS)

To use, open up a text processing application, such as Microsoft Word and begin a new document.

1. Check the menu bar at the top of your screen and locate the Input Sources menu icon, then select Keyman.
   
2. Go back to the Input Sources menu and you should find additional options under Keyman and click Configuration… to open the Keyman Configuration window.
3. Click the ? icon to the right of IPA (SIL). This will bring up information about the IPA (SIL) keyboard. Scroll down and you will find information about how to input various phonetic characters. For example, if you type ’t=’ it will produce the θ character. This information may also be printed out.
   
    
4. NOTE: When you are finished working with the IPA text input, don't forget to go back to Input Source menu and re-select the US English or ABC option.

Windows

1. Start at https://keyman.com/keyboards/sil_ipa
2. Click on the Install keyboard button.
   
    
3. On the next screen, click the Download keyboard button. This will download the installation file, keyman-setup.sil_ipa.exe to your computer, typically in the Downloads folder. 
   
    
4. Locate the downloaded file and double-click to run the installer.
   
    
5. Click on Install options. In particular, you may want uncheck the option for "Share anonymous usage statistics with keyman.com". Otherwise, if you are sastisfied with the options, click OK.
   
    
6. Returning to the previous screen in Step 4, click the Install button. The installation may take a few minutes to run and may appear stalled at times, but continue waiting.
    
7. Eventually, you will see the following screen. You can choose if you want to see this screen whenever Keyman starts. For now, click the Start Keyman button.
   
    
8. Keyman will launch and appear near the System Tray on the bottom-right of your Task Bar. It may be hidden under the ^. When you open the Keyman palette, you can switch between English (United States) and the IPA (SIL) keyboard.
   
    
9. When Keyman is running, you can also use Windows Key+Space to switch between the two keyboards.
   
    

Using the IPA input (Windows)

Open a text editor and make sure Keyman is running. As noted above you should be able to switch between English and the IPA keyboard using the Windows Key+Space.

1. Click on the Keyman icon in your System Tray. Click on Configuration... to bring up various settings and options.
    
2. Under Keyboard Layouts, you should see IPA (SIL) installed. Click on IPA (SIL).
   
    
3. This will show details about the select keyboard package. Click Help.
   
    
4. The Help window provides information about using the IPA (SIL) keyboard to input phonetic characters. Scroll down and you will find information about how to input various phonetic characters. For example, if you type ’t=’ it will produce the θ character. This information may also be printed out. Click OK to return to the Configuration screen.
   
    
5. Click on Hotkeys to review the default Hotkeys for Keyman and set your own hotkeys if you'd like.
   
    
6. When you are familiar with how to input characters, the ability to do so should work in any standard text editing software, such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Notepad or Wordpad.
    
7. NOTE: When you are finished working with the IPA text input, don't forget to toggle your keyboard back to English (United States) or quit Keyman completely from the System Tray icon.