NOTE: this software is for Classic Mac OS (eg: OS 9) and cannot be used on Mac OS X.
Nisus Writer Classic is no longer for sale. This page is only for archival purposes.

Keep Those Fingers On The [Hebrew, Arabic, etc.] Keyboard

Ever wonder if it was possible to change your keyboard layout from English to Russian, Japanese, Gujarati, or Maszynistki without using that pesky mouse or pressing command-space gazillions of times? Did you think it was impossible? At one point it was. But now, with Nisus Writer and its powerful macros, you can have your hands glued to the keyboard and change languages as easily as the president can hire new interns.

Remember this menu?

We're going to write a macro to call an arbitrary keyboard layout. Say you're in the U.S. (blue diamond) layout and you want to switch really quickly to Hebrew because your boss is coming and you don't want him or her to be able to understand what you're writing (this is, of course, considering he or she can read English). This is as simple as the stuff on the previous page, if not easier.

To call a specific keyboard input method using Nisus Writer's keyboard shortcuts:

1. Choose New Macro Command... from the Macros submenu of the Cogwheel or Gear menu.
   
   
2. Name it Keyboard Hebrew.
   
   
3. In the Macros window, type "Hebrew".
   
   
4. Choose Save from the File menu.
   
   
5. Close the Macros Window.
   
   
6. Once again, open the Preferences dialog from the Edit menu.
   
   
7. Scroll down to the shortcuts.
   
   
8. Choose your macro from the Cogwheel or Gear menu.
   
   
9. Type the keyboard combination you would like and click Set.
   
   
10. If you would like to keep set of keyboard shortcuts forever, click Save Preferences and then OK. Otherwise, just click OK.
    
    
11. Do this for as many keyboards as you'd like. If you keep at it, your Macros may end up looking like this:
    
    
    
    

You could, of course assign keyboard shortcuts to the various fonts on your Font menu and switch languages that way.
However with this method, you can now switch from typing in:

• American English to Spanish
  and from
• Spanish to Ukranian
  and from
• Ukranian to using the "transliterated" (i.e. QWERTY) Hebrew Keyboard
  and from using the
• "transliterated" (i.e. QWERTY) Hebrew keyboard back to Spanish once again
  and then
• to Russian and
• to the standard Hebrew keyboard
  and then back once again, finally
• to American English

All this without removing your hands from the keyboard and breaking your train of thought. If you know how to write (and type) in all these languages (and using all these various keyboards) we at Nisus Software would love to hear from you.

Back to the Keyboard Shortcuts Outside Nisus Writer page.

To the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).
To the Tips Table of Contents.