How to fix the Arabic Keyboard on a mac

13 Replies


In my previous post, “Is the Arabic keyboard on Mac missing ذ and ّ ?” I pointed out how the Arabic Keyboard on the mac doesn’t follow the standard layout.

But a Todd Gewecke on Apples Support forum helped me out.

To type “ذ” (also known as thal, or U+0630) press [Option] + [3] on Arabic PC and Arabic.

To type ” ّ “(also known as shadda, U+651) press [Shift] + [i] on Arabic and [Shift] + [w] on Arabic qwerty on Arabic PC.

But both of these solutions are painful if you are used to typing on a true Arabic PC layout. To fix the problem completely you must install a custom keyboard.

1. Download this custom keyboard layout WinVArabic101.keylayout.

2. Unzip the file…

3. Copy WinVArabic101.keylayout to the folder “/Library/Keyboard Layouts/”

4. Go to System Preferences –> Language & Text –> Input Sources

5. At the bottom of the list of Input Methods you should see WinVArabic101, check it, and then Voila!

(If it WinVArabic101 doesn’t appear restart your computer and go to System Preferences again)

13 thoughts on “How to fix the Arabic Keyboard on a mac”

  1. Pingback: Is the Arabic keyboard on Mac missing ذ and ّ ? | David Degner

  2. Abdullah

    ذذذذذ
    ّ ّ ّ ّ

    THAAAANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THIS VERY HELPFULL POST !!!

    i was going to killing because of this problem!

    God Bless u ^^

  4. admin Post author

    I’m glad it helps you but still troubled by apple’s choice of making this problem.

  5. Salman

    Hi

    After installing the WinVArabic101, I cannot select it at the source in put menu. It is faded and thus cannot be selected.

    But when I’m surfing in safari, the option becomes clear again and I can select it to be my keyboard layout. BUT. once I do that, my safari closes down immediately! And the option becomes faded again. Please help.

    I’m using Safari 5 on Snow Leopard.

    Thanks!

    Love your photography by the way~

  6. L Yarbrough

    Thank you very much for this helpful solution. Two issues to note, however:

    1. T Gewecke’s [Shift] + [i] = shadda (in Arabic PC keyboard) still does not produce a shadda on my machine, for some reason.

    2. The WinVArabic101 keyboard is nice overall, but doesn’t work well with some fonts; with Times New Roman in Mellel, for example, inserting a shadda creates a gap between the “mushaddad” letter and the one following it. The solution seems to be to switch to a different font (XBNiloofar works well for my purposes).

  9. lolo

    Hi
    I have a problem when I switch to the Arabic keyboard.
    the problem is when I write it comes in letters means when I write مرحبا
    it comes one letter by one not complete like it appears here!!!

    Thanks

  11. H.Shapone

    You are wonderful. Many thanks for your help.
    جزاكم الله خيرًا.