Using a French Keyboard

Some users require special characters based on the language of the donor. MS Windows offers the opportunity to set up different keyboard formats. The Status line at the bottom of your windows desktop enables you to toggle between keyboards.

Here is an excerpt from MicroSoft Word Help:

Install keyboard layouts for specific languages in Windows XP

1. On the MicroSoft Windows Start menu, point to Control Panel.
2. Click Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options and then click Regional and Language Options.
3. Click the Languages tab and then click Details under Text services and input languages.
4. Select the desired keyboard layout from the Default input language list and then click Apply.
5. If you want to be able to switch keyboard layouts by using the Language bar, click Language Bar under Preferences. Select the option that allows you to show the Language bar on the desktop check box.

We recommend working with an alternate keyboard in a document like Word to find the key sequences that generate the different characters.