Enable Keyboards InKDE

Initial configuration

If one only needs one keyboard layout, one can choose to add it during the initial setup of the machine, as seen in the screen shots below:

  1. First, choose the major keyboard layout:
    images/KDE_initial_1_select_layout-no.png
     
  2. Then choose one of the available variants for that layout:
    images/KDE_initial_2_select_language-no.png

Adding more keyboard layouts

To add additional keyboard layouts in KDE, follow these steps:

  1. Click on the KDE menu, then select System Settings:
    images/KDE_1_start_sysprefs-en.png
  2. Within System Settings, click on Input Devices:
    images/KDE_2_keyboard-en.png
  3. Select the Keyboard tab, and then the Layouts tab. To be able to add another keyboard layout, you need to click the check mark Configure layouts, and then click the + Add button:
    images/KDE_3_keyboard_prefs_layout_tab-en.png
  4. Make sure that the top drop-down menu says Any language, and in the second drop-down select the keyboard layout of your country:
    images/KDE_3a_select_layout-en.png
  5. In the Variant: drop-down menu select the target language layout:
    images/KDE_4_select_language-en.png
  6. Edit the label (used in the KDE environment to signal which keyboard layout is active), and press OK:
    images/KDE_5_confirm_language-en.png
  7. If you forgot to change the label, you can still change it in the main keyboard settings window:
    images/KDE_6_edit_label-en.png
  8. Finally, if you want to have a keyboard shortcut to easily switch between keyboard layouts, switch to the Advanced tab, and enable the preferred keyboard shortcut:
    images/KDE_7_add_shortcut-en.png
  9. When done, the keyboard layout label is visible in the bottom tray; the full name is visible when hovering over the label:
    images/KDE_8_keyboard_switching-en.png
  10. Switch layout by clicking on the label or using the keyboard shortcut.