Extra Keyboards for Chrome OS

A collection of extra keyboard layouts and input methods for Chrome OS.

Installation

GitHub

1. Open a new tab and go to chrome://extensions.
2. Toggle “Developer mode” on (it is in the top right corner of the extensions page).
3. Click “Load unpacked extensions…”.
4. Pick the directory containing the manifest for the extension you want to enable and click “Open”.
5. Go to chrome://settings/languages.
6. Add the relevant language, e.g. French for the bepo keyboard layout.
7. Select the relevant keyboard layout and input method.
8. Optionally, remove any keyboard layouts or input methods that are no longer required.

Chrome Web Store

Several of the extensions are available on the Chrome Web Store.

• ComposeKey
• UK Extended
• Programmer Dvorak
• Polish Dvorak
• Swedish Dvorak
• Dvorak left-handed
• Dvorak right-handed
• BÉPO
• Lushootseed
• UK Colemak (published by third party)

For development

1. Go to chrome://extensions.
2. Click on “Load unpacked extensions…”.
3. Pick the directory containing the manifest for the extension you want to enable.

How to Use

After enabling multiple keyboard layouts an icon will appear in the system tray with an abbreviation for the language of the currently enabled layout. If your default layout is the standard US keyboard with the English layout, the text will read “US”. Any other layout also using the English language will read “EN”. This can lead to confusion if there are multiple layouts enabled for the same language.

Once you have loaded and enabled the extension you can select a specific layout or cycle through the available layouts in a few ways.

Selecting

• Click the time on the menu bar.
• Click the button labeled “Keyboard” and select the desired layout.

Cycling

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Space to cycle through the enabled keyboard layouts.
2. Press Ctrl+Space to toggle between the most recently used keyboard layouts.

Known Limitations

• These extensions are not allowed on the login/lock screen.
• These extensions are not allowed on password fields.

Contributing

If you would like to create a new layout or modify an existing one, please see the Contributing documentation.