Chinese (Simplified) Microsoft Pinyin input method editor (IME) for Windows XP
Install the Chinese (Simplified) Microsoft Pinyin input method editor (IME), pretty much as directed here.
Under settings, highlight the Chinese (Simplified) Microsoft Pinyin
IME:
click "Properties", and under "General", in the "Candidate option"
area, select "Prompt step by step".
With the IME installed, to toggle between English and other languages, press left alt and shift simultaneously.
After you have toggled to "Chinese", you may have to customize the
Chinese language bar unless it already looks like this:
If you don't have that, but instead something that looks like this:
Customize this
Chinese language bar by clicking on the little downward-pointing
triangle.
- Select "Conversion mode" (the character 中), to able to click on that or 英 to toggle between Chinese and English.
- Select "IME pad" to enable you to look up characters by handwriting recognition, radical, and number of strokes.
- If you want to be able to input traditional characters, select "Charset". You'll then be able to toggle between 简 (简体字) and 繁 (繁体字).
Looking up Chinese characters by radical or handwriting recognition
When using the
Chinese language bar, click on the IME pad icon
, and when it opens up, click on the icon in the upper
right-hand corner and under "applet's menu", select setting:
Under "change applet's menu order", add the applet for handwriting (zh-tw) for lookup by handwriting. By default, a
dictionary (字典查询) is already there:
Click on
the IME pad, then on the respective icon for handwriting recognition, or dictionary lookup. Note that when you point to a character under handwriting recognition lookup, the computer shows you only the Zhuyin fuhao
pronunciation:
When you have found the character you
want, click on it. Notice a popup window appears with the character you have selected:
To accept the
character in the popup window, press enter on your keyboard or click on
the "Enter" button on the "Hand Writing (zh-tw)" window. The other buttons also
affect the popup window. (BS stands for backspace).
For using the dictionary, under GB2312 you can look up
simplified characters only by radical (more characters including the traditional ones are available
under GBK, but they
are arranged by total stroke order, not radical). To find a character,
in the drop-down window to the left (labelled 总笔画), select the total
number of strokes (five in the example below); in the middle "radical"
(部首) window, select the number of strokes in the radical (two in this
example); and in the window to the right (剩余), select the remaining
number of strokes (three in this example):
When you have found the character you
want, click on it, and to accept it, press the enter key on the keyboard.
Note that both the handwriting window and the dictionary window can be resized.
User-defined phrase tool
Expressions that one uses frequently that are not easily accessed via the IME may be added to the "User-defined phrase tool"
1. On the Language bar, select Chinese (PRC), and then click the Context menu button.
2. On the Context menu, click User-defined phrase tool.
3. In the Microsoft Pinyin
IME User-defined Phrase Tool, click Add Phrase on the Edit menu.
4. Type the phrase in the Phrase box, and the press ENTER.
5. On the File menu, click Save.
