Short answer: hold the Windows key and tap Space — Windows switches to the next keyboard layout. Alt+Shift may do the same, depending on your settings, and with the mouse it’s one click on the taskbar. Below you’ll find every way to change the keyboard language, how to add a new one such as Hebrew, Greek or Ukrainian, and a few words about Lang Switcher, the small program I made. I checked every step against Microsoft’s own help pages and tried them on my Windows 11 PC in October 2026.
Switch with a keyboard shortcut
The quickest way is the keyboard. Hold the Windows logo key and press Space. Each press moves to the next layout you have installed, and after the last one you’re back at the first. This shortcut always works, whatever else is set up. If nothing happens, you have only one layout — add a second one first (see below). In Windows 11, Win+Shift+Space goes the other way.
Then there are Alt+Shift and Ctrl+Shift. On my PC, Alt+Shift switches layouts; on yours, it may be Ctrl+Shift or neither — it’s a setting. So if Alt+Shift does nothing, don’t worry — Win+Space still works.
Click the language icon on the taskbar
The input language icon sits next to the clock on the taskbar. Click it, and a menu lists your keyboard layouts — pick the one you need. The icon also shows which layout you’re using right now. You’ll find the same icon on the sign-in screen, so if your password suddenly “doesn’t work” there, look at the icon first.
No icon? In Windows 11, the old desktop language bar may have taken its place: go to Settings → Time & language → Typing → Advanced keyboard settings and clear “Use the desktop language bar when it's available”. In Windows 10, the icon may simply be switched off: go to Settings → Personalization → Taskbar → Turn system icons on or off and make sure “Input Indicator” is On.
Lang Switcher: for when you forget to switch
I made Lang Switcher, a small program for those moments when you forget to switch and get יקךךם instead of “hello” — or руддщ, if your second layout is Russian. Press Pause/Break to convert the last word and switch the window to the right layout. Press it again, and you get back exactly what you typed. It never touches your Windows language settings, and until you press the key, it just sits quietly in the tray.
Use the On-Screen Keyboard
No keyboard at hand, or a key has stopped working? Turn on the On-Screen Keyboard in Settings → Accessibility → Keyboard (in Windows 10, Settings → Ease of Access → Keyboard), or press Win+Ctrl+O. It has Alt and Shift just like a real keyboard: click Alt, then Shift, and the layout changes — I tried it. On a touchscreen PC in tablet mode, the touch keyboard pops up by itself when you tap inside a text box.
Add a language or a keyboard layout
In Windows 11, open Settings → Time & language → Language & region. For a new language, click “Add a language” next to “Preferred languages”, type its name in the “Choose a language to install” window and click “Next”. In “Install language features”, choose what to install and click “Install”. You don’t need the language pack just to type in a language — my second language works fine without one.
To add another layout to a language you already have, click the three dots next to it, then “Language options”. Under “Keyboards”, click “Add a keyboard” next to “Installed keyboards” and pick the layout from the list. That’s also where you can see which layouts are installed.
In Windows 10, go to Settings → Time & language → Language. “Add a language” is under “Preferred languages”; for a new layout, select the language, click “Options”, then “Add a keyboard” under “Keyboards”.
Which language comes first
The order of the “Preferred languages” list matters: the first supported language there is the one Microsoft Store apps and websites use. To move a language up, drag it to the top of the list (Windows 10 has up and down arrows instead). Changing the Windows display language moves that language to the top too — and may switch your keyboard layout to match.
Language or layout: what’s the difference
The input language is what you type in. The keyboard layout is which letter sits on which key, and one language can have several: English alone has US, United Kingdom and United States-International, among others. Win+Space and the taskbar menu cover every layout of every language; Settings just groups them by language.
Which way to pick
Pick one and stick with it: keys are faster, the menu shows you more. And remove any languages and layouts you never use — with just two languages left, Win+Space and Alt+Shift simply flip back and forth between them.