Keyboard layout switcher

Lang Switcher

Typed руддщ when you meant hello? Press Pause. Lang Switcher fixes the last word you typed in the wrong keyboard layout and switches the layout for you. Any pair of layouts works — or a cycle of up to eight.

in developmentversion 0.103.0, October 19, 2026license MIT or Apache-2.0

Download 0.103.0 Source code ↗

Lang Switcher 0.103.0 in the tray

typedруддщ

pressedPause / Break

gothello

One more press brings the original text back, letter for letter.

Two layouts — nothing to set up

If Windows has exactly two layouts, Lang Switcher already knows which layout to convert to: the other one. That’s the usual setup — English plus one more — so you can leave the settings window closed.

Three or more — a pair or a cycle

In “Pair” mode you pick the source and the target, and the other layouts stay out of it. In “Several layouts” mode each press of Pause moves the word to the next layout in the cycle — up to eight, in the order you choose — and after the last one you get back what you typed.

руддщRussian · typed
helloEnglish · 1st press
יקךךםHebrew · 2nd press

A cycle of three layouts. You typed “руддщ” with Russian still on: the first press gives “hello”, the second gives the same keys in Hebrew, and the third brings back what you typed.

RU → EN

ерфтлыthanks

Russian layout still on

HE → EN

יקךךםhello

Hebrew layout still on

EN → RU

ghbdtnпривет

For Russian speakers: English layout on

selection

ыуу нщг ещьщккщцsee you tomorrow

Select the whole line, and every word is fixed

Nothing to install: try the keyboard layout converter right in your browser.

Switching by hand is fine

Alt+Shift, Ctrl+Shift and Win+Space don’t erase the word: the program remembers the layout of every keystroke.

A layout for each window

If Windows 11 keeps a separate layout for each window, Lang Switcher switches it in the one you’re typing in.

Not for Chinese, Japanese or Korean

Those layouts build each character from several keystrokes, so they can’t join the cycle.

Open sourceThe code is on GitHub, and the build is reproducible: anything this page says, you can check against the code.

Goes online only for the feedOnce every 15 days the program reads one signed file from this site: letters and the latest version number. The request carries nothing about you or your computer, and you can turn it off.

Sends nothingIt doesn’t download or run files and sends no telemetry. Even the “Write to the author” wizard only puts your message together — you send it yourself.

Doesn’t remember passwordsIn password fields it keeps no typing buffer. It spots such a field with three checks, UI Automation among them, and responds to Pause there with a dull thud.

Keystrokes never touch the diskNot in the journal, not in the settings, not in temporary files. The typing buffer lives only in memory and is overwritten with zeros at every reset.

The signature, honestlyThe installer is signed with my own certificate, so Windows will warn you about an unknown publisher, and you’ll have to confirm that you want to run it. To check the file, see the download page.

Questions and answers

My laptop has no Pause/Break key — what then?

Pick another key: “Settings → Hotkey” → “Set”. A single key works, and so does a combination with Ctrl, Alt or Shift, or a double Shift. The same goes if you need Pause/Break for something else — it’s the default only because today’s programs hardly ever use it. The hotkey page in the documentation has the details.

Does it work with Hebrew, Arabic, Greek or Ukrainian?

Yes, and with any other layout in Windows: Lang Switcher converts by key, not by language, so each letter turns into the one on the same key in the other layout. Forgot to switch and typed יקךךם instead of hello? Press Pause. Chinese, Japanese and Korean are the exception. The program itself speaks 14 languages, Hebrew and Arabic among them.

How is it different from Punto Switcher or LangOver?

Punto Switcher and Caramba Switcher guess the language from the letters you type and switch the layout on their own. With LangOver, you select the text and press F10. Lang Switcher changes nothing until you ask: one press of Pause/Break fixes the last word you typed — no selecting needed — and switches the layout.

Does it work in programs run as administrator?

Yes. The program is installed in C:\Program Files, and the installer creates its own certificate on your computer, for code signing only: it signs the program with it and destroys the key right away, and uninstalling the program removes the certificate too. That’s why Windows lets it work in windows of programs run as administrator. It can’t catch keystrokes on the UAC prompt, the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen or the sign-in screen: Windows doesn’t allow that.

Is it safe to type passwords?

In a password field the program keeps no typing buffer, and it never writes keystrokes to disk. Two caveats: a field whose type can’t be determined is treated as an ordinary one, and a field that turns into a password field in place (like the sudo prompt in a console) is treated as before until the focus moves.

How do I turn off the feed?

Exit the program (tray menu → “Exit”), set feed = false in the [letters] section of %APPDATA%\Lang_Switcher\config.toml, and start it again. Once the first letter from the feed has arrived and at least 90 days have passed, the switch also appears in the “From the author” window. The “From the author” page in the documentation has the details.

What if the keyboard stops responding?

Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F12: Lang Switcher removes its keyboard hook and exits. This combination is checked before anything else, and it can’t be set as the hotkey. What to do next is on the “Keyboard not responding” page in the documentation.

Does it run on Windows 7 or 32-bit Windows?

No. It needs Windows 10 version 1607 or later, or Windows 11 — 64-bit only. Everything else it doesn’t support is listed on the requirements page in the documentation.