Moving Lang Switcher to a new computer: your settings and exclusions

What to move

Everything you’ve set up lives in one file, %APPDATA%\Lang_Switcher\config.toml: the hotkey, layouts, exclusions, sound, the interface language, autostart, and the things you can only change in the file. There are no settings in the program folder, C:\Program Files\Lang_Switcher. The diag.log journal that sits next to config.toml isn’t part of your settings.

How to move it

1. On the old computer, save a copy of config.toml from %APPDATA%\Lang_Switcher.
2. On the new one, install Lang Switcher from the download page.
3. If the program is running, exit it: tray menu → “Exit”. Otherwise it will overwrite the file with the settings it has in memory when it exits.
4. Copy your saved file to %APPDATA%\Lang_Switcher on the new computer, replacing the config.toml that’s already there.
5. Start Lang Switcher from the Start menu.

If you’re also uninstalling the program from the old computer, save the copy first: at the end, the uninstaller asks “Remove the Lang Switcher settings file as well?”

What to check afterwards

• Layouts. The file stores them as Windows layout codes. If the new computer doesn’t have one of them, the “Layouts” section of the settings window shows “The session has no layout named in the file (…) — choose again.” Pick the pair or the cycle again, as described in Three or more layouts.
• Autostart. The “Start when I sign in” box moves along with the file: when the program starts, it brings the autostart entry in line with it.
• Letters. The file also keeps track of letters and the feed, so the letters you’ve already seen won’t arrive again on the new computer.

If it didn’t work

• The version. Install the same version on the new computer, or a newer one. An older version can read a file written by a newer one, but it won’t save it while it runs.
• A corrupted file gets renamed to config.toml.bad, and the program starts with the default settings. It doesn’t tell you about it, so take a look in the folder. What you can safely edit by hand is covered in The settings file.