14 DAY TRIAL // One of the changes that many people seem to ignore in the latest Windows 11 preview build is support for two new keyboard layouts.
While at first glance they don’t seem much, the new layouts certainly come in handy to French users, as they support the AZERTY and the BEPO standards.
In other words, thanks to these new layouts, French users can type all the characters in their native language, though Microsoft says the update also comes with good news for other users running Windows 11 in the European Union.
“We are including two new keyboard layouts in this flight. These keyboards implement the two new French keyboard layout standards (AZERTY and BÉPO). The new layouts are designed to allow the user to type all the required characters of the French language. They also include support for all the Latin-based languages of the European Union as well as Greek letters and a large variety of scientific, mathematical, and financial symbols,” the company explains.
“To enable one of these layouts, go to Settings > Time & language > Language & region and select Language options under the ellipsis for the language you would like to use this keyboard with. On the Options page, select “Add a keyboard” and look for the new keyboard layouts “French (Standard, AZERTY)” or “French (Standard, BÉPO)”. The previous AZERTY layout now displays as (Legacy, AZERTY).”
For the time being, the new keyboard layouts are only available for users who are enrolled in the Dev channel of the Windows Insider program.
There’s obviously no ETA as to when they could go live for production devices, but expect more information on this front in early 2023 when new quality updates start shipping to Windows 11 devices.