Pinyinput - Type Pinyin with Tone Marks

[Deborah]

I have used Pinyinput in the past with total satisfaction.  But I bought a new (refurbished) computer and am having trouble downloading it.  I get the error message:  "The file Pinyinput 1.1.1. cannot be opened because there are problems with the contents.  Microsoft Office cannot open this file because some parts are missing or invalid."  I have Windows 7.  Suggestions? 

[imron]

It sounds like the file didn't download properly.  I've sent you the direct download link via email.

[linguaholic]

Thank you so much for sharing this. I am gonna check this out as soon as possible.

 

Until now, when needed, I always used the "Pinyin Converter" from http://www.chinese-tools.com. It really worked fine but of course it is quite 麻烦。So if this really works (on a mac), then I would be really grateful. 

[imron]

It doesn't work on a Mac yet, however I've had a number of people express interest in a Mac version so I'm thinking about maybe writing one. I might try running a kick starter campaign to see if there is enough interest to fund its development.

[7thstage]

Thanks. Works fine and quite easy to use

[sburkle]

imron, love your work on Pinyinput.

 

I noticed you're thinking about a Mac version... what would you do that MacPinyin doesn't already do?

[imron]

Firstly it would be supported, unlike MacPinyin which appears to be abandoned.  Secondly it would have all the extra features of pinyinput (checked/vs unchecked, diacritics vs combining chars, support for different keyboard layouts e.g. french, dvorak etc).  Finally, I recall MacPinyin being a bit awkward to use sometimes and lacking a bit in polish, so Pinyinput would address that also.

 

Things are still only in the 'thinking' stage at the moment because I have other priorities to work on and this would take up a bunch of time.  I've thought about doing a kickstarter and would need around $2,500 for it to be viable.  Which is about $10 each for 250 people.  Currently the Pinyinput site gets about 100 Mac visitors a month, how many of them would be willing to support a kickstarter is another matter entirely though.

[sburkle]

Well imron, that sounds pretty decent, actually being supported would be nice. I'd be willing to toss a few bucks your way for it. Just don't know how much of a stretch $2500 is though.

[C.J.]

This software is awesome. Thanks so much!

[imron]

Glad you like it. Be sure to check out my other software (see signature), which is awesome too

[zachhoy]

This is a great tool. I've been frustrated for years switching between Wenlin and whatever program I'm using to input pinyin diacritical markers. Thanks a lot!

[imron]

Glad you like it.

[Tommie C.]

For users with Mac OS X there is a natural alternative. One can use the built in MacOSX input methods and tools. I've put together the files and instructions that I use and posted the links on my profile.  I made a short video demo (~58 secs) of some of these tools.

[Elizabeth_rb]

wǒ xiàzaille. gǎnxiè!

[Elizabeth_rb]

OK, now I'm having problems with it.  It works when selected with most things, no problem, BUT when I go into my Documents folder and try to name or rename something, pinyinput comes up, even when deselected and I cannot turn it off.  As it will only allow certain letters and combos, I also cannot name my files as I like!  Help!

 

Added later:  OK, it's stopped now, but it really shouldn't do this at all, 对不对？

[imron]

You are possibly accidentally hitting the windows keyboard shortcut for changing the current keyboard and/or input method.  This will be Alt-Shift to change the country locale and Ctrl-Shift to change the keyboard within that country.

[Elizabeth_rb]

It wasn't that, no.  It auto-selected pinyinput when I entered the file explorer through my camera upload, odd!

[imron]

Well keep an eye out for it and let me know if it happens again.  Pinyinput should only come in to focus through the standard Windows mechanisms for switching to an IME.  These include (but there might be other ways too):

 

The keyboard shortcuts mentioned above

Selecting it from the language bar

Setting it as your default IME

 

It doesn't have any code in it that makes it active or come to focus on its own.

[klaatu]

Hi

This is so exactly what I was wanting to find!  Just starting out, and need to focus on pronunciation and spelling, this is the ticket.  Came by way of Pinyin Joe.  Thank you for doing this, so much.

 

However, I am not getting something quite right, this "It works at the system level, and so it will allow you to type pīnyīn with tones in any Windows program" is eluding me...

It works fine in notepad or wordpad, but nothing in notepad++, and more to my need, it does not appear for me when using the alibaba trademanager chat application 

When I have several text input applications open, it vanishes when I make either of these two windows active.  Is there something known about this, a magic fix?

My (win7) system is having trouble with displaying the language bar, so atm I use the left alt shift to enable/disable, and that works, showing the pinyinput tool when I select an editor that it seems happy with.

The only thing I can think of is that these two applications are running as standalone apps in a folder, from a flashdrive, rather than being installed in the system.  Is that my problem?

I'd almost rather have Elizabeth's issue where I can't turn it off 

Hmm, I just noticed I can't use it here in my FF browser either, which is also a portable standalone, a little more reclusive than the other two, a vmware thinapp running in its own sandbox.  wah

Might not be a fix then, oh well.  Noted anyway, if you have any thoughts.  Thanks again!

 

[imron]

I've just tested it in both Alibaba Trade Manager and Notepad++ and it appears to be working for me (see attached screenshots). 

 

 

Can you try manually enabling your language bar and changing to Pinyinput from there?  This can be done from the control panel: Region and Language -> Keyboards and Language -> Change Keyboards -> Language Bar then configuring it as in the picture below.

 

 

Then let me know if you still have problems in those programs when manually selecting Pinyinput from the language bar.

 

Also, what other IMEs if any do you have installed and do they work in these programs or not?