Microsoft has a Polytonic Greek language pack available in its Windows Operating System which allows users to type Ancient Greek or Koine Greek on their computers. However, this language pack must first be installed before it can be used.
This shows the language pack installation procedure for Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.
Eventually, it should also show the installation procedures for Windows 8.
Polytonic Greek Installation for Various Windows Systems
Install Polytonic Greek on a Windows 11 Computer
There are three stages for installing Polytonic Greek on a Windows 11 computer:
I. Verify Your Computer Uses Windows 11
1) Since this installation procedure is specific to Windows 11, you must first be certain that your computer actually uses Windows 11.
On the desktop screen, click the Search icon (magnifying glass) among the centered icons at the bottom of the desktop screen (circled red below for the purpose of illustration):
A close-up of this icon is circled red below:
2) Type control panel in the search box (highlighted yellow below).
A close-up of the search box:
3) Click the Control Panel app which appears (highlighted yellow below).
4) Upon doing this, the Control Panel will open. Click on the System and Security option (highlighted yellow below).
5) The Control Panel > System and Security panel will open. Click the System option (highlighted yellow below):
6) The System > About panel will open.
Verify that your Windows Edition is Windows 11 (highlighted yellow here).
A close-up of the Windows Edition, displayed under the Windows specifications heading:
7) Close the System > About panel by clicking the X at the top right of the panel (highlighted red below):
The System and Security panel will still be open. Close it by clicking the X at the top right of the panel (highlighted red below):
II. Install The Language Pack for Polytonic Greek on Windows 11
Installing the Polytonic Greek language pack in Windows 11 involves a somewhat circuitous three-part process:
- First, the user must install the Modern Greek language preference.
- Second, the user installs the Polytonic Greek keyboard as an option for the Modern Greek language pack.
- Third, the user deletes the Modern Greek keyboard, leaving only the Polytonic Greek language keyboard installed.
Let’s begin.
1) On the desktop screen, press the Windows key (beside the CTRL key in the lower left corner of the keyboard).
Alternatively, you can click the Windows Start icon among the centered icons at the bottom of the desktop screen (circled red below for the purpose of illustration):
2) Either method opens up the Start Menu panel. From this menu, find and click the Settings (gear) icon (highlighted white and outlined red in the screenshot below):
3) Clicking the Settings icon opens the System panel.
From here, click on the Time & language option in the left menu of the panel (highlighted grey and outlined red in the screenshot below):
A closeup of the left menu of the System panel is displayed below:
4) Once this is done, the Time & language panel will appear.
Now click the Language & region option on this panel (outlined in red below):
5) The Time & language > Language & region panel will now open.
Find the Language heading (highlighted yellow below). Beneath it is the Preferred languages option (highlighted green below), with a blue Add a language button beside it.
Beneath the Preferred languages option is the list of language packs loaded onto your Windows 11 computer. In the example below, only English (United States), outlined in red, is loaded.
To add the Greek language pack, click the blue Add a language button to the right of the Preferred languages option.
6) Clicking the blue Add a language button opens the Choose a language to install popup window.
From here, there are two ways to choose the Greek language preference.
Method I for Choosing the Greek language preference
The easiest way to choose Greek is to simply type Greek in the search field at the top of the popup (highlighted yellow below).
This yields two options: Ελληνικά Greek and Ελληνικά (Κυπός) Greek (Cyprus).
Click to select the Ελληνικά Greek option (outlined in blue).
Upon selection, the Ελληνικά Greek option will turn blue.
Now click the newly-activated Next button (outlined in red below) and proceed to Step 7.
Method II for Choosing the Greek Language Preference
Alternatively, one can hover over the right side of the popup window, and use the scrollbar to scroll down to the Ελληνικά Greek option (highlighted in grey below).
(Note that this list is alphabetical according to English. ie: one must scroll down to languages starting with the English letter G for Greek, and not Ε for Ελληνικά.)
Click to select the Ελληνικά Greek language option, and notice that this language option turns blue.
The Next button (outlined red below) will now be activated. Click it, and proceed to Step 7.
7) At this point, the Install language features popup window will appear.
Leave the check boxes clicked as they are, and click the Install button (outlined blue below).
8) The installation process will begin on the Time & language > Language & region panel. A bisque-highlighted message will be displayed on the panel, which reads:
“! Please wait while the language finishes installing. This could take a few minutes.”
The installation process for the Greek language pack starts with the “Pending” stage (highlighted green below):
Next, the language pack begins downloading:
And following this, the downloaded Greek language pack begins installing:
9) When the process is complete, the language pack for Modern Greek has been installed (outlined red below).
With this done, the Polytonic Greek keyboard preference can now be installed. Click the … icon to the right of the Greek language pack (circled blue below):
10) A pulldown menu will appear (outlined red below).
Within this menu, click Language options (highlighted yellow below):
11) Upon doing this, the Time & language > Language & region > Options panel opens.
Check the Keyboards section, and make sure that the Greek Ελληνικά keyboard has been installed (outlined red below).
If it has been installed, then click the Add a keyboard button (outlined blue below):
12) A popup window will appear with various keyboard options for Greek (outlined red below).
Scroll to the bottom of this popup. The option for Greek Polytonic Ελληνικά is at the very bottom (shaded grey and outlined blue below). Click this option now to install the Polytonic Greek keyboard preference.
13) The user is brought back to the Time & language > Language & region > Options panel, which now shows two Greek keyboard options installed: Greek Ελληνικά (highlighted yellow) and Greek Polytonic Ελληνικά (highlighted green).
Now that the Polytonic Greek keyboard has been installed, the Modern Greek keyboard can be removed.
To do this, click the … icon to the right of the Greek Ελληνικά keyboard (circled blue in the example below):
The Remove icon will now appear. Click the Remove icon (outlined blue below) to remove the Greek Ελληνικά keyboard:
14) When the Modern Greek keyboard has been removed, only the Polytonic Greek keyboard remains (highlighed green below).
Now click the Language & region link at the top of the panel (highlighted yellow) to return to the Time & language > Language & region panel:
15) On the Time & language > Language & region panel, confirm that Greek (highlighted yellow below) still appears under the Language heading (also highlighted yellow).
Do not be concerned that the setting shows Greek rather than Polytonic Greek. This is a quirk in this panel’s display rather than in the language pack itself.
Close the Time & language > Language & region panel by clicking the X button in the top right corner of the panel (which has a red background when hovered over):
16) Now that the Polytonic Greek language pack has been installed, it should be tested.
Please skip down to III) Verify Polytonic Greek Works Correctly on Windows 11 for testing instructions.
III. Verify Polytonic Greek Works Correctly on Windows 11
Once the Polytonic Greek language pack has been installed, it should be tested.
1) Begin by opening a blank document in a word processor such as MS Word. The example below will use LibreOffice instead.
Since not all fonts can display the accent marks of Polytonic Greek, set the Font to one that can do so, like Times New Roman or Arial (highlighted yellow below).
Also, for the purpose of this test, set the Font Size to something large (like 72 pt) (highlighted yellow below). This makes distinguishing accents and breathing marks easier.
2) Type a few letters in English.
3) Next, click the ENG button near the lower right corner of the screen (circled red below).
A popup will appear displaying the language input methods available. In the example below, the current language input method is highlighted grey (English (United States) – US), and the other option is Greek – Greek Polytonic (outlined yellow below).
Click the ΕΛ Greek – Greek Polytonic option to switch the input method to Polytonic Greek.
Doing this will replace the ENG button with the ΕΛ button (outlined red below). The input method has now been changed to Polytonic Greek.
NOTE: Two shortcuts exist for toggling quickly between language input methods:
- Press the Left-Alt key at the same time as the Left-Shift key
- Press the Windows key at the same time as the Space bar
4) Type abgde on the keyboard. Instead of these English letters, the Greek letters αβγδε will be displayed.
5) Next, test the breathing marks.
First, type a lowercase letter a to render a lower-case Alpha (α).
Second, hit the Single Quote ['] button (situated to the left of the keyboard’s Enter or Return button). Then type a lowercase a again for an Alpha. This time, an alpha with a smooth breathing mark (ἀ) will be displayed in the word processor document.
Third, press SHIFT at the same time as the Single Quote ['] button. Follow this by hitting lowercase a again, and an alpha with a rough breathing mark above it (ἁ) will appear on the screen.
6) Now, test an accent mark over a vowel.
Begin by pressing the Semicolon [;] key (to the left of the Single Quote ['] key). Release this key, and strike lowercase a for Alpha again.
This produces an alpha with a rising tone (ά).
7) Switch back to English by either:
- Pressing the Left-Alt key at the same time as the Left-Shift key
- Pressing the Windows Start key at the same time as the Space bar
- Clicking the ΕΛ button near the bottom right side of the screen and then clicking the English (United States) option
Now, the ENG button should appear once more near the bottom right corner of the screen (circled red below).
8) Type a few characters in English, then close the document.
9) If the computer was able to render the breathing marks and the rising accent, then the language pack for Polytonic Greek is working correctly.
Install Polytonic Greek on a Windows 10 Computer
Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana has a more succinct set of instructions detailing how to install Polytonic Greek on Windows 10 computers.
Visitors to this site should feel free to check out those instructions, or to review the procedure that follows.
There are three stages for installing Polytonic Greek on a Windows 10 computer:
I. Verify Your Computer Uses Windows 10
1) Since this installation procedure is specific to Windows 10, you must first be certain that your computer actually uses Windows 10.
On the desktop screen, press the Windows key (beside the CTRL key in the lower left corner of the keyboard).
Alternatively, you can click the Windows Start icon in the bottom left corner of the desktop screen (circled yellow for the purpose of illustration):
2) Either method opens up the Start Menu. From this menu, find the Gear icon near the lower left corner of the screen (circled in yellow in the screenshot below).
Hovering over the Gear icon expands the selection, showing that this is the Settings option (outlined in yellow below). Click on this option.
3) Clicking on the Settings option opens the Settings panel. From here, click on the System option (outlined blue in the screenshot below).
4) Upon doing this, the Display settings panel is displayed. Click on the About option at the bottom of the grey left-hand menu (outlined in yellow below).
5) Finally, the About settings panel will appear. Check here for the heading Windows Specifications (highlighted in green below).
Verify that your Windows Edition is Windows 10 (highlighted green here), then click the blue Back button at the top left corner of the panel to return to the main Settings panel.
II. Install The Language Pack For Polytonic Greek On Windows 10
Installing the Polytonic Greek language pack in Windows 10 involves a somewhat circuitous three-part process:
- First, the user must install the Greek language pack. By default, this installs the Modern Greek keyboard preference.
- Second, the user installs the Polytonic Greek keyboard preference as an option for the Modern Greek language pack.
- Third, the user deletes the Modern Greek keyboard preference, leaving only the Polytonic Greek language preference installed.
Let’s begin.
1) From the Settings panel, click on the Time & Language option (outlined blue below).
2) This opens the Date & Time panel. In the grey menu on the left, click the Language option (outlined yellow below).
3) Upon doing this, the Language panel will open.
On this panel, find the Preferred languages heading (highlighted green here). In the example below, the computer has the English (United States) language pack installed.
Click the Add a language option (outlined blue below).
4) This opens the Choose a language to install popup window.
From here, the easiest way to choose Greek is to simply type Greek in the search field at the top of the popup (outlined green below).
This yields two options: Greek and Cyprian Greek. Click Ελληνικά Greek (outlined in blue).
Following this, click the Next button (outlined in blue) and proceed to Step 5.
Alternatively, one can hover over the right side of the popup window, to display the scrollbar (outlined in blue).
Scroll down to find the Greek language option (outlined blue below):
Click it, and then click the Next button (outlined blue).
From here, proceed to the next step.
5) At this point, the Install language features popup window will appear.
Leave the check boxes clicked as they are, and click the Install button (outlined blue below).
6) The installation process will begin (Pending ==> Initializing ==> Downloading ==> Installing). The screenshot below shows the Greek language pack downloading (highlighted green).
7) When the process is complete, the language pack for Modern Greek has been installed.
With this done, the Polytonic Greek language pack can now be installed. Click on the Greek language pack (highlighted blue below) on the Language settings panel.
8) Next, click the Options button (highlighted blue below).
9) Upon doing this, the Language Options: Greek settings panel opens. In this panel, click the Add a keyboard option (outlined in blue).
10) A popup window will appear with various options for Greek.
Scroll to the bottom of this popup: The option for Greek Polytonic Ελληνικά is at the very bottom (outlined in blue). Click this option now to install the Polytonic Greek language pack.
11) The user is brought back to the Language Options: Greek settings page, which now shows two language packs installed: Greek Ελληνικά and Greek Polytonic Ελληνικά.
Now that the Polytonic Greek language pack has been installed, the Modern Greek language pack can be removed.
To do this, click Greek Ελληνικά (outlined blue in the example below).
12) Having selected Greek Ελληνικά in the previous step, click the Remove button (outlined blue below).
13) When the Modern Greek language pack has been removed, only the Polytonic Greek language pack remains (highlighed green below).
Now click the blue Back button in the top left corner of the panel to return to the Language settings panel.
14) On the Language settings panel, confirm that Greek (highlighted green below) appears under the Preferred languages heading (also highlighted green).
Do not be concerned that the setting shows Greek rather than Polytonic Greek. This is a quirk in this panel’s display rather than in the language pack itself.
Close the Language settings panel by clicking the red X button in the top right corner of the panel.
15) Now that the Polytonic Greek language pack has been installed, it should be tested.
Please skip down to III) Verify Polytonic Greek Works Correctly on Windows 10 for testing instructions.
III. Verify Polytonic Greek Works Correctly on Windows 10
Once the Polytonic Greek language pack has been installed, it should be tested.
1) Begin by opening a blank document in a word processor such as MS Word. The example below will use OpenOffice Writer instead.
Since not all fonts can display the accent marks of Polytonic Greek, set the Font to one that can do so, like Times New Roman or Arial (outlined green below).
Also, because accent and breathing marks can be difficult to distinguish at small font sizes, set the Font Size to something large (like 72 pt).
2) Type a few letters in English.
3) Next, hover over the ENG button near the lower right corner of the screen (circled yellow below).
Click the ENG, and a popup displaying the language input methods will appear. In the example below, the current language input method is highlighted blue (English – United States), and the other option is Polytonic Greek (outlined yellow below).
Click the ΕΛ Greek – Greek Polytonic keyboard option (outlined yellow below) to switch the input method to Polytonic Greek.
Doing this will replace the ENG button with the ΕΛ button (outlined yellow below). The input method has now been changed to Polytonic Greek.
NOTE: Two shortcuts exist for toggling quickly between language input methods:
- Press the Left-Alt key at the same time as the Left-Shift key
- Press the Windows key at the same time as the Space bar
4) Type abgde on the keyboard. Instead of these English letters, the Greek letters αβγδε will be displayed.
5) Next, test the breathing marks.
First, type a lowercase letter a to render a lower-case Alpha (α).
Second, hit the Single Quote ['] button (situated to the left of the keyboard’s Enter or Return button). Then type a lowercase a again for an Alpha. This time, an alpha with a smooth breathing mark (ἀ) will be displayed in the Word document.
Third, press SHIFT at the same time as the Single Quote ['] button. Follow this by hitting lowercase a again, and an alpha with a rough breathing mark above it (ἁ) will appear on the screen.
6) Now, test an accent mark over a vowel.
Begin by pressing the Semicolon [;] key (to the left of the Single Quote ['] key). Release this key, and strike lowercase a for Alpha again.
This produces an alpha with a rising tone (ά).
7) Switch back to English by either:
- Pressing the Left-Alt key at the same time as the Left-Shift key
- Pressing the Windows Start key at the same time as the Space bar
- Clicking the ΕΛ button near the bottom right side of the screen and then clicking the English – United States option
Now, the ENG button should appear once more near the bottom right corner of the screen (circled yellow below).
8) Type a few characters in English, then close the document.
9) If the computer was able to render the breathing marks and the rising accent, then the language pack for Polytonic Greek is working correctly.
Install Polytonic Greek on a Windows 8.1 Computer
There are three stages for installing Polytonic Greek on a Windows 8.1 computer:
Let’s begin.
I. Verify Your Computer Uses Windows 8.1
1) Since this installation procedure is specific to Windows 8.1, you must first be certain that your computer actually uses Windows 8.1.
Begin on the desktop screen, and press the Windows Start key (beside the CTRL key in the lower left corner of the keyboard).
Alternatively, you can click the Windows Start icon in the bottom left corner of the desktop screen (highlighted navy for the purpose of illustration):
2) Either method opens up the Start Menu. From this menu, find the Search icon – the magnifying glass in the upper right corner of the screen (circled yellow in the screenshot below).
Click the magnifying glass Search icon to open the search box.
3) The search box will open and appear as it does below.
4) Type winver in the search box. (The search box will autocomplete your entry to winver.exe.)
5) Hit ENTER or click the winver.exe icon beneath the search box.
A popup will appear displaying your version of Windows.
NOTE: If you have Windows 8.1, the display will be a little deceptive because the heading will read, “Windows 8.”
But check the fine print carefully though, because it will read, “Windows 8.1” (highlighted in yellow below).
A close-up of the popup:
6) If the fine print states you’re using Windows 8.1, close the popup by either clicking the OK button or the red X button at the top right of the popup. (Circled navy in the example below.)
7) Proceed to the next section to install the Polytonic Greek language pack for Windows 8.1.
II. Install The Language Pack For Polytonic Greek on Windows 8.1
Installing the Polytonic Greek language pack in Windows 8.1 involves a somewhat circuitous three-part process:
- First, the user must install the Greek language pack. By default, the Modern Greek keyboard preference will be installed.
- Second, the user installs the Polytonic Greek keyboard preference as an option for the Greek language pack.
- Third, the user deletes the Modern Greek keyboard preference, leaving only the Polytonic Greek keyboard preference installed.
Let’s begin.
1) On the desktop screen, press the Windows key (beside the CTRL key in the lower left corner of the keyboard).
Alternatively, you can click the Windows Start icon in the bottom left corner of the desktop screen (highlighted navy for the purpose of illustration):
2) Either method opens up the Start Menu. From this menu, find the Search icon – the magnifying glass in the upper right corner of the screen (circled yellow in the screenshot below).
Click the magnifying glass Search icon to open the search box.
3) The search box will open and appear as it does below.
4) Type control panel in the search box.
Hit ENTER or click the Control Panel icon beneath the search box.
5) This will open the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items panel.
From here, click the Language setting (highlighted yellow below):
6) This will open the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Language panel.
In the example below, the only language pack currently loaded into Windows 8.1 is English (United States) (highlighted light blue below).
On this panel, click the Add a language option (close-up highlighted in yellow below):
7) At this point, the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Language\Add languages panel will appear.
8) On this panel, you may get to the Greek language option (circled yellow below) by simply hitting the g key on your keyboard, or by using the scroll bar (circled green below) to scroll to the languages starting with the letter “G”.
Alternatively, the user may quickly find the Greek language option (circled yellow) by typing greek in the search bar (highlighted green) at the top right of the screen.
9) Once the Greek language option is visible, it can be added by either single-clicking or double-clicking on it.
Single-clicking the Greek option (highlighted blue) will require you to subsequently click the Add button (circled yellow) near the bottom right of the panel.
If the letter “g” or the Scroll Bar was used to find the Greek language option:
If the Search Box was used to find the Greek language option:
NOTE: Double-clicking the Greek language option is slightly easier since doing so eliminates the need to click the Add button.
10) Having done this, verify the modern Greek language preference has been installed on your Windows 8.1 computer (highlighted yellow below).
You should see one setting which reads, Ελληνικά, followed by Keyboard layout: Greek.
11) With the modern Greek keyboard preference installed, the actual language pack needs to be installed.
To do this, double-click on the Ελληνικά (Keyboard layout: Greek) item on the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Language panel. (Highlighted yellow below.)
(Or single click the Options link beside the Ελληνικά (Keyboard layout: Greek) item on the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Language panel. (Highlighted green below.)
12) At this point, the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Language\Language options panel will appear.
Now, the actual language pack for Greek must be downloaded and installed.
Click the link reading, Download and install language pack, highlighted yellow below:
A close-up of the relevant option:
13) With the link clicked, a popup may appear which reads:
Program name: Language Pack Installer
Verified Publisher: Microsoft Windows
Click Yes to begin installing the Greek language pack.
14) Installing the Greek language pack takes a long time.
So long in fact, that we aborted the process a few times because we were certain something must’ve been wrong.
Eventually, we started the install and took a nap for 30-60 minutes. The installation was done by then.
The actual download is only about 104 MB, and finishes quite quickly:
In contrast, the installation process will appear to be stuck at 0% for a long time.
Just as a watched kettle never boils, a watched Greek language pack never installs. Just let it go and do something else for a while.
15) Eventually, the installation process will be completed.
You will be brought back to the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Language panel.
Close the Download and Install Updates popup by clicking the Close button or the red X button (both highlighted in yellow below):
16) Once the Download and Install Updates popup has been closed, the Polytonic Greek keyboard preference must now be added.
To do this, double-click on the Ελληνικά (Keyboard layout: Greek) item on the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Language panel. (Highlighted yellow below.)
(Or single-click the Options link beside the Ελληνικά (Keyboard layout: Greek) item on the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Language panel. (Highlighted green below.)
17) The user will now return to the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Language\Language options panel.
Click the Add an input method under the Greek input method. (Highlighted yellow below).
A close-up of the relevant option:
18) Having clicked the Add an input method option, the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Language\Language options\Input method panel will open, displaying the options for Greek.
To add the Polytonic Greek input method, double-click on the Ελληνικά Greek Polytonic) item. (As highlighted in yellow below).
(This could also be done by single-clicking the Ελληνικά Greek Polytonic item (highlighted blue below), and then clicking the Add button (highlighted green below).
19) Once the Polytonic Greek input method has been added, the user will be returned to the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Language\Language options panel.
On the panel, verify that the Polytonic Greek input method has been added (highlighted in blue below).
If it has been added, then find the modern Greek input method (highlighted yellow), and click the Remove link (highlighted green below):
A close-up of the relevant option:
20) Verify that the modern Greek input method has been removed and only the Polytonic Greek input method remains (highlighted yellow).
Then click the Save button (highlighted green below).
A close-up of the relevant text:
21) Finally, the user will be returned to the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Language panel.
Verify that the Ελληνικά preference reads: Keyboard layout: Greek Polytonic (highlighted blue below).
Close the panel by clicking the red X button at the top right of the panel.
A close-up of the relevant text:
22) Now that you’ve installed the Polytonic Greek language pack on your Windows 8.1 computer, it’s time to test it to make sure that it’s working correctly.
Please skip down to III) Verify Polytonic Greek Works Correctly on Windows 8.1 for testing instructions.
III. Verify Polytonic Greek Works Correctly On Windows 8.1
Once the Polytonic Greek language pack has been installed, it should be tested.
1) Begin by opening a blank document in a word processor such as MS Word.
(The images below were taken using MS Word 2016; the display on your computer may differ slightly from these depending on the version of Word you’re using.)
2) WARNING: Not all fonts can display the accent marks of Polytonic Greek!
Therefore, set the Font to one that can, like Times New Roman or Arial.
In the example below, the font is being changed from Calibri to Times New Roman:
3) Accent and breathing marks can be difficult to distinguish at small font sizes, so temporarily set the Font Size to something large (like 72 pt).
After doing this, the font settings should read as follows:
4) Type a few letters in English.
5) Now change the input method from English to Polytonic Greek.
First, find the ENG button in the taskbar, near the bottom right-hand corner of the screen (highlighted blue below).
The ENG button signifies that the current input method is English. Now click this button once to see the language packs installed on the computer.
The current language preference loaded is English (US keyboard), and is highlighted blue.
Click the ΕΛ Greek (Greek Polytonic keyboard) option (highlighted in yellow below):
The taskbar is now populated with an ΕΛ button (highlighted blue below), signifying that the Polytonic Greek input method has been loaded.
[SHORTCUT: The input methods can be easily toggled by simply pressing the LEFT-ALT button at the same time as the LEFT-SHIFT button.]
6) Type abgde on the keyboard. Instead of these English letters, the Greek letters αβγδε will be displayed.
7) Next, test the breathing marks.
First, type a lowercase letter a to render a lower-case alpha (α).
Second, hit the Single Quote ['] button (situated to the left of the keyboard’s Enter or Return button). Release the key, then type a lowercase a again for an alpha (α). This time, an alpha with a smooth breathing mark (ἀ) will be displayed in the Word document.
Third, press SHIFT at the same time as the Single Quote ['] button. Release the keys, then hit the lowercase a, and an alpha with a rough breathing mark above it (ἁ) will appear on the screen.
8) Now, test an accent mark over a vowel.
Begin by pressing the Semicolon [;] key (to the left of the Single Quote ['] key). Release this key, and strike lowercase a for alpha again.
This produces an alpha with a rising tone (ά).
9) To switch back to English, click the ΕΛ button in the taskbar (the lower right part of the screen, highlighted blue below):
This will open a select box displaying the language options on your computer.
The language option you are currently using will be highlighted in blue. It will currently be ΕΛ Greek (Greek Polytonic keyboard).
From those listed, click the ENG (English) option (highlighted yellow).
Upon doing this, the ENG button should now be displayed in the taskbar (highlighted blue):
Following this, all text entered from the keyboard will use English letters.
[Again, this can be done more quickly by pressing the keyboard’s LEFT-ALT button at the same time as the LEFT-SHIFT button.]
10) Type a few letters in English to verify that the keyboard has been set back to English.
11) Finally, close the document.
If the computer was able to render the breathing marks and the rising accent on the alpha, then the language pack for Polytonic Greek is working correctly.
Install Polytonic Greek on a Windows 7 Computer
Bill Mounce has an excellent set of instructions for installing the Polytonic Greek language pack on Windows 7 computers.
Visitors to this site should feel free to check out those instructions, or to review the procedure that follows.
There are three stages for installing Polytonic Greek on a Windows 7 computer:
I. Verify Your Computer Uses Windows 7
1) On the desktop screen, press the Windows Start key (beside the CTRL key in the lower left corner of the keyboard).
Alternatively, you can click the Windows Start icon in the bottom left corner of the desktop screen:
Either method opens up the Start Menu. From this menu, click on the Control Panel button (highlighted here in yellow).
2) This brings up the Control Panel popup window. From here, click on the System button (highlighted here in yellow).
3) The System panel will open up, displaying your computer’s Operating System. You should see something like the screenshot below, which shows that a test computer uses Windows 7 Home Premium (highlighted here in green).
Also, make a note of whether your computer has a 32 or 64-bit system. In the example below, the test computer has a 64-bit system (also highlighted in green).
Once you’ve verified that your computer is a Windows 7 machine, and has either a 32 or 64-bit system, click the All Control Panel Items button at the top of the screen (highlighted here in yellow).
II. Install The Language Pack For Polytonic Greek On Windows 7
Having verified that your computer has the Windows 7 Operating system, you may now install the Polytonic Greek language pack.
1) On the Control Panel > All Control Panel Items panel, click the Region and Language button (highlighted here in yellow).
2) The Region and Language popup window will appear. From this window, pick the Keyboards and Languages tab (highlighted in yellow below).
3) From the Keyboards and Languages tab, click the Change Keyboards button (highlighted in yellow below).
4) Upon doing this, the Text Services and Input Languages window will pop up. This window displays your computer’s default language as well as all the language packs it has installed.
In the following example, the only installed language is American English (highlighted in green), and this is the computer’s default language.
From this window, click the Add button (highlighted in yellow).
5) At this point, the Add Input Language popup will appear. Use the scrollbar (highlighted in yellow) to scroll down the list to Greek (Greece).
6) Now click the Plus Sign [+] next to the Greek (Greece) language option (highlighted in yellow).
7) Next, click on the Plus Sign [+] next to the Keyboard option (highlighted below).
8) Having expanded the Keyboard options in the last step, click the Greek Polytonic checkbox (highlighted yellow below).
9) From here, click the Plus Sign [+] beside the Other option (highlighted in yellow).
10) If your computer is a 64-bit system, click the Ink Correction (64bit Only) select box (highlighted below).
(Otherwise, if your computer is a 32-bit system, leave the select box unchecked.)
11) To finish this part and close the Add Input Language popup window, click the OK button (highlighted in yellow below).
12) The Text Services and Input Languages popup window will still be open. You should see that the Polytonic Greek language pack has been installed on your computer. Ink Correction for 64-bit systems will also be installed, if you selected that option. (These are highlighted in green in the example below).
If this window shows that Polytonic Greek has been successfully installed, then congratulations! All you have to do now is close the popup windows.
To close the current popup (Text Services and Input Languages), click the OK button (highlighted in yellow).
13) The Region and Language popup window will still be open. To close it, click OK (highlighted in yellow).
14) Finally, the Control Panel should be closed by clicking the red X button at the top right-hand corner of the panel.
15) Now that you’ve installed the Polytonic Greek language pack on your Windows 7 computer, it’s time to test it to make sure that it’s working correctly.
Please skip down to III) Verify Polytonic Greek Works Correctly on Windows 7 for testing instructions.
III. Verify Polytonic Greek Works Correctly On Windows 7
Once the Polytonic Greek language pack has been installed, it should be tested.
1) Begin by opening a blank document in a word processor such as MS Word.
2) Since not all fonts can display the accent marks of Polytonic Greek, set the Font to one that can do so, like Times New Roman or Arial.
3) Accent and breathing marks can be difficult to distinguish at small font sizes, so set the Font Size to something large (like 72 pt).
4) Type a few letters in English.
5) Now change the input method from English to Polytonic Greek.
First, find the EN button in the taskbar, near the bottom right-hand corner of the screen (highlighted navy below).
The EN button signifies that the current input method being used is English. Now click this button once to see the language packs installed on the computer.
Click the EL Greek (Greece) option (highlighted in yellow below).
The taskbar now shows an EL Greek (Greece) button (highlighted navy below), signifying that the Polytonic Greek input method has been loaded.
[SHORTCUT: The input methods can be easily toggled by simply pressing the LEFT-ALT button at the same time as the LEFT-SHIFT button.]
6) Type abgde on the keyboard. Instead of these English letters, the Greek letters αβγδε will be displayed.
7) Next, test the breathing marks.
First, type a lowercase letter a to render a lower-case Alpha (α.
Second, hit the Single Quote ['] button (situated to the left of the keyboard’s Enter or Return button). Then type a lowercase a again for an Alpha. This time, an alpha with a smooth breathing mark (ἀ) will be displayed in the Word document.
Third, press SHIFT at the same time as the Single Quote ['] button. Follow this by hitting lowercase a again, and an alpha with a rough breathing mark above it (ἁ) will appear on the screen.
8) Now, test an accent mark over a vowel.
Begin by pressing the Semicolon [;] key (to the left of the Single Quote ['] key). Release this key, and strike lowercase a for Alpha again.
This produces an alpha with a rising tone (ά).
9) Switch back to English by clicking the EL button in the taskbar (the lower right part of the screen) and choosing the EN (English) option.
(Again, this can be done more quickly by pressing the keyboard’s LEFT-ALT button at the same time as the LEFT-SHIFT button.)
10) Type a few letters in English to verify that the keyboard has been set back to English.
11) Finally, close the document.
If the computer was able to render the breathing marks and the rising accent on the alpha, then the language pack for Polytonic Greek is working correctly.
Using the Polytonic Greek Language Pack on Windows
There are two types of keys in the Windows Polytonic Greek language pack: live keys and dead keys.
Live keys are keys that immediately display their output to the screen.
For example, pressing the English letter u will render a theta (θ) in the document.
Dead keys on the other hand, do not immediately display output to the screen. Instead, they alter the output of the next keystroke in some way, adding breathing marks, accent marks, diaereses, and/or iota subscripts.
For example, pressing SHIFT at the same time as the English letter q does nothing immediately…but if the user next hits an iota (ι) or an upsilon (υ), the language pack will render the letter with a diaeresis above it (ie: ϊ or ϋ).
The John Carroll University website had an excellent summary mapping the live and dead keys for Polytonic Greek on MS Windows, which unfortunately has been deleted. (Nevertheless, the page is archived on the Wayback Machine, where it can still be found).
The instructions in the link provided above allow the user to type Ancient Greek or Koine Greek on a standard English keyboard using the MS Windows Polytonic Greek language pack.
However, typing Ancient or Koine Greek is much faster using our bilingual Polytonic Greek / English keyboard.