10.6: Keyboard shortcut for switching between input sources

Jan 19, '11 07:30:00AM

Contributed by: ademsemir

Snow Leopard only hintIf you type in more than one language, and you are constantly switching back and forth between these languages it can get a bit tedious to use the mouse. Even though Mac OS X comes with a shortcut, which is Command+Space and Command+Option+Space, it is disabled by default because Spotlight shares these shortcuts. So here is how you enable it.

You don't need to do this first part, but since I like to see a little flag of my input source in the menu bar, so first you go to System Preferences » Language & Text then select the Input Sources tab. At the bottom of the window check the 'Show Input menu in menu bar' option.

Go back to the main System Preferences window by clicking on the Show All button at the top of the window, then select Keyboard » Keyboard Shortcuts. From the left list select the Spotlight option, then from the right list uncheck the option that says 'Show Spotlight Window.'

Next from the left list select Keyboard & Text Input, then from the right list check the option that says 'Select next source in Input menu.'

Close the System Preferences window and now you can use Command+Option+Space in any application to switch between your input sources.

Note: I dont know if this works in previous OS X releases, I only tested it in 10.6.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described, in 10.6.6.]

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Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20110117031541158