Change Chinese and Cantonese input source settings on Mac

After you set up a Chinese or Cantonese input source, use Input Sources settings on your Mac to change options for Chinese or Cantonese input methods.

To change these settings, switch to a Chinese or Cantonese input source, click the Input menu in the menu bar, choose Open [input source] Settings, then click [input source] in the sidebar. For example, choose Open Pinyin - Simplified Settings, then click Pinyin - Simplified in the sidebar.

Open Keyboard settings for me

Option

Available in

Description

Type using the last used Latin keyboard layout

(available only when you add more than one Latin input source)

  • Pinyin - Simplified

  • Shaungpin - Simplified

  • Pinyin - Traditional

  • Shuangpin - Traditional

  • Phonetic - Cantonese

Select this option to use the most recent Latin keyboard layout (such as French) instead of the standard ABC (QWERTY) keyboard layout.

Shuangpin layout

  • Shaungpin - Simplified

  • Shuangpin - Traditional

Specify the layout that defines the mapping between letters and initial consonants and vowels. There are five supported layouts.

See View Shuangpin keyboard layouts.

Wubi version

Wubi - Simplified

Specify the Wubi version (Wubi 86, Wubi 98, or Wubi New-Century) to use.

Candidate window

All input methods

Specify the orientation (horizontal or vertical) and font size to use in the candidate window.

Show predictive completions

All input methods

Show predictive completions in the candidate window as you type. The predictive completion appears as the second or third candidate in the window.

Regional Dialect

  • Pinyin - Simplified

  • Shaungpin - Simplified

Choose a dialect (Cantonese, Shanghainese, or Sichuanese) for phrase conversion and lexicon support.

Show candidates while typing

  • Cangjie - Traditional

  • Sucheng - Traditional

  • Cangjie - Cantonese

  • Sucheng - Cantonese

Show the candidate window automatically after typing an input code. If you deselect this option, press the Space bar after typing an input code to open the window.

Correct spelling

  • Pinyin - Simplified

  • Pinyin - Traditional

  • Phonetic - Cantonese

Automatically correct spelling errors as you type.

Correct fuzzy pinyin

  • Pinyin - Simplified

  • Shaungpin - Simplified

  • Pinyin - Traditional

  • Shuangpin - Traditional

Enable spelling variations (called fuzzy pinyin). To customize fuzzy pinyin, click Advanced.

Use Wubi Hua input mode

  • Stroke - Simplified

  • Stroke - Traditional

  • Stroke - Cantonese

Select this option to type the first four strokes and the last stroke.

  • Stroke - Simplified: For example, to enter , type 丿一乛乛乛 (31555 on a numeric keypad or “ljiii” on a keyboard), then select in the candidate window. If you’d rather type all the character strokes in the standard order, deselect the checkbox. For example, to enter , type 丨乛一一一丨丿丶 (25111234 on a numeric keypad or “kijjjklu” on a keyboard).

  • Stroke - Traditional: For example, to enter , type 丿一乛乛乛 (31555 on a numeric keypad or “ljiii” on a keyboard), then select in the candidate window. If you’d rather type all the character strokes in the standard order, deselect the checkbox. For example, to enter , type 丨乛一一一丨丿丶 (25111234 on a numeric keypad or “kijjjklu” on a keyboard).

  • Stroke - Cantonese: Same as Stroke - Traditional.

For most common characters, you don’t need to type the entire input code before you can choose it.

Adjust word frequency

  • Pinyin - Simplified

  • Shaungpin - Simplified

  • Stroke - Simplified

  • Wubi - Simplified

  • Pinyin - Traditional

  • Shuangpin - Traditional

  • Stroke - Traditional

  • Zhuyin - Traditional

  • Zhuyin Eten - Traditional

  • Sucheng - Traditional

  • Phonetic - Cantonese

  • Sucheng - Cantonese

  • Stroke - Cantonese

Make the most frequently used candidates appear first in the candidate window.

  • Pinyin: For example, if you type “putao”, the first option in the candidate window is 葡萄. If you choose 蒲桃 in the candidate window and type “putao” again, the first option in the candidate window is 蒲桃.

  • Shuangpin: For example, if you type “putk”, the first option in the candidate window is 葡萄. If you choose 蒲桃 in the candidate window and type “putk” again, the first option in the candidate window is 蒲桃.

Map number pad keys to letter keys

  • Stroke - Simplified

  • Stroke - Traditional

  • Stroke - Cantonese

Select this option to use keyboard keys instead of numeric keypad keys. If you want to use only a numeric keypad, deselect the checkbox.

Use halfwidth punctuation

  • Pinyin - Simplified

  • Shaungpin - Simplified

  • Stroke - Simplified

  • Wubi - Simplified

  • Pinyin - Traditional

  • Shuangpin - Traditional

  • Stroke - Traditional

  • Phonetic - Cantonese

  • Stroke - Cantonese

Automatically use half-width punctuation marks whenever possible.

Show traditional and rare characters

  • Pinyin - Simplified

  • Shaungpin - Simplified

Show Traditional Chinese characters and infrequently used Chinese characters in the candidate list.

Show simplified and rare characters

  • Pinyin - Traditional

  • Shuangpin - Traditional

  • Zhuyin - Traditional

  • Zhuyin Eten - Traditional

  • Phonetic - Cantonese

Show Simplified Chinese characters and infrequently used Chinese characters in the candidate list.

Specialized vocabularies

  • Pinyin - Traditional

  • Shuangpin - Traditional

  • Zhuyin - Traditional

  • Zhuyin Eten - Traditional

Select the checkboxes for the vocabularies you want to use. Words from the vocabularies appear in the candidate window when you enter their input codes.