Ukelele For Mac

Creating customized keyboard layouts is essential for entering data in different languages. The characters are encoded using the Unicode standard, but you can assign different symbols to any keyboard key.

Ukelele is a simple macOS application that provides a graphical user interface for creating and editing XML files that contain keyboard layouts. The best part is that the editing process is reduced to intuitive drag and drop actions.

The Ukelele main window displays a virtual representation of a keyboard where you can assign a certain output for each key. At the same time, the top toolbar provides buttons for frequently used tools: inspector, toolbox, create / enter / leave, modifiers, and comments.

To be able to assign new characters to various keys via drag and drop actions, you must make sure that the macOS Input Menu is visible in your status bar. To achieve that you must launch the System Preferences, navigate to the Keyboard panel, and, in the Keyboard tab, you must check the “Show Keyboard & Characters Viewers in the menu bar” box.

The next step is to launch Ukelele, open the Character Viewer (via the status bar Input Menu) and assign any character to whatever key you like. You can also combine the basic keys with various modifier keys.

Moreover, Ukelele also gives you the possibility to generate dead keys: they do not produce an effect on their own, but make the OS treat the next pressed key in a different manner.

Making a new keyboard layout from scratch can prove to be slightly challenging, so Ukelele also allows you to modify already defined layouts to match your own needs. At the same time, the app comes with an extensive documentation where you can learn more about the entire process.