The easiest way to type IPA phonetic symbols (and foreign characters*) on your Windows PC ★ Now with tone diacritics

Why you’ll love TypeIt

• Obvious keyboard shortcuts. Just press Alt + the key that’s most similar to the character you want to type. For example, to type ɑ, press Alt + A. If there are several characters based on the same letter (e.g. ɑ, æ, ɐ and ɑ̃), just hold Alt and keep hitting the same key (here: A) until you get the character you want.

  Alternatively, you can type a letter like a, and then tap Ctrl one or more times to turn it into ɑ, æ, ɐ or ɑ̃.

  I made TypeIt because I was tired of solutions where each character has its own arbitrary shortcut. I could never remember which key typed which character (“How do I type ɑ? Was it  [ ,  ;  or maybe Shift + ;?”). I don’t want to have to pause and think “how do I type that character?” – I want it to be obvious.

• You can keep your existing keyboard layout. TypeIt gives you the phonetic symbols you need, but doesn’t force a whole new layout on you. It doesn’t change the way you type numbers and punctuation, so you won’t have to get used to new ways of typing characters like ", ? or /.

  Some solutions for typing foreign and special characters “take over” punctuation keys. As a result, you can no longer type characters like the apostrophe or quote by simply pressing ' or " because these keys are instead used to type foreign characters. While these solutions provide alternative ways to type an apostrophe or quote, why should you struggle to learn a new way to type punctuation just because you want to type phonetic symbols?

• Pleasantly fast typing. Why copy & paste characters from webpages when you can type them directly into your applications and websites?
• You can use it offline. Flaky Internet access? No worries. With the TypeIt app, your IPA symbols and foreign characters are always available.
• Pop-up help is always a keystroke away (see example) – just press Alt + F1. You probably won’t need it, though :)
• Includes the proper quotation marks (such as „ “ « or ») for each of the included languages. Additionally, the curly apostrophe (’), English-style curly quotes (“ ”), long dashes (– —) and other useful symbols (→ ° ±×·≠≈≤≥²³ €) are always available, whatever language you’re typing in, so you can type things like 20°, 2 × 4 and 100 m² without batting an eye.
• Doesn’t get in the way. I like software that does the job without making a big fuss. That’s why TypeIt installs in three clicks, consumes very little memory and CPU, and doesn’t bother you with pop-ups and updates.