From Te Papakupu Māori

Microsoft Windows has supported languages other than English for well over 10 years. Support for natural languages falls into two basic categories: The user interface, and the user input method.

A localized user interface allows users to understand the computer system in their native language. A localized user input method allows the computer system to understand the users native language. There are several components that work together to provide a localized user interface, and a localized input method.

For example, a te reo Māori "Language Interface Pack" and "Regional Settings" combine together to provide a complete user interface in te reo Māori for Microsoft Windows XP.

Microsoft Windows XP also has an in-built set of utilities to allow users to quickly and easily switch locales when entering information, for example, in "English (New Zealand)", "English (Australia)" or "Māori (Aotearoa)". This enables users to write documents that may be in one or in a variety of different languages without comprising the ability of language tools to assist them. This is particularly relevant for Word Processors.

The following information will help users to configure their Microsoft Windows XP system to accept English (NZ) and te reo Māori as input methods only, it won't go into detail of how to setup your computer to present the user interface in te reo Māori.

Steps

1. Open the Control Panel. This can usually be found by clicking on the start button, the Control Panel should be about half-way on the right-hand side. Once the Control Panel is open, click on Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options.
   

   

   Control Panel
   
   
2. Click on the task Add other languages.
   

   

   Date, Time, Language and Regional Options
   
   
3. The Regional and Language Options window should now be displayed. Click on the Details... button.
   

   

   Regional and Language Options
   
   
4. You should now see the window Text Services and Input Languages. Click on the Add... button.
   

   

   Text Services and Input Languages
   
   
5. The dialog window Add Input language appears.
   

   

   Add Input language
   
   
6. Select Maori as the Input language. And ensure that Maori is also selected as the Keyboard layout/IME. Then click on OK.
   

   

   Add Māori Input language
   
   
7. Back at the Text Services and Input Languages window, click on the Add... button again, to bring up the Add Input language dialog window. This time select English (New Zealand) as the Input language and ensure that the Keyboard layout/IME is US. And finally click OK.
   

   

   Add English NZ Input language
   
   
8. Back again at the Text Services and Input Languages window. Check that you have at least [EN] English (New Zealand) and [MR] Maori as Installed Services. For any languages that you do not use, it is recommended that you remove them. In my particular example, I have English (United States) that I want to remove. So I select it and click on the Remove button.
   

   

   Remove language
   
   
9. Now I only have [EN] English (New Zealand) and [MR] Maori available as Installed services.
   

   

   Installed services
   
   
10. Select a Default input language from the drop down box. In this example I'm choosing Maori - Maori.
    

    

    Select Default input language
    
    
11. The Maori Installed service is now in bold designating it as the Default input language. Click on OK when you are ready.
    

    

    Default Installed service
    
    
12. When removing an Installed service that was previously the Default Input language, you may get an Error box that it could not be removed right now. This Error box can be safely ignored.
    

    

    Error box
    
    
13. Click on OK again, to exit from the Text Services and Input Languages. Ignore any re-appearance of an Installed service that you may have previously asked to be removed.
    

    

    Ignore re-appearance of Installed service
    
    
14. You should now see a box near the right hand corner of the task bar, with either the letters EN or MR depending on whether you choose English(EN) or Māori(MR) as the default input language. In this example it has the letters MR.
    

    

    Task-bar
    
    
15. To change languages, left-click on the letters, and a menu will pop-up allowing you to change the language of the current software program you are working in. Be careful, in that the change is temporary and only affects the current software program you are working in. You can also right-click and select Settings... from the menu to easily bring up the Text Services and Input Languages window, and change the default language or any other setting if you wish.
    

    

    Changing input language
    
    
16. To type Macron characters in your application hold the TILDE key (it looks like ~ usually just underneath the ESC key in the top left corner of the keyboard) while pressing one of the vowels - similar to how you would press the SHIFT key to write a capital letter. NOTE: If you hold the TILDE key too long it will actually write a character itself, so you may need to practice a bit to get it working correctly.