How to Install the Gujarati Phonetic Keyboard Layout on macOS

Modern macOS versions include native Gujarati language support by default, so you only need to add the phonetic layout files to your system’s keyboard folder.

1. Download the Phonetic Keyboard Layouts

Download the Gujarati and Hindi layout ZIP files using the links below. Extract them to access the .keylayout files.

2. Copy to the Keyboard Layouts Folder

Navigate to your Keyboard Layouts directory. You can click on the Go menu item in Finder or press Shift-Command (⌘)-G to open the “Go to Folder” prompt. Type ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts and drop the extracted .keylayout files into this folder.

Image 1: Navigating to the Keyboard Layouts folder

3. Open Keyboard Settings

Open System Settings and click on Keyboard in the left sidebar (highlighted in red).

Image 2: System Settings - Keyboard

4. Add Input Sources

Under the Text Input section, click the + button on the bottom left to add new input sources. The left panel will display your currently added and default sources.

Image 3: Adding Input Sources

5. Select the Gujarati Phonetic Layout

When the input source window appears, type Gujarati into the search field at the bottom left. Select Others from the left list. On the right, select Gujarati Phonetic (a preview of the layout will appear below). Click Add once selected.

Image 4: Selecting the Layout

6. Configure Language Switching

Back in your Keyboard Settings, you can configure how to swap between languages. Locate the Press 🌐 key to dropdown and select your preferred method. Pressing the globe/language key on your keyboard will now toggle your input.

Image 5: Language Switching Settings

7. Switch Languages Using the Menu Bar or In-App

In some applications (like Microsoft Word), clicking the language key displays a quick popup showing your active layouts. The Gujarati Phonetic layout appears as a generic keyboard icon.

Image 6: In-App Language Switcher

You can also toggle languages manually using the input menu located at the top right of your Mac’s menu bar.

Image 7: Menu Bar Language Switcher

Using an Older Mac?

If you are running an older version of macOS (OS X 10.11 El Capitan or earlier), the installation steps are slightly different. Please refer to my Legacy Mac Installation Guide.