Dot instead of comma on numerical keyboard

Question

Using polish language on Windows 8.1, comma is the default decimal seperator on numerical keyboard. Is there a way to change it to dot?

I wouldn't like to change it in Excel or some other program, but permanently rebind that key to dot. Can I do that?

Solution 1

I found it! It took "only" 2 years.

I used Keyboard Layout Manager (unfortunately the website is down). After installing (run as admin!) click New, select new name, your language and your current layout as template. Then just change , on numpad to . and confirm with Ok.

In my case I removed the old layout from keyboards list, so only the new one remained. After this, the language bar dissappeared. But after logout/login it reappeared again and... everything worked as expected! Yay!

Also, no DLL for your new layout is generated so it only works locally on any given computer, it's not a portable solution. There is also a registration fee for this software, but a freeware version can handle dot/comma substitution.

Solution 2

I think the same problem sits in the German version of Windows 8. This way it is really annoying for example to enter a date or decimal number in Excel. The Numberpad becomes totally useless.

The Solution (sorry for German screenshots):

1. Open Control Panel (Systemsteuerung) with rightclick on the windows icon in the lower left corner of your screen.
2. Select the shortcut to change the format of Date, Time and Numbers (Datums-, Uhrzeit- oder Zahlenformat ändern):
3. Choose the Advanced Settings (Weitere Einstellungen):
4. Type in a dot instead of the comma (Dezimaltrennzeichen Komma --> Punkt):
5. Repeat step 4 for the Currency (Währung) tab.
6. Confirm changes with OK.

Hope this helps.

Solution 3

You can do this using AutoHotKey with the following simple script:

NumpadDot::.

Basically, because Windows is interpreting the number pad's . signal as a , in the Polish layout, you just have to rebind that keystroke to the standard keyboard's . command again.

You could also try the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator.

Solution 4

Solved this in Windows 10 with Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator 1.4 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=102134

It requires .Net Framework 2.0, but I have latest 4.8.

1. Open Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator. I got some errors, but just pressed "Ignore" all time.
2. File > Load existing Keyboard (find your current)
3. Change comma to dot here:

3b. Adjust fields in Project > Properties

4. Press Project > Validate Layout and fix issues. In Russian case I deleted Alt+Ctrl+8 currency symbol (I didn`t even know it exists in default).
5. Press Project > Build DLL and Setup package.
6. Run setup.exe from build folder.
7. Press magnifier icon and type language > go to "Language and Keyboard Settings".
8. Select bottom "language package available" version and press arrow up till it will be upper than yours previous layout.
9. After that delete your previous language.
10. In my case language bar in tray dissapeared after previous step, so I used this https://winaero.com/blog/enable-language-bar-windows-10/
11. Reboot your PC.

Solution 5

The utility SharpKeys manipulates the windows ScancodeMap registry key, which can map any key to any other key. You don't need to know the scancodes, SharpKeys figures them out for you. You just press the key you want to remap, and press the key you want to map it to, and it will write it to the registry. SharpKeys doesn't run in the background - the registry key that it uses is part of Windows.

Unfortunately, it's not documented to work on Windows 8, and not guaranteed 100% on non-US keyboards, but the underlying Windows registry key will still be there, so there is a good chance it will work, and it almost certainly won't hurt to try.

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Comments

[alex]

unfortunately, this solution does not work. numpad dot still gives comma.

[Ryakna]

Try changing the decimal separator to the dot in the currency tab as well.

[alex]

utility seems promising, but the installer doesn't even start on win 8.1

[robsn]

Worked for me on Windows 8.1 with German(Swiss) Keyboard.

[Gizmo]

I have extracted the installer using "Universal Extractor" (it used the MSI Administrative Command Line unpack method), I ran the application and I have mapped my NUM_DEL to KEY_DOT_> (or something like that). IT WORKS. THANKS! (also, no need to reboot, logging out and in seems to be enough for the changes to apply). If you do not want to download an additional utility to extract the .msi, check out this link.

[snoram]

This options seems only to work when this program (AutoHotKey) is open... :/

[snoram]

Didn't work on Icelandic keyboard.

[snoram]

Great! Worked smoothly.

[Anto]

Unforunately didn't work for me either (french belgian keyboard, win10); but I've found another solution.

[alex]

From what I can see only Belgian has keyboards with comma/period, there's no such choice for other languages.

[user1603548]

@snoram yes and that is not an issue.

[nachtigall]

Yes, this was also the only solution that worked for me. See also superuser.com/questions/280005/… on how to remove the backtick or accents

[TheFlow0360]

the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator did the job

[Tiago César Oliveira]

Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator also did the job for me. It's a bit sloppy and counterintuitive on Windows 10, but it works. Thanks!

[Ralf]

This is from 2007. Does not seem to work on Win10 anymore.

[Ralf]

Dead link - site does not exist anymore. Google finds download links on fishy sources (informer, softpedia ...)

[Ralf]

Finally, this worked for me. Only one issue: it works the other way round than I expected. Maps from right to left, not left to right.

[serge]

these settings does not seem to change the keyboard behavior. Only the Excel-like programs, it seems. But when I press the "dot" on the numerical keyboard, I still have the ".", not "comma", as it is in these settings.

[serge]

I have french keyboard, there is not such an option for French

[serge]

update the first link, it does not work anymore

[Sergey Senkov]

Thank you, fixed