This is a very simple CapsLock language switcher for Windows. It switches languages sequentially using CapsLock button. You can switch conventional CapsLock mode using Alt+CapsLock (press Alt first). If you want another modifier key to toggle CapsLock - you can specify -shift, -ctrl or -alt command line parameter. Alt is default. When running, it has a notification icon, where you can close the program if needed. If you were wondering, notification icon is a character "Ӂ" which is part of old Abkhaz alphabet.
v1.01 and later should work on Windows Vista and later versions (both x86, x64 and ARM). v1.00 might work in earlier versions.
- Download latest pre-built release here.
- Unpack, select suitable binary for your system (32 or 64-bit x86, ARM64).
- Recommended way is to run via Task Scheduler with admin privileges to make it work both for admin and user programs. This can be made manually, or
you can create task from admin console (make sure to replace "full-path" to actual path to executable):
schtasks /create /sc onlogon /delay 0000:10 /tn "BarsCaps - language switcher" /tr "c:\full-path\barscaps_x64.exe -alt" /rl highest /f
And then run it immediately for the first time:
schtasks /run /tn "BarsCaps - language switcher"
Unfortunately, there are some parameters that are missing in task scheduler command line utility. So to ensure it is working long-term further changes are needed manually in task properties:
- Untick Stop the task if it runs longer than.
- Untick Stop if the computer switches to battery power.
- Untick Start the task only if the computer is on AC power.
Simpler/quicker way of installation is to put executable or shortcut to it into autostart folder (C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp), and start it to activate immediately. But this will not work in privileged programs.
- Terminate BarsCaps if it's still running
- Remove binary
- Remove task sheduler task in admin console:
schtasks /delete /tn "BarsCaps - language switcher" /f
- LED is used to indicate CapsLock mode. Using it to indicate language is very fragile / complex, so I decided not to implement it.
- BarsCaps does not have hidden mode. If you want to hide it - feel free to hide the notification icon in taskbar notification area settings.
- Does not support more than 16 languages / layouts (it will be hard to use for more than 3 anyways due to sequential nature of switching).
- You need to have Visual Studio installed, for example 2022 Community Edition.
- You need to have command line build tools in your PATH ("c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build" or something like that)
- Run build.bat
Please report any issues here on github.