4.2.1 To activate the input method

• One method is to enter your word processing environment on Chinese Microsoft Windows 95 or NT 4.0 or above and press Ctrl+Shift to activate Chinese input method. An input bar will appear on the left bottom of the screen. Keep pressing Ctrl+Shift to shift to other input methods before Microsoft Pinyin input bar appears.
• Please note this hot-key combination can be self-defined. You may select the way you like by setting up in input method setup in Control Panel.
• You may also use the mouse to select from language/keyboard indicator on the taskbar. Click the left button of your mouse on corresponding item to activate Microsoft Pinyin input method. If there is no language/keyboard indicator on the taskbar, you may add it from keyboard in Control Panel.

4.2.2 Banjiao / Quanjiao

• Icon
  
  Banjiao　　　　　Quanjiao
• Use the mouse: click the left button of your mouse on input bar to shift between Quanjiao and Banjiao.
• Default shortcut keys: Shift + Space

4.2.3 To input Chinese punctuation marks

• Icon
  
  Chinese punctuation English punctuation
• Use the mouse: click the left button of the mouse on the above icon on input bar.
• Use the keyboard: Ctrl+ [.]
• For details, see the Table of keys for Chinese punctuation.

4.2.4 Traditional Chinese input condition

The system supports inputting both Simplified and Traditional Chinese characters. Click on the above icon on input bar and the input condition will be shifted to Traditional Chinese. Type the Pinyin of a sentence, you will get the sentence in Traditional Chinese characters.

Example:
Under Simplified Chinese input state: 一支可爱的小花
Under Traditional Chinese input state: 一支可愛的小花

4.2.5 Incomplete Input

The system supports incomplete input of Pinyin. Users can type only the consonants of Pinyin so as to reduce strokes times.

• Set up incomplete input
  Click the left mouse button on the Setup button of input bar or just click the right mouse button on the input bar. Select "Incomplete Pinyin" option. Users may type Pinyin in incomplete manner.
• Example
  When user types "zhhrmghg", the system will identify it as "Zhong Hua Ren Min Gong He Guo (中华人民共和国)".

4.2.6 Ciyu (Word) input pattern

The system supports both whole sentence input pattern and word input pattern. In whole sentence input pattern, the input unit is a sentence, i.e. users may type the Pinyin of the whole sentence and correct the mistakes before confirming the sentence. In word input pattern, the input unit is a word. Pressing the Space key will end inputting a word. Users may confirm the words they input one by one.

• To set up the Ciyu (word) input pattern
  Click the left mouse button on the Gongneng Shezhi (Function Setup) button on the input bar, or click the right mouse button on the input bar. Select Ciyu (Word) pattern in the Shuxing Shezhi (Properties Setup) dialogue box.
• Input rules
  1. Type the Pinyin of a word continuously and press spacebar to stop inputting a word. At this time, the most possible word will be display highlighted and the alternatives bar will prompt out, providing alternative words of same pronunciation.
  2. If the word highlighted is right, you may continue to type the next word.
  3. If the word highlighted is wrong, you may select the correct character or word from the alternatives bar.

4.2.7 To modify the incorrect characters

When users input a succession of Chinese Pinyin, Microsoft Pinyin input method will automatically choose the best result by considering the context. However, the automatically displayed result may not be what users expect. Users may modify the incorrect characters by selecting from the alternative characters/words. In addition, there are some operating techniques.

• Operating steps:
  
  1. Use the mouse or keyboard to move the cursor to the incorrect character;
  2. The alternatives bar will automatically appear;
  3. Select the proper character or word by mouse or keyboard.
• Example
  When the user types "dadihuanxinchun"(大地焕新春), the "大地环新春" will automatically be displayed on the input bar. Put the cursor before "环", the alternative words will appear: 1.欢欣 2.欢心 3.环 4.换 5.患 6.焕 7.缓 8.欢. Select 6 with mouse or keyboard.
  Note: Microsoft Pinyin input method also has alternative punctuation marks. You may use the same method to modify incorrect punctuation.

4.2.8 South Fuzzy Pronunciation

For those users whose pronunciation is not accurate, the system also provides support to South Fuzzy Pronunciation input.

• Indistinct pronunciation
  Click the left mouse button on the Gongneng Shezhi (Function Setup) button on the input bar, or click the right mouse button on the input bar. Select Nanfang Mohuyin (South Fuzzy Pronunciation) pattern in the Shuxing Shezhi (Properties Setup) dialogue box.
• The South Fuzzy Pronunciation supported by the system includes:
  consonants: z=zh，c=ch，s=sh，n=l，l=r，f=h，f=hu
  vowels: an=ang，en=eng，in=ing，wang=huang
  System default setup:
  consonants: z=zh，c=ch，s=sh
  vowels: an=ang，en=eng，in=ing，wang=huang
  
• To setup South Fuzzy Pronunciation input
  Users may choose the South Fuzzy Pronunciation as needed.
  In Shuxing Shezhi (properties setup) dialogue box, click the button of Sheshi Mohuyin (set up South Fuzzy Pronunciation) and the dialogue box will be displayed. Select the South Fuzzy Pronunciation as needed. Click Chongxin Shezhi (re-setup) will resume the defaulted setup. Click OK, the system will work according the user's self-definition.
• Example
  For example, when the user type "wosiyigebin", "Wo Shi Yige Bing (我是一个兵)" will be displayed.

4.2.9 Special character
In Microsoft Pinyin input method, the letter "v" stands for "ü" in Chinese.

4.2.10 Tips

4.2.10.1 Tips on modifying incorrect characters

• The basic input unit of Microsoft pinyin input method is word and sentence. This is an important feature that is different from other methods. Therefore, when typing a word or a sentence, you do not have to modify the incorrect word as soon as you find it. It is better that you modify the whole sentence before confirming the input. During typing, the Microsoft pinyin input method will automatically make adjustment according to the context and give you the possible result. Usually, after the adjustment, most of the incorrect characters will be modified.
• It is better to modify a sentence from the beginning of the sentence.
• After typing a whole sentence, press the right arrow key [→] to move to the beginning of the sentence. The cursor will move circularly with each press on the right arrow key.

4.2.10.2 Tips on "Guangbiao Gensui"

• "Guangbiao Gensui" state (i.e. the cursor's following) makes the newly input words or sentences in the context and conforms the input habit of most persons.
• During inputting word and sentence, when using the mouse to move the cursor, the word window will move correspondingly to the location before the cursor. Therefore, before confirming a sentence, the sentence will follow the cursor's location as a whole.
• When moving the cursor, it is normal that the word window covers part of the word or sentence input. When the sentence is confirmed, the editor will re-arrange the input word or sentence.

4.2.10.3 Zero initial consonant and syllable separating mark

There are some characters with zero initial consonant, i.e. without consonant, such as "奥ao4, 欧ou1" etc. When typing the Pinyin of these characters, you may use syllable separating mark to make the input faster. For example, when you type "皮袄Pi Ao", you may add a space between "pi" and "ao" to avoid modification.

4.2.10.4 Tips on confirmation

• After inputting a valid pinyin, Microsoft pinyin input method will not close the window immediately so that users can further modify the pinyin typed. At the time, you may press the spacebar or return to confirm your input, the pinyin will be transformed into Chinese characters.
• At the end of a sentence, you may also type a punctuation mark to confirm the pinyin and the pinyin window will disappear. The last pinyin and the punctuation mark will simultaneously be transformed into characters.
• If the whole sentence does not need modification, type a punctuation mark (including "," "." ";" ?" "!") at the end of the sentence. On typing the first pinyin of the next sentence, the previous sentence will automatically be confirmed.
• As soon as the sentence has been modified, you may, at any place of the sentence, directly press [Enter] to confirm the sentence.

4.2.10.5 Input Efficiency

In order to utilize Microsoft pinyin input method more effectively, users should understand the following features.

• The longer the sentence or the word you input, the slower the transformation of them.
• Incomplete input may decrease the times of pressing keys and thus improve the input efficiency; but when there are too much incomplete input pinyin, the transformation will be lower.
• When using the indistinct pronunciation function, as the amount of alternative words are big, the input will be slower.

4.2.10.6 Select the first word in the alternatives window

Under the "Zhujian Tishi" state (i.e. display character on typing each pinyin), press [Space] to finish the input of pinyin. When "Zhujian Tishi" is not on, press [space] to select the first word.