SuttaCentral
Greetings, I’m wondering if someone could offer me some assistance for where to find, download and use a font suitable for writing Pali 
I am totally out of my depth with tech these days, so please dumb down your answers appropriately Really really basic please. 
Note, I did look at the below topic, but it was over my head … 
I really don’t want any choices… just a download link and instructions please 
Any assistance most gratefully appreciated 
Could you tell us what operating system you are using?
Because it’s almost certain that you already have a font that can do Pali on your device.
Or are you asking about the ability to use your keyboard to generate the letters?
Thank you @Snowbird 
I didn’t realise I may have the font on the device. It is a HP laptop with windows 10
Great. All of the Windows ClearType fonts cover the Pali letters. Cambria, Calibri, Consolas etc.
To test a font, just copy this text into MS Word or whatever you use and set it to a font:
ĀA āa ĪI īi ŪU ūu ṄN ṅn ṬT ṭt ḌD ḍd ṆN ṇn ÑN ñn ḶL ḷl Ṁm ṁm
Now, Windows will try to be helpful and actually substitute in letters that are missing from a font. That’s why I included the non-Pali letters next to the Pali ones. Especially look at āa and ṭt to see if other than the diacritics they look identical.
For example,
If you are looking for a way to type them, then checkout the small program you can download from this page:
Thank you so much !! 
I will look over the stuff you have linked and attempt to follow the instructions.
Crossing my fingers… if I’m still stumped - I’ll be back 
If you are able to see Pali diacritics here on Discourse, then 100% you have them on your device.
These are what are known as Unicode fonts. There are actually individual letters in the font for all the Pali letters. It’s not just adding the diacritics on. (that’s possible in theory, but messy, and not the system SuttaCentral uses. It’s pure Unicode).
If you have any problems, try to give as much detail as possible.
Welcome to Pāḷi typing!!
Thank you. 
I have to do my Pāḷi Homework now 
The tool I linked to above is very similar to this one made by Bhante Anandajoti:
https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/download/#Input
His has Sanskrit letters as well, but they are both made using a program called AutoHotKey. AHK is a great way to make all kinds of shortcut scripts.
@Snowbird, I realized Ven. Ānandajoti’s AHK programme was very similar to the one you posted, so deleted my post
And I realized that I used his script for years before creating mine so I felt guilty for not mentioning his. 
Also that there may be people who need the other diacritics he provides. I also have one for transliterated Sinhala in case anyone needs that.
Dear @Snowbird , thanks for all that. I have a question about the m character. I can’t seem to find the ṇ version for the m in the program you linked. Is this operator error on my behalf or is there another reason?
Also FYI the link to Ven Anandajoti’s script goes to an error page
I think you can find the download link if you scroll down on this page, plus a lot of other helpful information:
https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/download/index.htm
Thank you ekay When I downloaded the unicode link it could not be opened due to a problem with the file…
In the notes there
These are keys to input unicode:
alt + a, i, & u gives macron over a, i & u (ā, ī, ū)
alt + t, d, n, l, s & h gives dot under t, d, n, l, s & h (ṭ, ḍ, ṇ, ḷ, ṣ, ḥ)
alt + m gives dot over m (ṁ)
ctrl + alt + m gives dot under m (ṃ)
alt + j (jay) gives tilde over n (ñ)
ctrl + alt + n gives dot over n (ṅ)
win + s gives acute over s (ś)
alt + r gives ring under r ()
win + r gives dot under r (ṛ)
The link that Snowbird gave has the same (fewer) instructions. However when I type the combination for the m with under-comma, (bolded above) it doesn’t work??
Thanks so much for you help
Tech is great… if one keeps up with it… 
I’m finding it ever more difficult to do stuff. There is a real tension between keeping all the ‘wordly interactions/developments’ to a minimum, and actually becoming so far removed from them that one finds it difficult to operate…
Ah, you mean the m underdot character? It’s not included. As I understand, the m underdot is an outdated and the overdot is now standard. All the other uses of underdot (ṭḍṇḷ) are for retroflex sounds, not guttural, which is what k, g, ṅ and ṁ are. I have heard that there is a very narrow use case for the m underdot character, but it doesn’t exist in Pali.
I created the script primarily for the people using and creating SuttaFriends.org and so I didn’t want to introduce the m underdot. Are you finding that you actually need it? On the few cases I need it, I just do a google search for something like unicode m underdot and then I just copy and paste. Although usually the only time I need it is when I am removing it from a text.
If you could post the exact error message or a screen shot we should be able to do some troubleshooting or at least pass on the info to Bhante Anandajoti.
Do you mean that when you are using the SuttaFriends.org script and you type ctrl + alt + m it doesn’t work? That would be expected since I don’t include it in the script. Those key combinations are arbitrary, not something universal with Windows. They only work if they are programmed into the script.
If you need the ṃ character and we can’t get Bhante Anandajoti’s script working, I can do a custom script for you.
Thank you very much @Snowbird
You have cleared up my question. I had begun to suspect that that might be the case. For the Pāli course I’ve just started they’re using materials of varying ages, hence my confusion.
Obstacle/challenge number 1 overcome… only 10,000 more to go
With regards to Ven Anandajotis site here [quote=“Snowbird, post:9, topic:21941”]
https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/download/index.htm/Input
[/quote]
I don’t know how to take screen shot 
but here it is long hand… I get an error message of
https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/download/index.htm/Input#:~:text=404,on%20this%20server! this is error 404 Not Found
When I tried to download the fonts as per links in the website itself (relevant section copied below in italics), then when I tried to open them Id get this message;" Compressed folder error. Windows cannot complete the extraction. The destination file could not be created."
The fonts are embedded in the html also, via CSS @FontFace, but if you have any difficulties reading the documents you may need to download and install the ITM_TMS_UNI font (128 KB), which comes in 4 styles - Regular, Italic, Bold, and Bold Italic.
The css files define the Unicode fonts in this order: ITM_TMS_UNI, ITM_TFY_UNI, ITM_Verajja, “Gandhari Unicode”, “Times Ext Roman”, “Indic Times”, “Arial Unicode MS”, Tahoma, Gentium, serif. This is a descending order: if ITM_TMS_UNI is installed it will show that font, if it is not, but ITM_TFY_UNI is installed it will show that font, and so on down. Only the ITM series of fonts will display the metrical markings and all the Romanised Sanskrit letters correctly.
To view the character set and find out more about the font, please read the ITM_TMS_UNI-reference.pdf (444 KB). The above fonts (ITM & Unicode) are being distributed under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE, a copy of which can be read here.
Unicode Input-Programme
There is also a Unicode input-programme (385 KB)
Thanks once again for helping out and making it so easy to understand and use- much appreciated 
PS for those who may not be familiar with the site at SuttaFriends, it is really great and has lots of wonderful resources.
Ah, very sorry. I pasted a bad link. Now fixed.
Were you able to run and unzip the Unicode input-programme (385 KB) ?
Unless Bhante Anandajoti’s website is not displaying text correctly, there is no need to install his fonts.
On Windows, to take a screen shot, hit Win + Shift + S. Then select the area of the screen you want to clip. Then when this message pops up:
Click on it and save the image.
The ability to take screen shots is like a super power when it comes to troubleshooting. Personally I use software called Greenshot, but the built in clipper I gave above works just as well.
By the way, if you are looking at really old text books, you may see this character: ɱ. It’s the same as ṁ. Also ŋ, which is the same as ṇ.
No - all the links gave the same result that I gave above. When I downloaded the links and then tried to open them I’d get this message;" Compressed folder error. Windows cannot complete the extraction. The destination file could not be created." I just tried it again with the same result.
But I’m using your linked hotkeys so that is fine 
I think all of my issues are fixed now, as long as ṁ is acceptable by the course providers. I’m loving being able to use the proper letters now 
Thanks for the screen shot info Which is the ‘Win’ key on the keyboard? 
Is the one with the ⊞windows logo on it.
Oh, you are sneaky! I was wondering how Microsoft got their logo into Unicode.
@Viveka , the zip for Bhante Ananadajoti’s unicode input programme opens fine for me. But I’m happy if the other tool works for you. If your teacher requires the m underdot, let me know and I’ll try to add it to the script.
Indeed, Unicode policy forbids logos, trademarks, etc. This is technically “plus sign in a box”
