Should I upgrade to Keyman Desktop 9.0?

If you currently use Keyman Desktop 6, 7.1 or 8.0, you may have questions about whether you should upgrade to version 9.0 or not. This post outlines the various upgrade paths and provides information on the pros and cons of each upgrade path.

Before getting into the details, Keyman Desktop 9.0 supports Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. If you are using an older version of Windows we recommend using Keyman Desktop 8.0.

You can access Keyman Desktop 9.0 here, as well as archived versions of Keyman Desktop 8.0 and 7.1 here. Please note that while we continue to fully support licensed users of Keyman Desktop 7.1, we will no longer sell licenses for that version.

A note on 3rd party compatibility

If you already use a 3rd party typing software such as GeezWord, MyPC HelaBasa, Lakota Keyboards and Fonts Bundle, or LangPlus Tamil sofware, here's a word of warning. These applications are generally compatible with Keyman Desktop if the major versions are the same (for example GeezWord 8 is compatible with Keyman Desktop 8), however there will be problems if they don't match (for example GeezWord 8 and Keyman Desktop 9 will not be compatible).

Upgrading from 8.0 Light to 9.0 Free

While the Free edition of Keyman Desktop 9.0 has many of the same features as the Light edition of Keyman Desktop 8.0 (minus the license requirement), there are some additional differences to consider.

Pros

• Better support for Windows 8 and 8.1
• Better language association
• Simpler configuration and menu
• Fully contextual input handling over all applications 

Cons

• Version 9.0 does not support Windows XP or Windows Vista
• Support is via Keyman community forums only
• Two minor features of Keyman Desktop 8.0 Light (hotkey language switching and  ‘Start when Windows starts’) are not supported by the Free Edition of Keyman Desktop 9.0  (but are, of course, supported by the Professional Edition). 

If you do upgrade to Keyman Desktop 9.0 Free edition and find that you prefer 8.0 Light (we hope you don't!), you can always revert by uninstalling Keyman Desktop 9.0 and downloading/installing Keyman Desktop 8.0 again.

Of course, you can always upgrade to the full-featured version 9.0 Professional for full access to one-on-one technical support.

Upgrading from 8.0 Light to 9.0 Professional

The only case where we'd not recommend this upgrade is if you are running older versions of Windows — if you have Windows 7 or above, make the upgrade. If you still use Windows Vista or XP, we'd recommend staying with Keyman Desktop 8.0 Light, or upgrading to Keyman Desktop 8.0 Professional.

Upgrading from 8.0 Professional to 9.0 Free

This would rarely be advisable  – instead we recommend accessing our discount pricing to upgrade your 8.0 Professional license to a 9.0 Professional license here.

Upgrading from 8.0 Professional to 9.0 Professional

Pros

• Better support for Windows 8 and 8.1
• Better language association
• Simpler configuration and menu
• Fully contextual input handling over all applications 

Cons

• No support for older versions of Windows

The only case where we'd not recommend this upgrade is if you are running older versions of Windows — if you have Windows 7 or above, make the upgrade. If you still use Windows Vista or XP, we'd recommend staying with Keyman Desktop 8.0 Professional.

Upgrading from 7.1 Light to 9.0 Free or Professional

The only case where we'd not recommend this upgrade is if you are using older versions of Windows — if you have Windows 7 or above, make the upgrade. If you still use Windows Vista or XP, we'd recommend upgrading to Keyman Desktop 8.0.

Upgrading from 7.1 Professional to 9.0 Free

Instead of upgrading from Keyman Desktop 7.1 Professional to 9.0 Free, we'd highly recommend upgrading to 9.0 Professional, unless you still use Windows Vista or XP, in which case we'd recommend upgrading to Keyman Desktop 8.0 Professional.

Upgrading from 7.1 Professional to 9.0 Professional

The only case where we'd not recommend this upgrade is if you are using older versions of Windows — if you have Windows 7 or above, make the upgrade. If you still use Windows Vista or XP, we'd recommend upgrading to Keyman Desktop 8.0.

Upgrading from Keyman 6 (or earlier)

We no longer support Keyman 6, so we'd strongly recommend upgrading to a later version. If you have Windows 7 or above, upgrade to Keyman 9.0. If you still use Windows Vista or XP, we'd recommend upgrading to version 8.0.