Creating a Custom Keyboard Layout

You can use one of the supplied default keyboard layouts as the starting point to create a custom keyboard layout.

To permanently save a custom keyboard layout, you must save it to a file. Otherwise, any changes you make are discarded when you close down the Soft Keyboard window.

Custom keyboard layouts that you save are stored as an XML file on the host, in the keyboardLayouts folder in the global configuration data directory. For example, in $HOME/.config/VirtualBox/keyboardLayouts on a Linux host.

  1. Display the Layout List.

    Click the Layout List icon in the toolbar of the soft keyboard window.

  2. Make a copy of an existing keyboard layout.

    Highlight the required layout and click the Copy the Selected Layout icon.

    A new layout entry with a name suffix of -Copy is created.

  3. Edit the new keyboard layout.

    Highlight the new layout in the Layout List and click the Edit the Selected Layout icon.

    Enter a new name for the layout.

    Edit keys in the new layout. Click the key that you want to edit and enter new key captions in the Captions fields.

    The keyboard graphic is updated with the new captions.

  4. (Optional) Save the layout to a file. This means that your custom keyboard layout will be available for future use.

    Highlight the new layout in the Layout List and click the Save the Selected Layout into File icon.

    Any custom layouts that you create can later be removed from the Layout List, by highlighting and clicking the Delete the Selected Layout icon.