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How to Change the Shortcut Key for Switching Between Japanese and English Input on Mac (For US Keyboards)

Explains how to change the Japanese and English input switching shortcut on Mac (US keyboard) to your preferred key combination like 'Alt + `'. Also introduces the setup procedure in macOS Ventura and settings to prevent katakana from being included when switching.

Introduction

I use a US keyboard, and on Windows, I switch Japanese input with Alt + `. I wanted to use the same key to switch on Mac, and when I looked it up, I found that it can be changed in the settings.

How to configure (macOS Ventura)

  1. Open System Settings
  2. Select Keyboard
  3. Select Keyboard Shortcuts
  4. Select Input Sources
  5. Double-click the shortcut notation on the right side of “Select next source in Input menu”
  6. Press Alt + `
  7. Click Done

Now you can switch between English and Japanese with Alt + `. However, by default, Katakana is included in the input switching cycle, so I removed Katakana from the input sources using the steps below.

  1. Open System Settings
  2. Select Keyboard
  3. Click Edit on the right side of Japanese - Romaji in Text Input
  4. Click Japanese - Romaji
  5. Uncheck Katakana in the Input mode
  6. Click Done

That’s all.