Looking for fast and easy ways to type ʻokina and kahakō? Find out here how to add a Hawaiian keyboard layout to Windows, no matter the keyboard hardware and input language you use.
First, Add Coffee to Your Butter
Who wants to start a day and morning with coffee (alone)?
Add a spoonful of butter, though, then one more spoon filled to the brim with coconut oil, and your memory may take you to a penthouse throning over Waikiki beach in Honolulu. For it is on Ilikai Hotel’s penthouse balcony that we famously meet Steve McGarrett, who—in the 2010 incarnation of Hawaii Five-O/0—swears by pouring butter and oil into his coffee.
Now, before further additions of creatine and cardamom sweep us from Hawaii… how about pouring some Hawaiian keys onto a virtual keyboard?
How to Add the Hawaiian Keyboard Layout to Windows
Time needed: 5 minutes
To add the Hawaiian keyboard layout to Windows for comfortable typing:
- Select Settings in the Windows Start menu.
Windows keyboard shortcut: Press Windows I to open Settings.
- Select the Time & language category.
- Now pick Language & region.
- Under Language, click the three dots menu for the desired input language.
- Select Language options from the menu that has appeared.
- Click Add a keyboard unter Keyboards.
- Now choose Hawaiian from the menu.
Add Hawaiian to Windows 10
To add the Hawaiian key layout to Windows 10:
- Select Settings from the Startt menu.
- Go to Time & Language.
- Open Language.
- Under Preferred Languages, click the language for which you want to use the Hawaiian keyboard.
- Click Options.
- Now click Add a keyboard.
- Find and choose Hawaiian.
How to Add the Hawaiian Keyboard Layout to Windows: FAQ
How do I switch to the Hawaiian layout for typing?
To quickly enable Hawaiian input on Windows:
- Press Windows Space.
- Holding the Windows key, press Space until Hawaiian is highlighted as the layout in the Windows language picker (near the bottom right corner of the screen).
Taskbar: You can also use the Windows taskbar to switch to the Hawaiian keyboard layout.
(How to add the Hawaiian keyboard layout tested with Windows 11 Version 22H2–24H2; first published April 2023, last updated February 2025)