Step by step
How to use the greek keyboard
- 1The keyboard above is already set to Greek; you can switch language from the list if you need another.
- 2Click the keys on screen, or just type — your own keyboard is remapped to the layout shown.
- 3Use Shift for the second layer, which carries the rest of the characters.
- 4Copy the text when you are done, or download it as a .txt file.
Why type Greek in a browser
Adding Greek to an operating system is a settings-menu expedition that ends in a keyboard you cannot see: the letters are not printed on your keys, so you are typing blind in a script you may have no muscle memory for, and you have changed a system-wide setting to write one line.
The usual workaround is worse — hunting characters in a character-map utility and pasting them one at a time, or copying words out of search results and hoping the spelling survived the trip.
A visible keyboard solves the specific problem of writing Greek occasionally: typing a Greek word or name for a citation, a form or a search, writing Greek letters in a mathematical or scientific context, or adding a Greek phrase to a document written in English. Every key is on screen, the arrangement is the standard one, and when you are finished there is nothing to undo.
Sigma has two forms, and one of them is a separate key
Greek writes sigma as σ inside a word and ς at the end of one, and the final form is its own character with its own key. Unlike Arabic, nothing chooses it for you: σοφός ends in ς because you typed ς.
This is the single most common mistake in typed Greek and the easiest to spot once you know it. A word ending in σ rather than ς is misspelled, and it will not match the correctly spelled version in a search.
The rest of the alphabet maps roughly onto its Latin cousins in position — α on a, β on b, γ on g — which makes this the most guessable of the non-Latin layouts here.
Monotonic accents, and what is not here
Modern Greek uses one accent, the tonos, and it marks the stressed syllable: καλημέρα. It is not optional in careful writing, and it changes meaning in some pairs.
Polytonic Greek — the older system with acute, grave, circumflex, two breathings and the iota subscript — is what Ancient Greek texts use, and it is not on this layout. Classical work needs a polytonic input method rather than this one.
The dialytika, the two dots that split a vowel pair as in Αϊδίνι, is a separate mark and also present in modern spelling. Where you need a tonos and dialytika on the same vowel, Greek has precomposed characters for the combination.
Greeklish, and the letters that look Latin
Writing Greek in Latin characters — "kalimera" for καλημέρα — is called Greeklish, and it is entrenched from the years when systems could not handle Greek at all. It has no standard: the same word appears several ways, and a name can transcribe half a dozen ways.
Where a system accepts Greek, using Greek removes the ambiguity. It also matters for search, since Greek text and Greeklish do not match each other.
Several Greek letters have identical-looking Latin partners at different codepoints — Α Β Ε Ζ Η Ι Κ Μ Ν Ο Ρ Τ Χ. A word mixing the two renders perfectly and matches nothing, which is a particularly hard bug to see in a spreadsheet or a filename.
Nothing is uploaded, and nothing is installed
The whole keyboard is data in the page. There is no request to a server, no account and nothing stored, so the names, addresses and private messages that people type into a tool like this stay in the tab they were typed in.
You can also skip the clicking. Your own keys are remapped to the Greek layout as you type, matched by physical position rather than by the letter printed on them — which means it works the same whether your system runs QWERTY, AZERTY or something else entirely.
Copy the result, or save it as a .txt file. Editing keys behave normally throughout: Backspace deletes, the arrows move, and Ctrl or Cmd shortcuts reach your clipboard as usual.
Answers
Frequently asked questions
How do I type a final sigma?
It has its own key. Greek writes ς at the end of a word and σ elsewhere, and the choice is yours rather than automatic.
Can I type polytonic Greek for classical texts?
Not on this layout. It is monotonic modern Greek, with the single tonos accent; polytonic needs its own input method.
Why does my Greek word not match in a search?
Usually a Latin lookalike — Α Β Ε Ο and others are visually identical to Latin letters at different codepoints — or a final sigma typed as σ.
Do I need to install a language pack?
No. Nothing is installed and no system setting is changed. The keyboard is part of the page and disappears when you close the tab.
Is my text private?
Yes. Nothing is uploaded — the keystrokes never leave your browser, which matters for the names and addresses this kind of tool is mostly used for.