Tamil Latha Font for MSWord (Office 2010) in Windows 10
Going from default Nirmala UI (Windows 10) to Latha
Thayumana Somasundaram Tuesday, Aug 25, 2015.
தாயுமான சோமசுந்தரம், செவ்வாய் கிழமை, ஆகஸ்டு 25, 2015
Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2010 (Word 14) and Tamil font Latha with NHM Writer 2.9
I have been using, for several years, my Windows 7 Home Premium PC with Office 2010 (MSWord 14 | MSWord 2010) with NHM Writer 2.9 (http://software.nhm.in) to type in Tamil (phonetic) and Hindi (phonetic) documents by selecting combinations of ALT+0 for English, ALT+2 for phonetic Tamil, and ALT+3 phonetic Hindi, etc., Typically when I typed in Tamil, MSWord used Latha font and when I typed in Hindi, MSWord used Mangal font. Of course when I typed in English there were multiple choices. Latha and Vijaya are typical fonts for Tamil Karthika for Malayalam, Mangal for Hindi, Vani for Telugu and Tunga for Kannda that are provided by Microsoft and many adhere to the Unicode (www.unicode.org) standards since Window 2000 or earlier.
In early August 2015, I upgraded my Windows 7 Home Premium PC with Office 2010 (MSWord 14) to the free version of Windows 10 Home. Soon I realized when I typed Tamil the default font in Word (actually in Windows 10) was NOT Latha but Nirmala UI. Even though it worked okay, I missed the Latha font since I had used it for many years.
The Internet search yielded one link and I will show how I got my Latha font back.
Window 10 Tamil font forum link
Windows 10 and Microsoft Office 2010 (Word 14) and Tamil font Nirmala UI and Latha with NHM Writer 2.9
As I mentioned above, the default font for தமிழ் in Windows 10 became Nirmala UI and I will show you how to get Latha font while still retaining Nirmala UI
Step 1
From Windows 10 Start Menu, select the Settings
Step 2
In the Settings window, select Time & Language
Step 3
In the Time & Language window, select Region & Language (left hand side panel)
Step 4
The default Tamil (தமிழ் நிர்மலா எழுத்துருவம்) font in Windows 10 for Microsoft Word 2010 (actually it is the operating system Windows 10 that specifies the font) Nirmala UI and NOT Latha
Step 5
Now from the Region & Language window (Step 3), select + Add a language
Step 6
This opens a new window with many language options. So scroll left until you see Tamil and select it
Step 7
The next window gives you an option Tamil (India) or Tamil (Sri Lanka). Select Tamil (India), I guess!
Step 8
This opens another window for Tamil language pack, click to download the pack
Step 9
The install will take few minutes complete (you need to be connected to Internet, of course)
Step 10
Now if you look at the Region & Language panel, you will see Tamil language pack is installed
Step 11
Now if we open Microsoft Office and see Latha Tamil font is now installed.
So in this post I have shown in steps how to install Latha and optionally Vijaya fonts in Microsoft Office under Microsoft Windows 10. As noted above, Windows 10 Home comes as a default with Nirmala UI font for Tamil. Other Indic fonts are considered special and are NOT installed automatically when you upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10. But you can include them now.
Before adding the fonts I have 181
The procedure shown above should allow you to add more Indic fonts like Latha, Vijaya, and others to Windows 10 Home. The font count increased from 181 to 183 (Latha and Vijaya are added) after rebooting the computer, of course.
Enjoy!
Windows 10 ல் இனிமேல் லதா எழுத்துருத்தில் எழுத முடியும்.
Dear Sir,
Could you please advise how to install Office 2013 for Windows 10.
The above procedures, does not applicable.
வணக்கம். நீங்கள் கேட்கும் கேள்வி புரியவில்லை.என் computer ல் ஏற்கனவே Office 2013 install ஆகி இருந்தது. நான் Windows 7 ஐ Windows 10 upgrade பண்ணினேன்.
where i can get unicode latha tamil font for free?
Sajin,
If you have Microsoft Word (any version above 1993) the Latha Unicode font is pre-installed. There are other fonts that you can download or buy but best is to use Latha font in Word.
i have downloaded Latha but i cant use it. When i choose the latha font in my word document it is not fuctioning. please help me.
Thank you for the article. I have installed the Latha font and it is in word.
How do I actually type in Tamil with the English keyboard(KB)? In other words how do I change my English KB to Tamil KB.
thank you.. it was very useful..