Microsoft Maren - Typing Arabic has never been this easy!

Lack of access to an Arabic keyboard or lack of familiarity with one are two of the most common problems preventing Arabic users from communicating in their own language.

Microsoft Maren is a Windows extension that comes to the rescue, allowing you to type Arabic in Roman characters (Romanized Arabic, Arabizi, Arabish or Franco-Arabic) and have it converted on the fly to Arabic script.

In Vista and Windows 7, you can also activate Maren using the default shortcut key (Ctrl+Alt+Space). Now, you can start typing in Romanized Arabic and as you type the tool will offer you the top 5 candidates for your entry. You can cycle through the candidates with the arrow keys or with the mouse, if you are not content with the top most candidate, you can click on the more button for additional candidates. If you don’t want to convert that last word you typed to Arabic, you can press the escape key or choose the English candidate (the top most candidate).