Greek typing on Linux Mint Cinnamon

September 4, 2024

In this tutorial, I will show how to enable and use Greek-language typing on a computer running Linux Mint's Cinnamon edition.

Setup

The steps should be the same on any distribution using Cinnamon, and are likely to be at least roughly similar on many other desktop environments.

While this guide focuses on enabling polytonic Greek, the keyboard layout used for typing ancient Greek, the steps are the same for any language.

Step 1: Open keyboard settings

To begin, open the main menu. Click the Linux Mint logo in the bottom-left corner of your screen, or tap the Super key, also known as the Windows logo key. Then, type “keyboard” into the search box and click the highlighted “Keyboard” launcher, as shown in the screenshot below.

An image of the Linux Mint Cinnamon main menu with "keyboard" entered into the search box, and the Keyboard settings launcher highlighted

Step 2: Go to Layouts tab

After clicking the launcher, Cinnamon's keyboard settings will open. You should see this window:

An image of the Linux Mint Cinnamon keyboard settings. The relevant portion is a row of three buttons across the top, just under the title bar, labeled "Typing," "Shortcuts," and "Layouts."

In the row of buttons across the top, click “Layouts.”

Step 3: Open the list of layouts

Now, the window should look like this:

An image of the Linux Mint Cinnamon keyboard settings opened to the Layouts tab. The only portion relevant for now is a plus-sign-shaped button in the bottom-left corner, which opens the dialog with the list of layouts.

In the bottom-left-hand corner of the window, click the plus-sign button to open the list of keyboard layouts.

Step 4: Add polytonic Greek

The list of available keyboard layouts should look like this:

An image of the Linux Mint Cinnamon keyboard layouts list

It is possible to simply scroll to the desired language, but because of the large number of layout options, it is quicker to search for the language you want. Type “greek” into the search box.

An image of the Linux Mint Cinnamon keyboard layouts list, after searching for "greek"

Next, click “Greek (polytonic),” which is the option suitable for typing ancient Greek.

An image of the Linux Mint Cinnamon keyboard layouts list, after searching for "greek" and highlighting "Greek (polytonic)"

Finally, click “Add” in the bottom-right corner. This will add polytonic Greek as a keyboard layout and return you to the main window, which you may now close.

An image of the Linux Mint Cinnamon keyboard settings opened to the Layouts tab, with the layout list including polytonic Greek.

Layout selection

Toward the right end of the panel at the bottom of your screen, there should now be an icon depicting a national flag representing your main keyboard layout. For example, if you use a US English keyboard, there will be an American flag (🇺🇸).

An image showing a text editor, which is not yet relevant, and the Linux Mint Cinnamon panel across the bottom of the screen, containing an American flag icon.

This flag icon indicates what layout is currently in use. In this screenshot, my keyboard is set to US English. The icon is a button; you can click it to open a menu to change your keyboard layout.

An image of the Linux Mint Cinnamon keyboard layout selector menu, showing US English and polytonic Greek, with English selected.

Click “Greek (polytonic)” to switch your keyboard layout to Greek; the icon in your panel will change to the flag of Greece (🇬🇷). You can click “Show keyboard layout” in the menu to open a window showing where the keys are; while the layout window is open, keys pressed on the keyboard will be highlighted on the screen.

A screenshot of the Greek layout is provided below for convenience, but, of course, the key-highlighting feature will not work in the screenshot.

An image of the polytonic Greek layout.

You can now use this menu to switch between English and Greek (or any other set of layouts) as needed.