FAQ: Free Traditional IME 2010 Update

Microsoft New Phonetic, Cangjie, Quick and Cantonese Jyutping Traditional Input Method Updates for Windows 7, Vista and XP

Q: Is there a way to update/upgrade/repair my Microsoft Traditional/Taiwan/HK IME?

A: Yes! A free download from Microsoft supports Windows 7, Vista and XP SP3, and despite its name does not require you to own Microsoft Office!

This free update is called "Microsoft Office 輸入法 2010" but does not require any version of Office installed.

This is for Windows 7, Vista and XP SP3 and - I repeat - does not require Office. It will install on both 32-bit and 64-bit systems.

What's new:

• Updates
  • New Phonetic 2010, featuring Pinyin, Zhuyin, & other popular keyboards,
  • New ChangJie 2010, which should be written "Cangjie"..., and
  • New Quick 2010, a keyboard overlay a bit like Cangjie.
  
  
• New (and newly returned)
  • Hong Kong Cantonese 2010, featuring Jyutping (Jyutpin) phonetic input,
  • Hong Kong Cantonese, which was missing in Vista and Win7 for awhile,
  • Simplified character option (Tool menu > Properties), and
  • Unicode font support option (Tool menu > Properties. New for XP users.)

Installation:

In Windows XP you must enable East Asian languages. In Windows 7 and Vista, East Asian languages are enabled by default.

Install this update after Language Packs / MUI Packs for Windows or Office to avoid replacing this update with older IME files.

Go to this Microsoft download page:
http://www.microsoft.com/zh-tw/download/details.aspx?id=30390

Although that page is titled "Microsoft Office 輸入法 2010", don't worry if you have an earlier version of Office or don't have Office at all. You'll still be able to install this.

There are no important instructions on that page.  Just click the appropriate "下戴" ("Download") button for your system version: x64 for 64-bit systems, or x86 for 32-bit systems.

After you download the file, double-click, install and you're done...unless you get an error message.

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If you don't see the following error message, you can skip this section and scroll on down. For a while this was fixed, but it may have returned. If you do see this error message, read on...

The first time I clicked the installer, I got the very cryptic "You don't need this" message shown here. ---->

Someone at Microsoft keeps releasing IME update installers that look for Office on your system.

I think Office is distributed in Chinese markets with Chinese language packs containing the latest IME updates, and so if it sees Office the installer assumes you already have the update. I got them to fix this once in the Taiwan/HK IME updater, but now it's back - in both the Taiwan/HK and mainland/Singapore versions! While we try to get someone at Microsoft to fix it again, you have the following two options:

Option 1: "Painful Extraction"

I contacted Microsoft Support about this. They recommended I extract the installation files and do some editing as described on a Microsoft user forum.

I've already done that for you, so if you don't mind downloading the installation files from my site, here are the 32-bit and 64-bit versions with that problem removed:
Download zh-tw-IME-2010-update.zip

Option 2: "Painful Insertion (of credit card number)"

I didn't need to do that "extraction" for myself, because I owned the USD $24.95 Traditional Chinese Office Language Pack 2010, which contains the same Office 輸入法 2010 IME update, along with Chinese Proofing Tools and optional Chinese interface elements for Office. Microsoft seems to have pulled this off their website, but last time I checked this site was giving it away for free: Office Language Pack 2010

There was still one final annoyance. When I purchased the Office 2010 Language Pack from Microsoft's website, the download contained only the 32-bit pack! The installer tried to tell me to uninstall Office and reinstall the 32-bit version. A quick telephone call to Microsoft Store support (Digital River) remedied this problem however. They gave me the 64-bit version, and all is well.

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Restart your PC if you don't see the updates in your Language Bar/band after installation. I did see them immediately, but this is always a good idea after any system-related installation anyway.

The update should pick up your previous IME settings if you had already turned on those keyboards, but if you need to change New Phonetic from Zhuyin to Pinyin please see my setup instructions for the original Microsoft New Phonetic IME here:

• Pinyin Setup: using the Microsoft New Phonetic IME for fantizi Pinyin input

For more help please see these FAQs:

• FAQ: How do I get the "candidate list" to appear in the MS New Phonetic IME?
• FAQ: How do I resize the MS New Phonetic IME Candidate List?
• The English-language Help files for your Chinese IMEs

And have you updated your PRC IME?

Please see the MSPY 2010 Pinyin IME Update FAQ for more information. Works in Windows 7, Vista and XP SP3 with or without Office.

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