microsoft / microsoft/ZoomitForMac

Typing mode does not support IME input (Chinese/Japanese/Korean); Cmd+V paste of CJK text also fails

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#45 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Dominant language
Swift
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Forks
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Description

Summary

Typing mode (T in draw mode) only accepts ASCII letters and digits. Text composed through a macOS input method (IME) — e.g. Traditional Chinese Zhuyin/Bopomofo, Pinyin, Japanese, Korean — never appears on screen: the candidate/composition window never shows up, and no characters are inserted. Pasting pre-copied Chinese text with Cmd+V in typing mode does not work either, so there is currently no way to put CJK text on a ZoomIt annotation at all.

Steps to reproduce
  1. macOS 26.5.2 (build 25F84), ZoomIt for Mac 12.21.0 (latest release)
  2. Switch the system input source to Traditional Chinese — Zhuyin (or any CJK IME)
  3. Press Ctrl+1 (zoom), click to enter draw mode, press T for typing mode
  4. Type — expected composition (e.g. ㄋㄧˇ ㄏㄠˇ → 你好)

Expected: IME composition window appears; the confirmed characters are drawn on screen, as when typing in any other macOS app.

Actual: Nothing appears — no composition window, no characters. Only unmodified ASCII letters/digits are drawn. Cmd+V with CJK text on the clipboard also inserts nothing.

Notes
  • The Windows version of ZoomIt has supported IME input in typing mode since v6.0, so this looks like a gap in the new Mac codebase rather than a design decision — typing mode appears to consume raw key events without going through the NSTextInputClient composition path.
  • Use case: ZoomIt is very popular with teachers presenting in CJK locales (this report comes from a classroom in Taiwan). Zoom/draw/OCR all work great; typing is the one feature we cannot use.
  • Related: #44 asks for zh-Hant UI localization — IME support in typing mode would arguably matter even more for the same audience.

Thanks for bringing ZoomIt to the Mac — happy to test a fix or beta build.

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start at the macOS typing mode entered with T in draw mode and inspect how it consumes raw key events, particularly the NSTextInputClient composition path. Reproduce with a CJK IME and Cmd+V using the steps in the issue. Done means composition candidates appear, confirmed CJK characters are drawn, and pasted CJK text is inserted.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
macos, swift
Domain
desktop, internationalization
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
55/100

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