---
title: Text Services Framework
---

## What is the Text Services Framework?

The Text Services Framework, or TSF, is a set of components for modern
applications that support advanced input and text processing. It
supports features such as keyboard drivers, handwriting recognition,
speech recognition, as well as spell checking and other text processing
functions.

In Windows 7, the Language Bar is the core user interface for TSF. From
the Language Bar, you can select the input language, and control
keyboard input, handwriting recognition and speech recognition. In
Windows 8, the Language Bar is no longer used, and the interface is
tightly integrated into the taskbar.

![](../desktop_images/language-bar.png)

With Keyman Desktop 9 and later versions, all keyboards are registered
through the Windows interfaces, and the key advantage is that Keyman now
automatically detects applications that have support for TSF and
upgrades the experience for those applications.

For those applications that support TSF, the most important advantage is
that Keyman can read the current 'context' from the application. The
'context' is the characters on the screen around the insertion point.
Earlier versions of Keyman remembered the context while inputting text,
but as soon as an arrow key was pressed, or the mouse clicked, Keyman
would forget the context. This means that existing text can be edited in
a much more intuitive manner when using TSF.

## What applications support TSF?

TSF is supported by a wide range of software and Windows components.
