Lao Script for Windows is an extension to the Windows® operating system to make it easy to use Lao language with Windows® applications, and has been widely used in Lao PDR and around the world over the past 20 years. The current version (LaoScript 8) can be used with either 32-bit or 64-bit applications on Windows 7 and Windows Vista, while remaining compatible with Windows® XP.

Announcing a new, *FREE* edition for LaoScript 8!

LaoScript 8 may now be installed and used as one of three editions:

• The Free Edition, for personal, non-commercial use only, provides Lao fonts and Lao keyboard mapping using either phonetic layout Lao typewriter layout with automatic text wrapping at Lao word boundaries.
  
• The Standard Edition extends the Free Edition by adding Lao Add-Ins for Microsoft® Word and other applications, with menus that provide Lao spell-checking, sorting according to Lao dictionary order, font conversion and other functions.
• The Gold Edition provides all the capabilities of the Standard Edition and adds an automatic Thai to Lao translation function, which may also be used interactively to improve translation quality.

No license or activation is required for the Free Edition. However, a license must be purchased and activated on-line to use either the Standard Edition or the Gold Edition of LaoScript 8. All business, organizational and government users of LaoScript 8 should purchase a license.

All editions of LaoScript 8 include and support the use of both Lao Unicode fonts and many other fonts (such as the popular Saysettha Lao) using older coding conventions for Lao.

Many Lao Unicode OpenType fonts are compatible with applications on both Microsoft® Windows® and Apple's OS-X and iOS platforms. However fonts such as Saysettha OT and Microsoft's DokChampa which were designed to use Microsoft® OpenType support may not be rendered correctly by OS-X applications, and older applications generally do not always support Lao Unicode.

Latest updates

• LaoScript 8 build 8.1.0.0 (19 May 2012) announced, including a Free Edition.
• Windows 8 Metro!
  LaoScript 8 has now been installed, activated and used on the pre-release version of Windows 8 Metro without any obvious problems.
• Please note: No Free Edition is available for Lao Script for Windows, Version 7.
• LaoScript 8 Features and Release Notes

Other announcements

• How to use Lao on Mac OS X
• Making Lao web-pages that can be safely viewed from most browsers on Windows, Mac, iPhone or iPod is now easy. See Webfont Samples for more information.
• LaoScript 8 now includes Lao "ribbon" menus for Word, Excel and PowerPoint (Office 2007 or later).
• Updated notes for Creating Lao web pages and Using Lao in email messages.