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Nothing happens when you type — check your input method first

September 20, 2026 · about 721 words · Troubleshooting

If you open a Chinese typing exercise and nothing appears when you type, the cause is almost always outside the page. Chinese input goes through an input method (IME) that sits between your keyboard and the browser, and when the IME is in the wrong state, the page receives nothing.

Here is the checklist, in the order that resolves the most cases fastest.

1. Is the input method in Chinese mode?

This is the answer nine times out of ten. If the IME is in English mode, your keystrokes go straight through as Latin letters and the exercise — which expects Chinese characters — sees nothing it recognises.

Look for the IME indicator in your system tray or menu bar. On Windows it is usually in the bottom-right; on macOS it is in the top-right. Switch it to Chinese.

The standard shortcut is Shift on Windows (in some configurations Ctrl+Space or Win+Space) and Ctrl+Space or Caps Lock on macOS, depending on your settings.

2. Does the text field actually have focus?

Click inside the typing area before typing. This sounds obvious and it catches people constantly, because the page loads with focus elsewhere and your keystrokes go nowhere.

If the cursor is blinking in the box, you are fine.

3. Is Caps Lock on?

Caps Lock affects some IMEs unpredictably. With it on, Chinese input may produce nothing, or produce uppercase Latin letters instead.

Turn it off and try again.

4. Are you typing into the right kind of exercise?

The exercises differ in what they expect:

• English lessons expect Latin letters. Chinese input mode will not work here.
• Chinese lessons expect Chinese characters, typed through your own IME.
• Pinyin lessons expect pinyin letters, which are typed in English mode.
• Wubi lessons expect Wubi codes — Latin letters in English mode.

A very common confusion is being in Chinese mode on a pinyin or Wubi lesson. Those need English mode, because you are typing a code, not a character.

5. Does the IME work in another application?

Open a text editor and type something in Chinese. If it does not work there either, the problem is your system's input method configuration, not this site — and no change on the page will fix it.

If it works elsewhere, come back and re-check steps 1 to 4.

6. Is something else capturing your keystrokes?

Browser extensions, password managers, screen recorders and some accessibility tools intercept keyboard input. If Chinese input works in one browser and not another, try:

• An incognito or private window, which disables most extensions.
• A different browser entirely.

If it works in incognito, an extension is the culprit.

7. Are you on a laptop without a numeric keypad?

The numeric keypad lessons need the physical keypad on the right of a full-size keyboard. On most laptops it does not exist, or it is overlaid on the letter keys behind a Fn modifier.

Two consequences: if Num Lock is off, the keys that should be digits act as navigation keys; and on a keyboard with no keypad at all, the lesson cannot be used properly. A USB numeric keypad is an inexpensive fix if you do this kind of work regularly.

8. Wubi-specific: the code produces nothing

If you are on a Wubi lesson and the correct code yields no character, check three things in order:

• Which version. The site supports 86, 98 and New Century, and the versions disagree on many codes. Make sure the version selected in the tool matches the version you learned.
• Whether you need a recognition code. Characters with fewer than four components need one; see the splitting rules article.
• Whether you are using a short code. One-key short codes are assigned by frequency and differ between versions.

Still stuck?

If none of the above resolves it, send the details through the contact page — which browser and operating system, which input method, which lesson, and what exactly appears (nothing at all, or Latin letters). That set of details is usually enough to identify it immediately.

One last note on a different question: your practice records are stored in your own browser's local storage, not on a server. Clearing site data, using private browsing, or switching browsers will make past scores appear to vanish. That is expected behaviour for a tool that keeps no data about you — not a bug.