The Multilingual Typing Problem
For users who type in multiple languages, macOS provides a convenient system for adding various keyboard layouts (input sources) to the menu bar. However, macOS includes an aggressive “smart” feature that attempts to predict which language you want to type in based on the specific application or document you are currently focusing on. If you are typing an email in French, and you switch to your web browser to search for something in English, macOS will often abruptly switch the keyboard layout back to French when you return to the email client, completely scrambling your next few sentences if you aren’t paying close attention to the menu bar icon.
Forcing a Global Input State
To stop macOS from automatically swapping your keyboard layouts behind your back, you must force the operating system to use a single, global input source across all applications until you explicitly decide to change it manually.
Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your screen and select System Settings. Scroll down the left sidebar and click on Keyboard. On the right side, locate the section labelled “Text Input” and click the Edit… button next to “Input Sources.” A new window will appear. Look closely at the toggle options at the bottom of this window. You will find a setting labelled Automatically switch to a document’s input source. Click the toggle to turn this feature Off. Click “Done” to save your changes. From this moment on, if you switch your keyboard to French (using the menu bar icon or a keyboard shortcut like Ctrl+Space), it will remain French across every single app and window on your Mac until you actively switch it back.