How to type in "Marathi" (devanagari) in Windows?

There are various ways of doing it and I have listed them below:

Option 1: Unicode (using transliteration software/websites)

You will have to type in Unicode format (more details if interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode).  Unicode being an international standard makes it usable without requiring to install any fonts. All browsers support Unicode, which may at most need to be enabled. Currently Gmail offers typing and reading mails in Marathi this way. Other way is to use Google transliteration that is available here: http://www.google.com/transliterate/indic/MARATHI. The only disadvantage of this is that you need an active internet connection.

Option 2: IME (Input method editor)

Google also gives an interesting tool called Google IMEI (http://www.google.com/ime/transliteration/) which allows you to type Marathi characters represented in Unicode in any application on Windows (notepad, directory names, file names, practically anything...).  How to install and use Google IMEI is given here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRy3_Gmt5ak&feature=mh_lolz&list=FL_5qtqa6_rBw. Installation of it requires interenet connection. However, the biggest advantage is that once installed it can be used without active internet connection. If you want to install on a PC that does not have internet connection, please check this link: http://shashigokhale.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-install-google-ime-without.html

Option 3: Font files

You will have to install the specific font on the computer. This basically means copying the font file (typically of extension of ttf or fon) into C:\Windows\Fonts.

 

My choice: Option 2!