bug(mac): MS Word rendering logic for Bengali Phonetic (ITRANS)

[Meng-Heng]

Describe the bug

All the conjuncts in macbook pro in Microsoft Word does not produce the correct results. For example, the keys “akTopaasa” gives the wrong result which cannot be produced here. But when copied and pasted here produces the correct result as অক্টোপাস

Topic: https://community.software.sil.org/t/bengali-conjunct-alphabet/10235

Reproduce the bug

1. Open Word and Create a new document
2. Select the Bengali Phonetic (ITRANS) keyboard
3. Type this sequence: akTopaasa
4. Wrong and Expected results:

Expected behavior

akTopaasa = অক্টোপাস

Related issues

No response

Keyman apps

• [ ] Keyman for Android
• [ ] Keyman for iPhone and iPad
• [ ] Keyman for Linux
• [x] Keyman for macOS
• [ ] Keyman for Windows
• [ ] Keyman Developer
• [ ] KeymanWeb
• [ ] Other - give details at bottom of form

Keyman version

18.0.236 & 18.0.238

Operating system

macOS Sequoia 15.4.1 & 15.5

Device

Macbook Pro

Target application

MS Word 2025 v16.98, MS Word 2019 v16.27

Browser

No response

Keyboard name

Bengali Phonetic (ITRANS) keyboard

Keyboard version

v1.1.0

Language name

bn: Bengali

Additional context

Response from Microsoft:

Thank you for your feedback on the issue you are experiencing while typing Bengali hyphenated words using Word on macOS Sequoia. We understand that this is causing a problem with editing your document. Based on what you've described, this may be due to an issue with Word's text rendering engine interacting with the Keyman input method.

• We think you can try temporarily switching back to the macOS native Bengali input method (not Keyman) and see if it is still abnormal;
• You may also consider updating Word to the latest version or using Word Online to see if the problem persists, as sometimes the Mac version of desktop Word has slightly different compatibility with other platforms.

Most importantly, since this issue may be related to Word's deep rendering logic for complex text systems, if the problem persists, we recommend that you submit screenshots of the error and steps to reproduce it directly through Word's Help > Feedback feature. Your feedback will directly help the development team optimize multilingual support!

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...we recommend that you submit screenshots of the error and steps to reproduce it directly through Word's Help Feedback feature...

The feedback has been submitted (11-Jun-2025 10am).

While typing Bengali conjuncts in Notes, Google docs, Gmail produces the correct result, typing the same keys/letters with MS Word in macOS Sequoia 15.4.1 produces a different and wrong result. This only happen if the word is typed.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Download and Install MS Word 2025 v16.98, Keyman v18.0.238 and Keyboard from links below
2. Allow Full Access to Keyman
3. Use the Bengali keyboard below in Word’s document
4. Type this sequence: akTopaasa (expected: অক্টোপাস)
5. Wrong and Expected results in the attached file.

Keyman: https://keyman.com/mac/ Keyboard: https://keyman.com/keyboards/itrans_bengali?bcp47=bn

Please note that Keyman users and I are facing this issue, not being able to type Keyman correctly but still would like to continue to use Keyman with Word since Keyman offers broader range of keyboards for many languages, including minority ones.