The iPad does not come standard with a physical keyboard attached to it, which is not to say that you cannot buy a separate one. However, it is not necessary to buy any accessory to be able to write texts with the tablet, since there is an on-screen keyboard that can be more than enough and that is precisely what we address in this article. We tell you all about the iPadOS on-screen keyboard settings so you can fully customize it to your liking.
Disadvantages of the virtual keyboard compared to the physical one
While it is true that each person is a different world, we could say that the most efficient and comfortable way to write on an iPad is with an external keyboard, either in a case attached to it or totally external. However, these keyboards require an investment, although they provide much more comfort when writing long texts, access keyboard shortcuts with which to perform actions and on top of that you can use your full screen without being hindered by the virtual keyboard (this disappears when connect a physical one). Therefore, you should take into account these inconveniences of the on-screen keyboard before knowing its settings and if you still think that it is more comfortable or practical at this time, keep reading.
How to customize the iPad keyboard
It is possible to customize certain settings of the iPad keyboard in order to make it more efficient when using it, being able to activate certain options that will undoubtedly help to increase productivity with it.
Add or change the language
If you write in several languages, you may be interested in having keyboard options in them, either to find characters from that language or to make the suggested expressions the most accurate. To do this you must go to Settings> General> Keyboards and click on “Add new keyboard”. After this you just have to select the language. It should be noted that you can also change the keyboard format to QWERTY, QWERTZ, AZERTY and others by clicking on the language when it is added.
Once you have added the language (s) you need, to change the keyboard language while you type you will have to make a long press on the button with the shape of a world ball in the lower left part. By doing that, you can select the language you want at that moment and exchange it whenever you want.
How to use emojis on the keyboard
The process to add emojis is identical to the previous case of languages, since it is considered a keyboard more like the others. Once you have added it, using them will be as easy as explained above, since with the on-screen keyboard you will only have to press (or press and hold for several seconds) the world globe icon and the option to choose the keyboard will appear. of emojis.
As in so many other devices, emojis are classified by categories:
- The most used
- Emojis and people
- Animals and nature
- Food and drink
- Activities
- Travel and destinations
- Objects
- Symbols
- Flags
It should be noted that you can easily search for emojis by clicking on the magnifying glass icon and typing the type of emoji you want to find. They are also sometimes suggested at the top of the keyboard while you are typing text.
How text replacement works
An interesting setting at your fingertips is this, since it is very useful if you usually write fast and need to abbreviate words and yet not make spelling mistakes. In these options you can configure actions such as substituting a “pq” for a “because” or “x” for a “for” (worth the redundancy). There is no limit to this, so you can configure any weird or absurd substitutions that seem with which to even create templates in a certain way. Imagine setting “abcde” to be replaced by “Good morning, how are you? My name is So and I’m from New York.” It also works for special characters like the copyright symbol or even the Apple logo.
It should be noted that if you also want to have the Memoji stickers you can have them in that same section, as long as this option has been activated in Settings> General> Keyboard (at the bottom of these settings).
Other available settings
Within Settings> General> Keyboard you can find other interesting settings options with which to further customize the way you use the iPad keyboard. We omitted some of the settings that are available for physical keyboards, but not for the virtual keyboard.
- Automatic capitalization: activating this option allows the words after a period to be automatically corrected and the first letter of that word to appear in capital letters.
- Autocorrect: nobody likes to write with spelling mistakes and either because of ignorance or because we are going quickly, we make them on occasion. Checking this box enables automatic correction.
- Caps Lock: this option allows you to block capital letters from the keyboard to write words and / or phrases only in this type of letter.
- Predictive: the artificial intelligence of the iPad can intuit which is the next word you are going to use while you type a sentence, suggesting three options at the top of the keyboard. If you deactivate this option they will not appear.
- Smart punctuation: like spelling mistakes, what this option does is correctly punctuate the sentences with commas and periods.
- Allow to slide your finger on the keys: interesting option to type quickly by sliding your finger on the keys without lifting it and allowing the keyboard to detect the word you have tried to write.
- Write by sliding on a floating keyboard: identical functionality to the previous one, but with a floating keyboard format, which we will explain in another next section of this article.
- “Delete” deletes the traced : with this option activated you can access a button that removes the traced text.
- Quick “.” Function: this functionality allows a period to be added by pressing the space key twice.
How to quickly erase text
This feature is well known to iPhones, but it is also available on iPadOS. It consists of shaking the iPad to eliminate a written text quickly without having to erase each character one by one or having to select it previously. To be able to access this functionality, it must have been previously activated in Settings> Accessibility> Touch.
Can the text be dictated by voice?
Whether due to time constraints, laziness to write or even some kind of physical problem that prevents it, it is possible to write text on an iPad by voice. To do this, dictation must have been activated in Settings> General> Keyboard, a panel that is already well known from what has been stated in previous sections of this article.
You will be able to select the accepted languages for that dictation based on those configured for the keyboard, as well as configure a quick access to it if you have a physical keyboard. In any case, to dictate text once the virtual on-screen keyboard has come out, you just have to press the microphone button. Once you have dictated the text, you just have to click on the button in the form of a keyboard at the bottom to finish the process.
Remove and hide the iPadOS keyboard
Every time you hover over a text box, note, document, or any other place where you can write, the iPad’s on-screen keyboard will appear. If you use it horizontally, it will occupy practically the lower half of the screen, while vertically it occupies slightly less. Hiding it will be as simple as clicking on the lower right icon in which a keyboard drawing with a down arrow appears.
You may have doubts about whether the virtual keyboard can be removed when using a physical one , since in theory you should not need it. However, it is possible to do it and very quickly. If you look at the bottom of the iPad when you are in a document and you have a physical keyboard, you will notice that a on the right side there is an icon of a keyboard with three dots; Well, if you click on it, you will find the option to remove the emoji keyboard, activate voice dictation or make the on-screen keyboard appear.
Divide the keyboard into two parts
One of the most interesting functions that exist is to divide the virtual keyboard of the iPad in two, which will make you can write more comfortably with it in many cases. If the size of your device is large, you will greatly appreciate it. To do this you must activate the option in Settings> General> Keyboard. To divide the keyboard in this format you must click on the keyboard icon at the bottom right of the keyboard and click on “Divide”.
Resize the keyboard and move it
Another interesting option for typing with the iPad’s on-screen keyboard is to reduce its size and keep it in a format similar to that of an iPhone. To do this, the corresponding option that we referred to in the other settings section of this post must have been activated (in Settings> General> Keyboard). If it is activated, you will only have to click on the keyboard icon at the bottom right and choose the ” Floating ” option. It will also work by making the gesture of pinching the iPhone keyboard from the outside in with two fingers (like when you want to zoom out on a photo.
You can move the floating keyboard by holding down the bottom line that appears on it and moving it across the screen. To enlarge it again, you can do the opposite gesture of zooming in, pinching the keyboard from the inside out or moving it towards the bottom of the screen