10 Gboard shortcuts
Ready to save yourself tons of time and effort? These Gboard tricks are just what the (smartphone) doctor ordered.
If there’s one thing we take for granted, it’s just how good we’ve got it when it comes to typing out text on our pocket-sized phone machines. It’s all too easy to lose sight of over time, but typing on Android is an absolute delight. And all it takes is 10 seconds of trying to wrestle with the on-screen keyboards on that other smartphone platform to appreciate our advantage.
There are plenty of exceptional keyboard choices, but Google’s Gboard keyboard has really risen up as the best all-around option for Android input as of late. That’s in large part because of its top-notch typing basics and its seamless integration of tasty Google intelligence, but it’s also because of all the clever little shortcuts it has lurking beneath its surface.
1. ONE SECOND TO ONE-HANDED
Look, there’s no way around it: sometimes, when you’re typing, you need to rely on a single hand. And Gboard’s got a great one-handed typing mode that’s incredibly easy to access.
Press and hold Gboard’s Enter key for about a second. That’ll activate the Gboard one-handed system and shrink your on-screen keyboard down to a smaller size. You can then dock your fun-sized mini-keyboard to the left or right side of your screen for easy access.
From there, you can use the controls on the screen to change the keyboard’s exact positioning. And when you’re ready, you can also snap it back into its normal full-width mode with one fast tap.
2. FLOATING KEYBOARD MAGIC
In addition to that one-handed keyboard contortion, Gboard has a floating keyboard that lets you move your Qwerty companion anywhere on your screen and even shrink it down into a simpler-toswipe miniature version of itself.
Once you’ve got Gboard broken out into that floating mode, you can move the keyboard down towards the bottom of your screen to re-dock it and get back to normal.
3. PRESS AND HOLD
One of Gboard’s most convenient Android typing shortcuts is the way the keyboard lets you pull up both numbers and special characters simply by longpressing regular keys. It’s a much faster way to get to what you need than going through the various secondary screens to find stuff.
The secret to this one resides in a tucked-away setting. Here’s how to find and activate it:
• Tap the three-dot menu icon within Gboard’s upper row. (If you don’t see
that icon there, tap the left-facing arrow at that row’s left edge to reveal it.) • Look for the gear-shaped Settings icon on the screen that comes up.
• Tap ‘Preferences’, then scroll all the way down to the bottom of that screen. • See the line labelled ‘Long press for symbols’? Flip the toggle next to that sucker to turn it on – and while you’re at it, go ahead and turn on the toggle next to ‘Popup on keypress’ if it isn’t already activated, too.
Back out of that menu and pull up Gboard again, and you should see a bunch of handy secondary key options within the upper-right corners of every key on your keyboard. You can then press and hold any key for a second or so to pull up its alternate option.
If you have a dedicated number row at the top of your keyboard, you might even consider turning it off to make the keyboard smaller – since this setup serves the same effective purpose and makes those numbers every bit as accessible. The option to do that is in the same area of the Gboard settings we just visited.
4. THE OTHER PUNCTUATION STATION
That long-press method is hands-down the fastest way to access most popular forms of punctuation on Gboard, but a couple common characters are curiously missing from that arrangement. Among them is the humble slash.
To uncover that simple slanted line, press and hold the Gboard period key for a second, then slide your finger over toward the left to find and activate the appropriate symbol.
5. A FASTER PATH TO SETTINGS
Speaking of Gboard and punctuation, here’s a splendid little shortcut worth filing into the back of your brain for
future use. The next time you need to get into Gboard’s settings, skip the multi-step method we went over a minute ago and instead press and hold the keyboard’s comma key for a second, swipe up a bit, and then let go.
6, 7, 8, & 9. THE SWIPE SISTERS
This next series of Gboard shortcuts are all about swipe-related time-savers for your favourite Android keyboard.
• You can swipe your finger along Gboard’s space bar to move your onscreen cursor whilst in any text field. • You can swipe up from the ‘?123’ key to find and access even more special characters in the blink of an eye.
• Swiping up from Gboard’s Shift key will let you capitalize any letter quickly. • Swiping toward the left on the Gboard Backspace key will give you an easy way to delete a bunch o’ text at once.
10. THE WRITE STUFF
Last but not least is one of Gboard’s least-known gems, and that’s the keyboard’s surprisingly effective system of on-screen writing input.
You can type out text by scribbling it onto your screen with a stylus or your finger. It can be a convenient way to enter text in the right sort of situation, and it’s also just a fun trick to try.
To activate Gboard’s handwriting mode for yourself, open the keyboard’s settings, then tap ‘Languages’
followed by the Add Keyboard button. Type ‘English (GB)’, then make sure ‘Handwriting’ is active and highlighted at the top of the screen. Now, just hit the Done button to apply the changes.
Pull up Gboard once more, and you should now be able to press and hold the space bar or hit the globe icon next to it to toggle between the standard keyboard setup and your snazzy new handwriting recognition system.
Once you’ve got that handwriting canvas open, all that’s left is to write and watch Google translate your squiggles into regular text almost instantly.