TECH

Make the most of the Google Gboard keyboard

If there's one place you can save a few seconds and see the biggest impact, it's probably your smartphone's keyboard.

While not attracting enough attention among tech enthusiasts in general, Android has a huge advantage over other mobile platforms when it comes to text input. Just two minutes of typing on your Apple device will tell you how good the Android keyboard is (and you might want to turn your attention to overpriced Apple accessories).

You know There are many Android keyboard apps that deserve praise, but Google's Gboard is a perfect example of how simple, effective, and extensible the Android text input experience can be. Gboard works fine by default, but when you start digging through the settings, it can do all sorts of magic to save your Android sign-in process.

Now get ready to experience pro-level productivity. It's time to take a look at Gboard's lesser-known settings and take your Android typing experience to new speeds.

G-Board Setup 1: Fast Symbol Recovery:

Best of all, any two-thumb Android smartphone user will spend a lot of time on their Android device keyboard looking for everything from asterisks to goblins, tildes, and parentheses. Even if you move your fingers as fast as a cat, there's a better way you can't keep up.

First, go to your Gboard settings (tap the gear symbol on the top row of your keyboard, or if you don't see the symbol, tap the three-line menu icon for that area and look for the gear icon on the next screen). 

Click on 'Settings'.

Scroll to the bottom of the next screen and look for the ‘Long press to get symbols’ option.

Press the toggle button next to it to turn it on.

If you exit the menu and open Gboard again, you will find a small symbol in the upper right corner of each letter. What happens when you press and hold a letter?

G-Board 2 Setup: Much faster input action:

Modifying symbol calls is great, but there are more efficient ways to get more efficiency. Let's take a look together.

Go back to Gboard settings. this time,

Click on 'Settings'.

Scroll down and find ‘Long Keypress Delay’.

After pressing, slide the slider to the approximately 200 ms (milliseconds).

This setting noticeably reduces the amount of time you have to press and hold the keyboard. This means that you can press the second symbol shortcut without pressing the key for a long time.

We recommend that you try using the 200ms setting for a while. For me, it was the right time for the perfect balance between speed and precision. The long press input time was fast enough not to interrupt the typing flow, and it didn't happen so easily that it didn't act inadvertently.

It might take some tweaking to find the right level for your typing style, but in the end I think Gboard's default settings will be much better than what the defaults provide.

G-Board Settings 3: The Fastest Way to Enter Numbers:

Using the second letter is a great way to quickly access numbers. If you're looking for an easier way to enter long numbers on your Android device and access them, Gboard can help.

After going back to the G-Board setup,

Click on 'Settings'.

Toggle the toggle next to 'Number Line' at the top of the screen.

A permanent line of numbers appears at the top of the increasingly customized Android keyboard. With just one touch, all numbers are entered.

And there is a hidden tip in this regard. You would never know because there is no indicator visible, but once the number line is active, long pressing on any letter brings up a list of number options like fractions and superscripts.

G-Board 4 Settings: Easier Emoticon Input:

People express themselves in many ways. Some people may use emojis more than numbers. If you frequently use emoticons such as smileys, cat faces, pig noses, etc. for important business communication, Gboard's emoji input enhancement option will definitely help.

Go back to your Gboard settings, tap on ‘Emojis, Stickers and GIFs’ and pay special attention to the three things that appear in the list.

First, the ‘quick emoji access line’ toggle adds a line dedicated to recently used emojis at the top of the keyboard.

If you're not at that level but still want to keep your favorite smileys close by, try the 'Emojis on Symbol Keyboard' option.

For a contextual and on-demand approach, enable the ‘Emojis’ option under ‘Suggestions as you type’. You'll see some emojis next to the next word prediction inside Gboard's default text suggestion area.

G-Board Setting 5: Set the keyboard height:

Prefer more room to put your fingers? If you want to add extra lines to the Gboard setup or want a wider layout, configure the keyboard size that suits you and manage the Android keyboard interface.

Go back to the Gboard settings and tap on “Settings”.

This time look for the 'Keyboard Height' line.

Click on that option and try different options.

rejoice a lot

Gboard Settings 6: Undo AutoCorrect:

Autocorrect is one of the best modern technological innovations known to man, and the most insane computer magic of our lives. But even if Android's keyboard auto-correct feature fixes something, don't throw your phone screaming.

Adjusting this trivial but elegant Gboard setting will greatly reduce complaints.

Find 'Undo AutoCorrect Backspace' in the 'Text Correction' section of Gboard settings.

Activate the toggle next to it.

After configuration, if the G-Board corrects the user input poorly, press the backspace key on the keyboard (the left arrow with an 'x' in the lower right corner of the G-Board). If you do this quickly after the autocorrect occurs and before pressing another key, the word will change as it was originally typed, with or without errors. It's a convenient feature to have.

G-Board 7 Setup: Save period entry step:

Finally, let's take a look at Gboard's most effective and simple time-saving options. This option is not enabled by default for some reason. Just press the spacebar twice at the end of a sentence and the keyboard will automatically place a period. Wouldn't it be convenient?

Go back to the “Edit Text” section of the Gboard settings and look for “Automatic space after punctuation”. (For some reason, it's still considered a beta feature and is only available when using Gboard in English. If you don't see it in the configuration, that's probably why.)

Toggle the switch to the on position.

Let's type after configuration. Remember that you only need to press the spacebar twice to finish a sentence

Source: ⓒ JR