The so-called Windows 10 touch keyboard becomes a simple and straightforward option that can make it easier for us to write text even when our computer, or digital tablet, does not have a physical keyboard connected to it.
It is true that some people, generally for reasons related to accessibility, prefer to use the touch keyboard on their desktop computer. And luckily, a few years ago, with the so-called Fall Creators Update, Microsoft added some interesting changes to the touch keyboard, including not only an improved user interface, but also a new type of keyboard.
How can we see the touch keyboard in Windows 10?
When we find ourselves using the one known as tablet mode on our Windows 10 computer, it is common for a keyboard icon to appear in the system tray. In this way, when we want the touch keyboard to appear, simply click or press on it to make it appear.
However, we can also configure this option so that said touch keyboard appears just at the moment when the system is not in the tablet model, but does not have a physical keyboard connected to the computer. Although this can be very useful on any desktop computer with Windows 10, it is even more so on the Surface Pro, where we can remove the keyboard quickly and easily.
To configure this function, we must click on the Start button, Settings , and click on Devices . Now click on Write , and just below Show the touch keyboard when it is not in tablet mode and there is no touch keyboard, we will find a switch, which we must press to activate it (it should show the message On).
Now, a touch keyboard will appear when we click on a field that accepts writing, and our computer detects that there is no physical keyboard connected to it.
How to change the touch keyboard type
One of the main advantages provided by the update that we talked about briefly at the beginning of this note is the addition of four different types of touch keyboard, such as the sliding keyboard that emulates the version found in Windows 10 Mobile.
To switch between the different types of keyboard, we must click or tap on the Settings button of the touch keyboard (we will find it easily, since it is an icon with a drawing of a keyboard and a kind of gear).
Now, we press or touch on the keyboard type in the top row of the menu. Thus, in the option on the left we will find the standard keyboard, which should appear dimmed (because it is already in use), and we will distinguish three other options located next to it.
The second option would be the identical version to the mobile keyboard , which includes the slide function, useful for typing quickly without having to remove the stylus or finger from the screen.
The third keyboard is useful to use especially with the pencil or with the finger, since we can easily write words with clear letters, instead of pressing individual keys. And finally, we find the expanded standard keyboard, which includes both the function keys and the traditional Windows key.
How to enable and use the dictation function with the touch keyboard
In case, instead of the fingers or the pencil, you want to use the voice to “write” through the touch keyboard, it is necessary to first enable the voice services , within the configuration section.
To do this, click on Start , Settings , Privacy , and then on Speech, inking and writing . Now, we must click on Activate voice services and writing suggestions , and we finish the process by finally clicking on Activate .
Once activated, when we want to use this function to automatically write through our voice we will only have to touch or click on the microphone button, which we will find located in the upper left corner.
