Getting the Best Out of the GBoard Keyboard

Google’s GBoard Keyboard app made its debut on the Android OS late last year. Since then it has become one of the most popular alternatives to the default keyboard across UIs. If you don’t use it, we strongly recommend you to check it out. If you are a Gboard user, here are some tips and tricks which would help you improve your performance while using the keyboard:

GBoard Tricks and Tips

Easily Access Special Characters

Special characters are often a pain to find! However, the Gboard keyboard makes it a lot easier. All you need to do is to press and hold the period key. This key is right next to the space bar. Holding this key would bring to light all the special characters which can easily be selected and inserted then.

Translate Right From The Keyboard

This keyboard app from Google allows the users to easily translate text without ever having to leave the app they are using. Simply select the text and press the G icon on the keyboard. Over there you’d find a ‘translate’ button which would allow you to easily translate the text in over 90 languages.

GIF Search

Are you chatting with a friend and want to send them a GIF to show them how you feel? Has your friend made a really bad pun and you want to express ‘facepalm’ with a GIF? You can now look up for GIF images from the keyboard itself.

Simply tap on the smiling face on the left side of the keyboard and you would be met with an emoji keyboard. There press the GIF button on the bottom and you can then search and send GIFs. Searching for GIFs is really easy – just type what you are looking for. In this case, Facepalm.

Easy Capitalization

Don’t you hate it after writing a sentence that you forgot to capitalize a letter or a word? GBoard has you covered. It offers one of the easiest solutions to capitalization – simply select the word or letter you want to capitalize and press the shift key. Tapping the shift button once would capitalize the first letter of the word, tapping it twice would capitalize the entire word, thrice would bring it back to normal.

Assign Word Shortcuts

One of the coolest features of the GBoard Keyboard is that it allows you to assign shortcuts to words. Imagine typing ttyl and it being converted to Talk To You Later automatically. Gboard allows the users to set word shortcuts by using the personal dictionary feature. This can be activated by going to your phone’s settings > language and input > Gboard > Personal Dictionary.

One-Handed Mode

With the size of modern-day smartphones increasing with every passing day, a number of users have a hard time covering the entire screen or even the keyboard with one hand. To make one-handed typing easier so that your thumb doesn’t have to be stretched all the way, you can simply tap on the G icon and the tap the one-handed mode button which is just before the settings gear icon. This feature, when enabled, will make your keyboard shrink to one side of the phone, making it easier for you to type with one hand.

If you are not already a user, you can download the Gboard Keyboard app here.

Try out these cool Gboard tips and tricks and let us know which ones were your favourites in the comments below!