5 advanced Gboard tricks for smarter Android typing

QWERTY, QWERTY, QWERTY. QWERTY.

Oh — hi there! Sorry for the slightly nonsensical greeting. I’ve been thinking a lot about keyboards this week, y’see, and how that trusty ol’ QWERTY surface has evolved in our lives.

Also, saying “QWERTY” over and over again is surprisingly fun to do. Go ahead and try it. I’ll wait.

Back? Cool. So, about that QWERTY contemplation: ‘Twas a time not so long ago that our QWERTY interactions on the mobile-tech front revolved almost entirely around actual physical keys. (Drooooooid, anyone?) Then, even when we started relying on on-screen QWERTY surfaces, we were hunting and pecking and doing an awful lot of correcting.

I remember when Google bought out a now-forgotten promising Android keyboard project called BlindType. BlindType’s entire premise was that it was smart enough to figure out what you were trying to type, even when your fingers didn’t hit all the right letters.

The concept seemed downright revolutionary at the time — which is funny now, of course, ’cause that feels like such a common and expected feature in the land o’ Android keyboards. But my goodness, have we come a long way.

These days, you can absolutely type like a clumsy caribou and still see your thoughts come out mostly the way you’d intended. You can seamlessly switch between tapping and swiping, too, and you can even speak what you want to write with surprisingly decent reliability (…most of the time).

But when it comes to Google’s Gboard keyboard, your options for intelligent text input don’t end there. In addition to its many useful shortcuts and shape-shifting form choices, Gboard has some out-of-sight options for advanced text interactions that’ll save you time and make your days significantly easier.

They aren’t things you’ll use all the time, in place of the now-standard sloppy-tappin’, wild-swipin’, and hopeful-speaking methods. Rather, they’re specific tools you’ll use alongside those other Android text input options — like smart supplements for the especially enlightened among us.

Check ’em out for yourself and see which of these Gboard goodies are either new to you or maybe just gems you’ve gotten out of the habit of using.

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Gboard Android trick #1: The on-demand scan

First up is a super-handy way to import text from the real world and then use it as a starting point for whatever it is you’re typing.

It’s all too easy to overlook or forget, but Gboard has a simple built-in trick for snagging text from a monitor, document, or anything else around you and then importing it directly into your current text field.

Just find the icon that looks like a document with arrows on its corners — either in Gboard’s top row or in the menu of options that comes up when you tap the four-square menu button in the keyboard’s upper-left corner. (And remember: You can always change what’s in that Gboard top row by touching and dragging any icons in that full menu area and placing ’em in whatever position you want.)

Tap that bad boy, point your phone at the text in question — and hey, how ’bout that?!

Scanned words, in a text field and ready — with precisely three taps in Google’s Gboard Android keyboard.JR Raphael, IDG

You’ve got words from the real world right in front of you — ready to write around or edit as you see fit.

Gboard Android trick #2: Write right

Few mere mortals realize it, but in addition to tapping, swiping, and talking, you can also enter text into any field on Android with some good old-fashioned handwriting on your fancy phone screen.

It’s an interesting option to keep in mind for moments when you feel like your own scribbly scrawling might be more efficient than any other text input method.

This one takes a little more legwork to get going the first time, but once you do that, it’ll never be more than a quick tap away:

First, head into Gboard’s settings by tapping the four-square menu icon in the keyboard’s upper-left corner and then tapping the gear-shaped Settings option in the full Gboard menu.

Select “Languages” followed by the Add Keyboard button. Type “English (US)” (or whatever language you prefer), then make sure “Handwriting” is active and highlighted at the top of the screen.

Tap the Done button to apply the changes.

Now, make your way to any open text field to pull up Gboard, and you should be able to either press and hold the space bar or hit the newly present globe icon next to it to toggle between the standard keyboard setup and your snazzy new handwriting recognition system.

And once you’ve got that handwriting canvas open, all that’s left is to write, write, write away and watch Google’s virtual genie translate your illegible squiggles into regular text almost instantly.

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As you can see above, it works even if your handwriting resembles the harried scrawls of a clumsy caribou. (No offense intended to my caribou comrades.)

Gboard Android trick #3: Quick clips

One of my all-time favorite Gboard tricks is the keyboard’s intelligent integration of the Android system clipboard — and some incredibly helpful tricks that come along with that.

Look for the clipboard-shaped icon either in the keyboard’s top row or within the main Gboard menu to get started. The first time you tap it, you might have to activate the system (via the toggle in the upper-right corner of its interface) and also grant Gboard permission to access your system clipboard. You may also need to mosey back into the Gboard settings to find the “Clipboard” section and enable all the options there to get every piece of the puzzle up and running.

Once you do, though, good golly, is this thing amazing. It’ll automatically show every snippet of text and any images you’ve copied recently, for one-tap inserting into whatever text field you’re working in — and it’ll show your recently captured screenshots for the same purpose, too.

Gboard’s clipboard integration makes it easy to find anything you’ve copied and insert it anywhere.JR Raphael, IDG

Perhaps most useful of all, though, is the Gboard clipboard’s capability to store commonly used items and then make ’em readily available for you to insert anytime, anywhere. You could use that for email addresses, physical addresses, Unicode symbols, snippets of code, or even just phrases you find yourself typing out often in Very Important Work-Related Emails™.

Whatever the case may be, just copy the item in question once, then pull up the Gboard clipboard and press and hold your finger onto the thing you copied. Tap the “Pin” option that pops up, and poof: That text (or image) will be permanently stored in the bottom area of your Gboard clipboard for easy retrieval whenever you need it.

Pinned items in the Gboard clipboard are like your own on-demand scratchpad for easy inserting anywhere.JR Raphael, IDG

As an extra bonus, Gboard also now syncs your pinned clipboard data and continues to make any pinned items available on any Android device where you sign in.

Gboard Android trick #4: Your personal editor

When you’re banging out a Very Important Business Email And/Or Document™ on your phone, it’s all too easy to mix up a word or inadvertently accept an errant autocorrect. We’ve all been there — and all had the same ducking reaction — right?

You may not always have a second set of human (or even caribou) eyes to look over your words whilst composing on the go, but Gboard’s recently added proofreading feature can at least give you some second layer of assurance before you hit that daunting Send button.

To find it, tap the four-square menu icon in Gboard’s upper-left corner and look for the Proofread button — with an “A” and a checkmark on it.

Tap that bad boy and tap it good, and in a split second, Gboard will analyze whatever text you’ve entered and offer up suggestions to improve it.

Need a quick confirmation that your text makes sense? Gboard’s proofreading feature’s got your back.JR Raphael, IDG

Not bad, Gboard. Not bad. You is clearly the one who is gooder at typings today.

Gboard Android trick #5: The translation station

Last but not least in our text input improvement list is a serious time-saver and communication-booster, and that’s the Gboard Android app’s built-in translation engine.

Hit that four-square menu icon in your keyboard’s upper-left corner once more, find the Translate button, and tap it — then select whatever languages you want and type directly into the Gboard translate box.

Gboard will translate your text in real-time and insert the result, in whatever language you selected, directly into whatever text field you had selected.

Any language, anytime, with Gboard’s on-demand translation system.JR Raphael, IDG

Pas mal, eh? 

Keep all these advanced input tricks in mind, and you’ll be flyin’ around your phone’s keyboard like a total typing pro — with or without a caribou at your side.

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