Use the on-screen keyboard on your Pixel Tablet

Use your Pixel Tablet's on-screen keyboard to type and insert emoji. You can also change your keyboard preferences to change how the keyboard looks and works.

Note: Some features aren’t available in all countries or languages.

Important: Some of these steps work only on Android 14 and up. Learn how to update your Android version.

Open and change on-screen keyboard settings

Open or close the on-screen keyboard

To open the on-screen keyboard, tap any text box on the screen.
To hide the on-screen keyboard, tap the down arrow near the space bar.

To open the keyboard automatically when you swipe up on your home screen:

Open your device's Settings app .
Tap Hub Mode At a glance Search your tablet.
Turn on Always show keyboard.

Use the split on-screen keyboard

You can use a split on-screen keyboard to make it easier to type when holding your tablet.

Open your device's on-screen keyboard.
To turn on the split keyboard, tap the Split keyboard icon. It looks like a keyboard with an empty space in the middle.
To turn off the split keyboard, tap the Default keyboard icon. It looks like a keyboard.

Use a smaller on-screen keyboard

You can make your keyboard size smaller so that it resembles your phone's keyboard.

Open your device's on-screen keyboard.
To make your on-screen keyboard smaller, tap the Floating keyboard icon. It looks like a keyboard with a line under it.
To restore the keyboard to its default size, tap the Floating keyboard icon again.

Change the on-screen keyboard theme

At the top of the keyboard, in the suggestions bar, tap Settings .
Tap Theme select a theme.
Tap Apply.

Learn how to change other keyboard settings.

Add or remove an input language

At the top of the keyboard, in the suggestions bar, tap Settings .
To add a language, tap Languages Add keyboard.
To remove a language, tap Edit select a language tap Delete .

Type with capital letters, emoji, symbols, or accents

When your on-screen keyboard is open, you can change how words appear when you tap the keys.

Turn Caps Lock on or off

The Caps Lock button is above the left shift button. Tap it to turn it on or off.

Insert emoji or other images

If your on-screen keyboard doesn't have an emoji button:

At the top of the keyboard, in the suggestions bar, tap Settings .
Tap Emojis, Stickers & GIFs.
Tap a setting to turn it on or off:
- To turn the emoji button on or off, tap Emojis in symbols keyboard.
- To add a fast access emoji row, tap Emoji fast-access row.
- Tap other settings to turn them on or off.

To add emojis to your documents, emails, or chat sessions:

Open your device's on-screen keyboard.
Tap Emoji the emoji or graphic you want to insert.

Tip: If the emoji button doesn't appear on the on-screen keyboard after you enable it, restart your tablet and try again.

Insert a symbol

Open your device's on-screen keyboard.
Tap ?123 =\< the symbol you want to insert.

Note: Not all keyboards support accented letters. To switch to or add a keyboard in a different language, find the settings row above your keyboard tap Settings Languages .

Open and change physical keyboard settings

If you have a compatible physical keyboard, you can connect it to your Pixel Tablet and change its settings.

Open your device's Settings app .
Tap System Keyboard Physical keyboard.
Under "Physical keyboard":
- Change the physical keyboard layout: Choose your current physical keyboard choose the language for which you want to change the layout choose a layout.
Under "Options":
- Use on-screen keyboard: Turn this on if you want to keep your virtual keyboard on the tablet's screen when the physical keyboard is active.
- Keyboard shortcuts: Tap to display a list of useful keyboard shortcuts.
- Modifier keys: Tap this setting to change the behavior of physical keyboard keys like Caps lock, Ctrl, and Alt.

Note: When you connect a keyboard to your Pixel Tablet for the first time, your physical keyboard settings are updated to include the languages enabled for your on-screen keyboard. If your physical keyboard has a specific layout, it's detected when the keyboard is connected to your Pixel Tablet.

Troubleshoot issues

If the on-screen keyboard won't appear, make sure you select a valid text entry field. You can test fields on different menus, apps, or websites.
If you use voice typing but no words show up, check that your microphone isn't being used by other open programs.
If you have an external microphone, make sure it's plugged in securely, isn't muted, and has up-to-date software.

Was this helpful?

How can we improve it?