If there’s one place the place saved seconds can critically add up, it is in your smartphone’s on-screen keyboard.This does not get almost sufficient consideration amongst common tech-totin’ animals, however Android has an superior benefit over that (cough, cough) different cell platform with regards to textual content enter. All it takes is 2 minutes of making an attempt to sort textual content on an iDevice to see simply how a lot of a superb factor we have goin’ (and to make your self wish to gouge your eyes out with the closest overpriced Apple accent).And you understand what? While we have no scarcity of commendable Android keyboard apps to select from, Google’s personal Gboard keyboard actually is the proper instance of how easy, efficient, and expandable the Android typing expertise might be. Gboard works properly proper out of the digital field, and when you begin poking round within the mustiest corners of its settings, you will uncover some tucked-away treasures that may inject all kinds of seconds-saving sorcery into your Android enter course of.So crack these phalanges and put together for pro-level productiveness: We’re diving in deep to Gboard’s least traveled surfaces to take your Android typing expertise to dizzying new speeds.Gboard setting No. 1: Swifter image summoningFirst and foremost, if you happen to’re something like most dual-thumbed Android telephone homeowners, you in all probability waste tons of time trying to find symbols in your Android gadget’s keyboard — every thing from asterisks to at-signs and pluses to parentheses.Well, my fellow fast-fingered feline, there’s a higher means. Start by heading into Gboard’s settings (by tapping the gear-shaped image within the keyboard’s prime row — or, if you happen to do not see that image there, tapping the three-line menu icon in that very same space after which discovering the gear-shaped icon on the display screen that comes up subsequent). Then:
Tap “Preferences.”
Scroll all the way in which all the way down to the underside of the subsequent display screen and discover the “Long-press for symbols” possibility.
Tap the toggle subsequent to it to show it on.
Now again out of that menu, and when Gboard comes again into view, search for the small characters within the nook of each letter. Press and maintain your fingers to any of these letters, and hey — how ’bout that?! JRSummoning symbols has by no means been so speedy.Gboard setting No. 2: An even sooner urgent actionThat symbol-summoning tweak is supreme, however do not transfer on along with your pretty life simply but — ‘trigger there is a actually efficient option to make it much more environment friendly.March your hindquarters again into these Gboard settings, and this time:
Tap “Preferences.”
Scroll down all the way in which and search for the road labeled “Key long-press delay.”
Tap it — then slide that slider all the way down to concerning the 200ms mark.
That’ll make the time it takes for a long-press to be registered in your keyboard noticeably smaller — which in flip will allow you to faucet into these secondary image shortcuts with out having to carry a key down for almost as lengthy.Try it out for some time on the 200ms setting and see whatcha assume. I discover that degree to be an ideal steadiness of pace and accuracy, with long-presses registering quick sufficient to keep away from interrupting your typing stream but additionally not taking place so simply that you just’re prone to set off ’em inadvertently.You might need to lift or decrease the extent slightly to seek out the just-right spot that tickles your typing fancy, however no matter the place precisely you land, I’d be prepared to wager you will find yourself with a a lot better scenario than what the usual Gboard setup provides you by default.Gboard setting No. 3: The quickest quantity accessUsing these secondary characters is a good way to get to numbers rapidly. If you end up typing tons of digits in your Android gadget and wish to make numbers even simpler to entry, although, Gboard’s received you coated. Dig again into these Gboard settings, then:
Tap “Preferences.”
Flip the toggle subsequent to “Number row” on the prime of the display screen.
That’ll provide you with a everlasting row of numbers on the prime of your more and more customized Android keyboard — thus making each digit only one faucet away as an alternative of a faucet and a maintain. JRAnd here is a hidden bonus tip associated to that: You’d by no means comprehend it, as there isn’t any seen indication, however after getting that quantity row energetic, you possibly can press and maintain any of these characters to get a pop-up listing of associated numerical choices — fractions, superscripts, and even an on-demand holographic illustration of The Count from Sesame Street.* JR* Holographic muppet accessible solely throughout intense hallucinations.Gboard setting No. 4: Easier emoji expressionMaybe you are much less of a numbers particular person and extra of an emoji creature. Hey, all of us have alternative ways of expressing ourselves.If you are often injecting smilies, kitten faces, and/or piggy snoots into your Important Business Communications, you will positively wish to be aware of Gboard’s exceptionally environment friendly emoji-enhancing choices.So get your self again to these Gboard settings, faucet “Emojis, Stickers, & GIFs,” and pay particular consideration to a few potentialities inside that space:
First, the “Emoji fast-access row” toggle will add a whole devoted row of not too long ago used emojis onto the highest of your keyboard.
If you wish to take it down a notch from there however nonetheless hold your favourite smiley symbols shut, strive the “Emojis in symbols keyboard” change as an alternative.
Or, for a extra contextual and on-demand strategy, flip on the “Emojis” possibility below “Suggestions while typing.” That’ll trigger choose emojis to seem inside the usual Gboard textual content suggestion space, proper alongside your common next-word predictions.
JRNow, that is I name efficient symbolism.Gboard setting No. 5: Custom keyboard heightPrefer a extra plentiful area for plopping down your plus-sized fingies? Whether you have added further rows into your Gboard setup otherwise you’re simply craving a roomier association, take whole management of your Android keyboard interface by making your keyboard the precise proper measurement for you:
Back within the Gboard settings, faucet “Preferences.”
This time, discover the road for “Keyboard height.”
Tap that dangerous boy and experiment with the completely different accessible choices.
JR
Rejoice (and/or rejuice, as wanted).
Gboard setting No. 6: The one-tap auto-correct undoAuto-correct is concurrently the most effective fashionable tech improvements recognized to mankind and some of the maddening bits of computerized wizardry to ever enter our lives.The subsequent time your Android keyboard auto-corrects one thing incorrectly, although, do not scream and throw your telephone on the nearest bovine. Or, I do not know, do — if that bovine was actually asking for it.But both means, make this snazzy little Gboard settings adjustment, and you will have quite a bit much less frustration:
In the “Text correction” part of Gboard’s settings, discover the road labeled “Undo auto-correct on backspace.”
Make positive the toggle subsequent to it’s within the on place.
With that teensy tweak in place, anytime Gboard modifications one thing you have typed and you are not thrilled with its correction, you possibly can merely hit the Backspace key on the keyboard — the left-facing arrow form with an “x” in it, in Gboard’s lower-right nook.As lengthy as you do it pretty rapidly after the auto-correct happens, earlier than you hit some other keys, that’ll change your phrase again to the way in which you’d initially entered it — faulty or not. And that is a pleasant sort of energy to have.Gboard setting No. 7: The sentence-ending step-saverLast however not least, let us take a look at one among Gboard’s handiest and in addition easiest step-savers — one thing that for some cause is not usually enabled by default.I’m talkin’ concerning the keyboard’s means to robotically fill in a interval for you once you hit the spacebar twice on the finish of a sentence. Handy, no?All you have gotta do is fireplace up the related setting one time:
Back within the Gboard settings “Text correction” part, discover the road for “Autospace after punctuation.” (For some cause, it is nonetheless thought-about a beta function — and it is accessible provided that you are utilizing Gboard with U.S. English as its language. So if you happen to do not see it in your setup, that is in all probability why.)
Turn that toggle into the on place.
And at that time, all that is left is to sort, sort, sort away — while basking within the information that ending a sentence won’t ever take greater than a single double-space.Now, if solely ending precise conversations may very well be really easy.Get much more superior shortcut information with my free Android Shortcut Supercourse. You’ll be taught tons of time-saving tips in your telephone!

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