Typing on Android Tablets

Many people have a tablet with Android as the operating system. For typing, there is an on-screen keyboard in the system. This will enter text.

Your tablet manufacturer determines which version of Android you have and when the device gets updates. Different tablets may therefore have different versions of Android. The tips in this article apply to most versions of Android. There are minor differences in the on-screen keyboard between the different versions. However, the operation is similar. If things are a little different for you, it’s a matter of experimenting with the available buttons and options.

See how to type and edit text on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (Android 4.0) in this video. The rest of the article provides instructions that will help you find your way on other Android tablets as well.

Do you find the sound of keystrokes on your tablet a nuisance? You can read how to disable this function in our tip ‘Turn off key sound on Samsung Galaxy Tab’.

Does the tablet finish the words for you as you type? The function that takes care of that is called ‘Automatic Replace’. You can turn the feature off or on as desired.

Tab A (Android 6.0)

• Tap on apps.
• Tap on Institutions.
• Tap on Language and input.
• Under ‘Keyboard preferences’, tap. and input’ on Samsung keyboard.
• Tap on smart typing.
• Tap on Replace automatically.
• Drag the slider behind ‘On’ to the left. The bar turns gray and the option is disabled.

Tab A (Android 7.0 and 8.0)

• Tap on apps.
• Tap on Institutions.
• Tap on General management.
• Tap on Language and input.
• Tap on On-Screen Keyboard > Samsung keyboard.
• Tap on smart typing.
• Tap on Predictive text.
• Drag the slider behind ‘Automatic replace’ to the left. The bar turns gray and the option is disabled.

Re-enable auto-replace?
Follow the steps above and drag the slider after ‘Automatic replace’ to the right. The bar turns green and the option is enabled.

If you do use Autocorrect, suggestions will appear for the words you may mean as you type. Type a word. Word suggestions already appear as you type. If you already see what you want, tap on that word. The word is directly in your text.

However, you don’t necessarily have to take a word in this way. You can also type the word all by yourself. Then ignore the words that the tablet makes of it and just keep typing.

Insert text somewhere by tapping where you want to place the new text. But sometimes you don’t get exactly where you want to be and the cursor appears in the wrong place. Here we are going to insert an extra space into existing text:

• Briefly tap the screen near where you need to be.
• A sort of mouse pointer appears.
• You can drag the pointer to the right place with your finger.
• By tilting your finger, you can pinpoint the spot very precisely.
• Release the screen and with a tap on the space bar there is now a space.

It is also possible to select (parts of) text, copy and paste elsewhere. Handy if, for example, you want to email a web address to someone.

When you keep your finger on the text a little longer, two check boxes appear around a word. You can slide it to select more or less text. There are several options available at that time. For example, you can cut or copy the text.

• For example, tap To copy.
• Tap the screen for two seconds at the end of the text.
• The option to paste the text will appear. Tap there To stick.

The text is pasted.