Gboard is a re-brand of what used to be called Google Keyboard and it contains more features over its predecessor including in-built Google search, multiple language support, and integrating smart suggestions into your typing. It also has contextual awareness, so if your grammar is incorrect sometimes it will try fix that too. The app is overall a huge improvement over the old Google Keyboard, as it does everything better than what it used to.
However, the application lacks some options. Some would argue the keyboard is too small. I prefer the keyboard to be small, using as little screen space as possible, but some people prefer it to be bigger as a smaller keyboard can lead to more inaccurate typing, which I do agree with. While there is a Keyboard height setting in Gboard preferences, some might find that even the tallest option is not tall enough.
Delving into the applications data folder located in /data/data, we found some interesting modifiable strings that allow you to modify the keyboard height even beyond its highest level. This guide requires root access, as we will modify a file located in the /data partition.
You will need root access on your phone to follow this tutorial. You can get root access by either flashing Magisk or SuperSU after unlocking your devices bootloader. Note, any other modifications you make within the file are not guaranteed to work, and may break Gboard.
Adjust Gboards Keyboard Height Manually
Step 1
Firstly as mentioned you will need root access and some form of root enabled file explorer. You can use MiXplorer from here on XDA if you wish, or another file explorer like Solid Explorer. Make sure to grant root access to the file explorer.
Step 2
Navigate to the following folder.
And look for the file named com.google.android.inputmethod.latin_preferences.xml. This file contains various preferences relating to Gboard, including the two strings we will look for to modify height and sensitivity. Simply open this file as a text file.
Step 3
You can use the find feature of your favourite text editor to edit the strings as this is a large file. Firstly search for keyboard_height_ratio. You should be brought to a string which looks like this.
You can modify this number any way you like. A larger number will increase the height, a lower number will decrease it. Once you have done this, you have to force close Gboard for it to launch with the new setting.
As you can see, the height has increased. This is because I increased the height from 1 to 1.5. You can set this to any range of values you like, but be careful as a value too large or too small wont let you edit the file unless you clear data for Gboard or use a different keyboard to modify it back.
Bonus Possible Swipe Sensitivity Tweak
This is a swipe sensitivity tweak, which may not actually do anything. The string exists and is modifiable, but we dont know if it actually changes anything as it is hard to tell when swiping. To edit this, navigate to the same file again and this time locate the following string.
And edit the value as you wish. Again force close Gboard (following the screenshots above) and the tweak should theoretically be activated. If you notice a different let us know!
Explanation
Most application settings are actually just inputs that write a value to a location in a file, and the application reads this for its configuration. These two tweaks do not have a front-end within the Gboard application for changing them, however the app still reads them. These are likely to be experimental features that Google either plan to add or havent removed yet. You can have a look through the preferences file and see if you see anything else of interest that may be worth modifying, and if so let us know!
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Googles official Android keyboard used to be the basic option, something youd replace with a more capable app as soon as possible. Maybe you havent been paying attention, but thats no longer the case. The Google Keyboard has stealthily become a fantastic input method with a series of impressive updates. However, many of the coolest things are hidden in the settings or just not obvious. Here are the five coolest features of Google Keyboard you probably dont know about.
One-handed mode
Big phone, small hands? One-handed mode shifts everything over so its easier to reach.
Phones are much larger than they used to be, and typing one-handed on a monstrous phablet can be a frustrating experience. The Google Keyboard can help you avoid all that hand-stretching with one-handed mode. You can activate this feature by long-pressing on the comma or enter key. Slide up to the icon that looks like a hand holding a phone, and the keyboard will shift over to the left (comma shortcut) or right (enter shortcut).
This puts the keys closer to your thumb on one side, allowing you to enter text more comfortably. Theres an arrow on the side of the shrunken keyboard that can be used to switch the side its on, along with a button that expands to two-handed mode again.
Advanced gestures
Master advanced gestures to make text selection easier.
Gesture typing has been a thing for a long timevirtually everyone is aware of this feature. What you may not be familiar with are the advanced gestures Google has built into the keyboard. The next time youre fumbling with the cursor, remember that you can just swipe across the space bar to make it easier. Drag left and right, and the cursor will move along with your finger. Its much more precise than grabbing that little handle and dragging it around.
The other gesture is especially useful if youre a proponent of gesture typing. You can slide left from the delete key to slowly select one word at a time with your cursor. When you release, all the words you highlighted will be deleted.
Keyboard height adjustment
Do you want taller, easier-to-hit keys? Or more screen area above them?
Android devices come in all shapes and sizes, and the standard keyboard might not scale equally well on all of them. For instance, maybe the default keyboard size is unnecessarily large on your big phablet. Well, you can fix this with a quick trip into the Google Keyboard settings.
Find Preferences in the keyboard settings and scroll down to Keyboard Height. This option pulls up a slider with several predefined points including short, mid-short, normal, mid-tall, and tall. Simply choose the height you want and press OK.
Key borders and themes
The Google Keyboard got a substantial redesign a while back to match the material design aesthetic of Android 5.0 and higher. Not everyone was thrilled with the default look, but more recent updates have expanded your options.
The latest Google Keyboard offers a variety of colored themes.
The Google Keyboards theme is mostly white and there are no key borders. If that is not to your liking, open the Preferences menu in the keyboard settings and check the top of the list. On the new Android Keyboard (version 5.1 or newer), youll have a set of colored keyboard themes to choose from. On earlier versions, you can switch between the default Material Light or a Material Dark theme. More importantly, theres a toggle right below for key borders. That gives it a much more traditional keyboard vibe and can be nicer to type on.
Number pad layout
Got a bunch of numbers to enter? Use the 10-key number pad.
Entering numbers with a touchscreen keyboard isnt the best experience. You can long-press on the top row or open the special characters interface to peck at the dedicated number row there. The Google Keyboard actually has a full number pad layout too, and unlike some keyboards, its available in any app.
To get the number pad, tap the special character key in the lower left corner of the keyboard. Then, tap the key just to the left of the spacebar with the numbers 1-4 in a little square. Youll get a cool little number pad along with common mathematical operators. This is really handy if you need to input more than a few numbers.
The Google Keyboard is already great, but were expecting some more big updates that coincide with the Android 7.0 (Nougat) release. Any new features should be available on all devices via a simple app update.
Google Keyboard, which comes pre-installed on Nexus devices (and is available for all others from the Play Store), is one of the most functional keyboards currently available for Android. With features like gesture-based typing, next-word prediction, and even text expansion macros, its a very capable form of text input.
The only category that the Google Keyboard can be said to be lacking in is form, not functionality. While some custom themes are available, there arent really any other way of customizing the style of the keyboard, so Android users have to look to third-party developers if they want to spruce up the defaults.
This is where developer Amit Bagaria and his Xposed module XCoolDroid come into play. With a simple-to-use interface, this module allows you to resize the Google Keyboard and even the spacing of the keys, all without sacrificing any functionality.
Requirements
- Rooted Android Device
- Xposed Framework installed
- Unknown Sources enabled
- Google Keyboard
Step 1: Install XCoolDroid
From your Xposed Installer app, head to the Download section and search XCoolDroid, then tap the top result.
XCoolDroid is still in its beta phase, so youll have to change one option here to download it. To do this, swipe over to the Settings tab and tap Versions to be shown, then select Beta.
Next, swipe back over to the Versions tab and tap the Download button next to the most recent entry. Alternatively, you can grab the latest APK directly from the Xposed Repository online.
Androids installer interface should come up after a few seconds, so tap Install on the next screen.
When thats finished, youll get a notification from Xposed telling you that the module isnt activated yet and that a reboot is in order. Just tap the Activate and reboot button here, and Xposed will take care of the rest automatically.
Step 2: Adjust the Keyboards Height & Spacing
When your phone finishes booting back up, go ahead and open XCoolDroid from your app drawer. The XExternalSD option allows apps to save data on an external SD card in KitKat, which is a nice bonus. But the main feature here is under the Google Keyboard entry. Tap that menu item to explore the options.
From here, use the Keyboard Height slider to adjust the overall height of the Google Keyboard. Then, use the Vertical Gap slider to change the spacing between the individual keys. The developers default settings of 75% height and 50% spacing are great starting points.
Step 3: Apply Your Settings
When youre ready to try out your keyboard tweaks, tap the Force Stop Google Keyboard button. At this point, XCoolDroid will ask for root access, so tap Grant on the popup.
Now, just tap any text field to view your changes. As I mentioned earlier, the keyboard retains all of its existing functionality even after youve slimmed it down, so gesture typing still works flawlessly.
What percentages did you use to customize your Google Keyboards dimensions? Let us know in the comments section below, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.
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As clunky as the user interface is, one of the joys of using LGs software atop Android is the fact that you can adjust the height of your keyboard. Feel like going two-handed? Make it short. One-handed day? Make it tall. You just had to use an LG phone to get this magic out of the box.
But you arent limited anymore as Google Keyboard has made the big change in providing five height options in the settings menu for the keyboard. Its not as convenient as dragging the top edge of the keyboard to whatever height youd like, but its a start and its nice to see it included in a full point update to version 5.0.
Since pretty much all Android phones come with Googles stock keyboard, you can just opt for it in the settings and tinker around a bit once you have the update ready.
Update: Additional features included one-tap access to dedicated emoji and number pads, a one-handed mode and the inclusion of long-pressing for hinted symbols. What do you think? Overdue features or is Google right to keep its pace?
Jules WangJules Wang is News Editor for Pocketnow and one of the hosts of the Pocketnow Weekly Podcast. He came onto the team in 2014 as an intern editing and producing videos and the podcast while he was studying journalism at Emerson College. He graduated the year after and entered into his current position at Pocketnow, full-time.
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- 11/17/2018
The on-screen keyboard displays automatically on the screen when you need to enter text. To manually display the keyboard, simply tap a text field where you want to enter text.
Note: Some Settings, Menus, or Icons may differ from that of your device, this article should only be used as a general reference.
- Keyboard Tips & Tricks
- Changing the Keyboard Height and Layout
- Keyboard Settings
- tap Settings > General Tab > Language & input > tap Current Keyboard
Select which keyboard you want to be active.
Note: If you do not see the keyboard you are looking for
Tap Manage Keyboards.
Toggle the keyboard on of your choice on
Press back or the the Back button or back arrow at the top left
Tap Current Keyboard
Select which keyboard you want to be active.
To Add a language
Tap Settings > General Tab > Language & input > Language
If you do not see the language you want active, tap add language
Select the language and the origin you wish to add
Note: You are able to press and hold to drag the languages to set a priority order
To remove a language
tap the trash can at the top right
Select the language you wish to remove > tap remove
Within the LG Keyboard there are various methods to enter in text.
QWERTY is the default input method on the LG Keyboard.
Handwriting allows you to draw the letters on the screen to enter letters. With the LG Keyboard open, long press Microphone and tap the Pencil . To use this feature you will need to download and install the input language data, tap Yes when prompted. Tap additional languages to download from the menu displayed as needed. To exit Handwriting mode, tap
Path input allows you to enter a word by drawing a path through all the letters. With the LG Keyboard open, long press Microphone and tap Settings . Ensure Path input option is tunred ON
Voice input uses Google voice recognition to convert speech to text. With the LG Keyboard open, tap the Microphone
Phone Keyboard allows you to use a dial pad to enter letters via T9 entery (default when selected).
Change the themes, options, and settings for the LG Keyboard.
Tap Settings > General tab > Language & input > On-screen keyboard > LG Keyboard > Keyboard height and layout.
Allows you to change voice input, handwriting and symbol keys, to the left and right of the space bar for quick access.
Tap QWERTY keyboard layout. Select and drag to add or delete keys or change the order. Tap to reset the keyboard layout to default.
When placing the Settings key, you are able to choose for single click if you want it to be voice input, settings or clipboard. No matter which of the three you choose, if you press and hold the key, you will be able to see all three.
Shows numeric keys on the top row of the keyboard. Toggle Extended keyboard ON to enable.
Allows you to adjust the height of the keyboard. Tap Keyboard height, then drag the handle up or down to adjust the height. Try out the keyboard before applying changes. Tap to reset the keyboard layout to default. Tap Done on the keyboard to apply changes.
Allows you to select a landscape keyboard mode from different choices.
Allows you to spread the keyboard when in landscape view. Toggle Split keyboard ON . With the LG Keyboard open in landscape view, place two fingers on the center of the keyboard and drag outward. Each half withdraws to its respective side. Alternately place two fingers on the outside of the keyboard and drag inward to return to normal.
Allows you to adjust the position of the keyboard for easier one-handed use. Toggle One-handed operation ON . Tap the arrow on the side of the keyboard to adjust it left or right.
Allows you to adjust the level the keyboard attempts to correct the words you type. Tap Auto-correction and choose from the options displayed.
Downloads an update to get more words suggestions. Tap Update word suggestions, the first time you will need to tap Accept to the terms of service When complete the option will be grayed out.
Tap Additional settings for a number of other settings options. Tap Help and Swipe through for a guide of some of the keyboard features.
Allows you to toggle on and off:
- Vibrate keys
- Sound on press
- Pop-up on key press
- Auto capitalization
- Auto punctuation
and you can set the Touch and hold timer between 0.2 to 1.0 seconds.
January 26, 2017 Leave a comment 407 Views
Gboard is the renewed Google keyboard that offers many features similar to the earlier keyboard, although with some considerable improvements and some added customization options. For example, it is possible to modify the height of the keyboard so that it occupies more or less space on the screen.
What change the Gboard height?
When we change the height of the Gboard we are getting the Google keyboard occupy more or less space on the screen. This can be positive or negative, and much depends on our smartphone and how use you it. Obviously, not all phones have the same screen size, or all users write equal. It is not the same type with a single hand to write with two. It depends a lot of mobile and every one of us. Thats why Gboard comes with five different height options, so that we can select what we want.
In this way, if your mobile phone has a very small screen, you might want to reduce the height of the keyboard that does not occupy much space on the screen. If it costs us to write accurately, perhaps more interesting to expand the height of the keyboard so that the keys are more separated from one another and are easier to write with precision.
How to change the theme and appearance on Google Gboard keypad
How to change the height of the Gboard
To change the height of the Gboard only Google keyboard, we will have to go to the applications, and search here for Gboard. The access we will find the option preferences, and within this section, there will be an option that is keyboard height. The Normal option is selected, but we can move to left or right so that it is lower or higher, having a total of five different levels of height. It can be a valuable modification to accommodate our smartphone keypad, and not rely on design in Google have been considered the best, but which for us will be most useful.
The article changes the height of the Gboard, Google keyboard was published in AndroidAyuda.
Smartphone manufacturers have been striving endlessly to create flawless displays, which deliver top-of-the-line media streaming/viewing experience. As it result, mobile screens have grown bigger and more vibrant, while pushing reachability down the pecking order.
Typing, especially, can become taxing on such beefy displays, but thankfully, app developers still have a bit of empathy left for users and have taken measures to assure one-handed usability. In this section, well take a look at four of the most popular keyboard apps and explore their resizing options.
- How to resize your Samsung Keyboard
- How to resize your Swiftkey keyboard
- How to Resize your Gboard (Google keyboard)
- How to resize your Fleksy keyboard
How to resize your Samsung Keyboard
Step 1. Open the personalization view by pressing the Switcher.
Step 2. Tap on the More icon (three dots).
Step 3. Select Modes.
Step 4. Tap on Keyboard size.
Step 5. Resize.
Step 6. Press Done.
How to resize your Swiftkey keyboard
Step 1. Open the Swiftkey app.
Step 2. Under Keyboard, tap on Typing.
Step 3. Tap on Resize.
Step 4. Select height and width.
Step 5. Press OK.
How to Resize your Gboard (Google keyboard)
Unlike Samsung and Swiftkey, Google doesnt allow you to change your keyboard width and height all in one place. So, youll have to enable one-handed mode and adjust your keyboards height separately.
Step 1. Open the GBoard app.
Step 2. Go to Preferences.
Step 3. Under Layout, tap on One-handed mode and choose either Right-handed or Left-handed mode.
Step 4. Tap on Keyboard height, choose from five options short, mid-short, normal, mid-tall, tall.
Step 5. Press OK.
How to resize your Fleksy keyboard
Step 1. Open the Fleksy keyboard app.
Step 2. Go to the Size tab.
Step 3. Pick from any of the three sizes big, medium, and small.
A mediocre engineer hoping to do something extraordinary with his pen (well, keyboard). Loves Pink Floyd, lives football, and is always up for a cup of Americano.
No one wants to type on an ugly keyboard. While there are keyboards out there that go a bit overboard on themes, Google Keyboard likes to keep it simple. Always clean, always minimal. What you may not realize, however, is that it does have a few themes tucked inside its Settings menu.
If youre running the newest version of Google Keyboard (5.0), accessing the Settings menu is the same as previous versions: long-press the comma (or whatever key is in that highlighted location belowit changes according to what app the input field is in), then tap Google Keyboard settings.
From there, all the visual settings are now nestled under Preferences. Go ahead and tap that.
The first entry in this menu is Themes, and tapping that will open the selection box that now only has two options: Material Light and Material Dark. The Holo themes of previous versions are gone, which really makes sense as Google has been pushing Material for the past couple of years.
Once youve made your selection, this box will disappear. There is one more customization method in this version of the Keyboard that wasnt available in previous versions, however: Show key border. This puts a colored border between each key, giving them separation from each other. This is the perfect answer to the gripe many users have had about Google Keyboards Material themes since the keyboard was released to the public.
Thats ityoure done. Back of this menu and enjoy your new keyboard. Youll type faster now, I promise.
While it may seem trivial when it comes to overall functionality (the keyboards performance and accuracy do not change with the theme), its amazing how something small like a key border can help users become more accurate. Its all about jumping those mental barriers!
As mentioned yesterday, not many people know that Google Keyboard has settings that you can tweak and today were going to start diving into these various options.
There are multiple areas within the Google Keyboard section and you may have already explored around since I recommended it yesterday. If not, then were going to take our first look into this area together today. I thought about breaking up these features into different posts as I felt that it would help those who are using Google to search for these types of features.
I may do that at a later time but I changed my mind on it for now.
So instead, were going to look into the different sections of the Google Keyboard settings as a whole and today were going to start with the Advanced Settings section. There are a handful of different features that can be tweaked from here so lets see how to access the Advanced Settings section first.
Google Keyboard Advanced Settings
- Launch the Settings Application
- Scroll Down and Then Tap on the Language & Input Option
- Look in the Keyboard & Input Methods Section
- Tap on Google Keyboard(you may have to have it enabled/selected first)
- Tap on Advanced at the Bottom
This just what I showed you yesterday, except that were going into the Advanced section once we have accessed the Settings of the Google Keyboard. So lets take a look at what each of these settings do and how they can effect your interactions with Google Keyboard.
Disable Google Keyboard Key Popup Delay
Each time you press a key in Google Keyboard, you will probably notice that there is a huge pop-up that appears to show you exactly which letter you pressed. This is really handy because it can be a way for you to catch typos before you complete a word. Some people enjoy this feature but others do not and Google actually puts a little delay in the amount of time that it takes for that pop-up to go away. To disable this delay, simply dive into the Advanced settings as I talked about earlier and then change this setting to No Delay.
Adjust Google Keyboard Vibration Duration
Theres a way for users to completely disable the vibration of the Google Keyboard key presses altogether, and Ill show you how to do this when we talk about the Preferences section of the Google Keyboard settings. For those who actually enjoy the tactile feedback of key presses, then you might be happy to see that you can adjust this duration from within the Advanced Settings section of Google Keyboard. As shown here, you can adjust the slider to the right to increase the duration, or bring it all the way to the left to set it to the system defaults.
Adjust Google Keyboard Long Press Delay
This is one of my favorite Android keyboard customization settings because I tend to be a fast typer and have always disliked being forced to wait for the long press pop-up before I can continue on. For example, every time that I need to set SwiftKey back up again, I always go in and adjust the long press delay setting to 100ms. This means that I only have to wait 100ms after tapping and holding down on a keyboard button before the long press option comes up. Since the number pad in embedded in the top row of the Google Keyboard(and SwiftKey), lowering this option will lessen the amount of time that you have to tap and hold on one of those keys before the number option appears.
Disable Google Keyboard Statistical Data
Google uses statistical data for the Google Keyboard to help improve things like fixing typos better, knowing which words to suggest more and just overall usage data with how you use the keyboard. I can only imagine the things that Android engineers take into account when analyzing this data. Some of you might be paranoid about what data is being sent back to Google but I can assure you that it is anonymized and cant be used to identify you at all. Then there are those that want to minimize battery usage or even reduce any feature that could have an impact on performance.
Technically this feature shouldnt have any negligible affect on these, but I can understand those who might feel otherwise. Either way, these types of features can always be disabled and this is where you disable this feature. Sadly, this feature is enabled by default so youll have to go into the Advanced Settings in order to disable it.
Adjust Keypress Sound Volume
Theres another feature in here that lets you adjust the key press sound volume but as you can see from my initial screenshot, it is grayed out on my device. This is because my Nexus 5 is on silent mode so there isnt any volume to adjust here. However, if you dont have your device on silent then you will be able to adjust this volume right here. This will let you make the tick sounds that you hear when typing louder or quieter. Again, there are some out there who might like it one way other the other so thankfully Google has given us the option to set it to our preferred level.
Theres a lot more to go into here, but I believe we are done looking in the Advanced Settings section. As always, if you have a question about one of these options then please dont hesitate to leave a comment at the bottom of this article.