1. Access Samsung Keyboard Settings
To customize Samsung Keyboard, you will occasionally need to open its “Settings”. Follow the following steps to do so. Pro Tip: Tap on the Settings icon next to Samsung Keyboard while switching between keyboard apps to open keyboard settings.
2. Customize Samsung Keyboard Toolbar
The top row in the Samsung Keyboard is called the toolbar. It houses shortcut icons for various features offered by the keyboard like clipboard, emojis, text editing, keyboard size, and more. The toolbar can hold up to seven shortcuts. You can customize the toolbar by adding, removing, and rearranging the shortcut icons. If you don’t like the Samsung Keyboard toolbar, you can stop it from showing up too.
3. Access Symbols Quickly
Generally, you have to long-press a keyboard key to insert the symbol associated with it. But you can access popular symbols quickly by hitting the period (.) and comma (,) keys as well. Simply, long-press on one of these keys to access the additional list of symbols. Then, drag the finger to the symbol that you want to insert in the text. Tip: Go to “Samsung Keyboard Settings-> Swipe, touch, and feedback”. Enable the toggle for “Keep symbol panel open” to add multiple symbols at a time.
4. Customize Symbols
If you don’t like the default set of symbols that show up when pressing the period (.) key, you can replace the characters with the ones that you use frequently. For that, go to “Samsung Keyboard Settings→ Custom Symbols”. Tap on the symbol that you want to change and select its replacement symbol from the keyboard. Tip: To switch back to the default set of symbols, tap on the “Reset” button
5. Add and Customize Emojis, GIFs, and Stickers
All the emojis, GIFs, and stickers offered by the Samsung Keyboard are housed under the “Emoji” icon in the toolbar. Here are the steps to add, use, and customize emojis and stickers on Samsung Keyboard: Pro Tip: You can also add direct shortcut icons to emojis and GIFs to the Samsung Keyboard from the expanded toolbar.
6. Suggest Stickers and Emojis While Typing
Samsung Keyboard offers a smart typing feature where it suggests emojis and stickers while typing. You don’t even need to open the emoji or sticker panel. Note: This feature doesn’t work in all apps.
7. Use Universal Search Button
Samsung Keyboard offers a universal search button in the toolbar. You can use it to find emojis, stickers, GIFs, contacts, images in your gallery, YouTube videos, and similar things without opening another app.
8. Use Clipboard
The clipboard is a section that holds your recently copied text and images so that you can easily paste them somewhere else without manually accessing them again. Note: Screenshots will also show up in the keyboard’s clipboard as those are copied to the phone’s clipboard automatically. Pro Tip: To pin or delete multiple items, tap on the respective icon in the clipboard panel. Then, select the desired items.
9. Change Keyboard Size and Position
You can increase or decrease the keyboard size and set it as per your preference. You can also change its position and move it upwards instead of keeping it just above the navigation bar. When you move the keyboard upwards, you will see an empty space between the keyboard and the navigation bar.
10. Switch Different Standard Keyboard Modes
Samsung lets you use the keyboard in three modes: standard, floating, and split. The split mode comes quite handy on foldable devices and phones with a big display. Moreover, you can even specify the mode that you want to use on the main screen or the cover screen on foldable devices.
11. Customize Appearance of Samsung Keyboard
You can modify the theme of the Samsung Keyboard in multiple ways. For instance, to enable high contrast color, use themes from Galaxy Store, or enable dark mode. For more details, go ahead and read our detailed guide on how to change the color of Samsung Keyboard. You can also use the Keys Café app in Good Lock to customize all the aspects of the keyboard like individual key size, animations, add background pictures, and much more.
12. Turn off Number Key Row and Hide Alternative Characters
Samsung allows you to customize the keyboard layout in multiple ways. For instance, you can disable the number key row, hide the accented characters on the keys, hide the (.) and (,) keys to increase the size of the spacebar. Open “Settings” on your Samsung Keyboard and go to “Layout”. Here you can enable or disable number keys, and alternative characters, and change the spacebar row style.
13. Convert Handwriting to Typed Text
If you enjoy writing instead of typing, you will like the handwriting mode offered by Samsung Keyboard. You can use your finger or a stylus to write text and the keyboard will automatically convert it into typed text.
14. Use Voice Typing
In addition to handwriting mode, you can also use your voice to dictate text. Tap on the “Voice input” icon in the keyboard’s toolbar and start speaking whatever you want the keyboard to type. Pro Tip: You can activate voice typing using the Spacebar as well. Open Settings-> Swipe, touch, and feedback→ Touch and hold the space bar”. Select “Voice typing”.
15. Use Swipe Typing
You can use gestures to type quickly using Samsung Keyboard. Simply slide your finger across the letters that you want to type.
16. Translate Text
Samsung Keyboard offers a native feature to translate text on the go. You can use it inside any app like WhatsApp to translate the text that you type.
17. Create Shortcuts for Frequently Used Phrases
If you type certain long words or sentences frequently, you can create shortcuts for them. Later, you can simply type the shortcut and its expanded version will show up in the toolbar. To give you an example, I have created a shortcut for when I want to type “Make Tech Easier and I’ve set it as “MTE”. Tip: Hit the “Delete” icon to select a shortcut that you want to remove.
18. Easily Edit Text
Navigating through long text often becomes difficult on mobile screens. This can be avoided by using dedicated text editing controls on the Samsung Keyboard.
19. Use Spacebar to Control Cursor
Touch and hold the Spacebar to open a virtual trackpad. Then, drag/slide the finger across the trackpad to move the cursor on the text. Tip: To disable this feature, go to “Samsung Keyboard Settings→ Swipe, touch, and feedback→ Touch and hold the space bar”. Choose “No action”.
20. Remove Learned Words
Samsung Keyboard keeps on learning the new words that you type. If you typed a word incorrectly and the keyboard remembered it, you can easily remove the learned word from the keyboard.
21. Turn off Sound and Vibration
If you don’t like the sound or vibration that occurs when you type on the Samsung Keyboard, you can turn them off.
22. Change Samsung Keyboard Language and Layout
To add or remove languages in Samsung Keyboard, follow these steps: Pro Tip: Swipe on the Spacebar to switch between languages on the go.
23. Use Grammarly with Samsung Keyboard
Samsung has collaborated with Grammarly to provide suggestions for text corrections directly within the Samsung Keyboard.
24. Use Samsung Pass
Samsung Pass is a great utility tool built right inside the Samsung Keyboard that lets you save notes, cards, addresses, and sign-in details. You can then easily access and use these details in any app.
25. Reset Samsung Keyboard
If you don’t like the final look or how your Samsung Keyboard works, you can reset it to the default settings without changing each setting manually. To do so, go to “Samsung Keyboard Settings→ Reset to default settings→ Reset keyboard settings”.
Samsung Keyboard vs Other Keyboards
Samsung Keyboard can be a great asset on your Samsung Galaxy phone. However, if you are curious you can compare it against other keyboards by checking our comparison post between Gboard, SwiftKey, and Samsung Keyboard. All screenshots by Mehvish Mushtaq
