Typing
Every setting on the Typing screen: autocorrect, suggestions, smart chips, one-time codes, gestures, backspace, Enter, volume keys, and physical keyboards.
The Typing screen is the largest single screen in Settings, with nine groups covering everything from autocorrect confidence to physical-keyboard shortcuts, plus one sub-screen (the tool-shortcuts letter list) a tap deeper. Most of what’s here also has its own task-focused guide, linked from each group below; this page is the field-by-field reference to check a default or find a setting by name.
Automatic corrections
Section titled “Automatic corrections”| Setting | Type | Default | Shown when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autocorrect | Toggle | On | always |
| Autocorrect confidence | Slider, ×1.5–×10 | ×4.0 | Autocorrect on |
| Adaptive confidence | Toggle | On | Autocorrect on |
| Typing rhythm | Slider, 0%–100% | 0% (off) | Autocorrect on |
| Undo autocorrect with backspace | Toggle | On | Autocorrect on |
| Skip words in capital letters | Toggle | On | Autocorrect on |
| Block offensive words | Toggle | On | Autocorrect on |
| Context-aware suggestions | Toggle | On | Autocorrect on |
| Add missing spaces | Toggle | On | Autocorrect on |
| Detect the language you type | Toggle | On | Autocorrect on |
| Detection strength | Choice: Gentle / Balanced / Aggressive | Balanced | Autocorrect on and Detect the language you type on |
| Fix number row slips | Toggle | On | Autocorrect on and the number row is shown |
| Adapt to app tone | Toggle | Off | always |
| Fix missing apostrophes | Toggle | On | always |
| Automatic capital letters | Toggle | On | always |
| Double space for a full stop | Toggle | On | always |
| Double space for a tab | Toggle | Off | always |
| Double space speed | Slider, 200–800 ms | 400 ms | either double-space rule on |
| Automatic space after punctuation | Toggle | Off | always |
| Space after a suggestion | Toggle | On | always |
| Wrap the selection with brackets | Toggle | On | always |
| Shift changes the case of the selection | Toggle | On | always |
Autocorrect is this group’s master switch, and eleven rows hang off it: the confidence slider, the two rows that tune how hard it tries (Adaptive confidence, Typing rhythm), and everything down to Fix number row slips. Two of those eleven have a second condition on top: Detection strength needs Detect the language you type on, and Fix number row slips only appears while the number row is actually showing, since it corrects a digit to the letter below it. From Adapt to app tone downwards the rows stay put whether autocorrect is on or off.
Double space for a tab takes priority over Double space for a full stop when both are on, and the Double space speed slider they share only appears once one of them is. Space after a suggestion lives in this group even though it governs the suggestion strip, not autocorrect. It’s grouped here in the app’s own settings screen, not under Suggestions below.
Three of these rows are ranking settings rather than correction settings, filed here because that’s where the app puts them: Context-aware suggestions reorders the strip using the words before what you’re typing, Adapt to app tone nudges chat-speak up in messaging apps and down in email, and Typing rhythm lets a fast, sloppy burst make autocorrect fire more eagerly than slow deliberate typing does. Rhythm ships at 0%, so it does nothing until you move the slider.
Full writeup: Autocorrect covers the confidence math, what a word is never corrected to, and reverting a correction with backspace. Mixed-language typing covers Detect the language you type and its three strengths. Suggestions & prediction covers auto-space-after-suggestion, context reranking and app tone, and Gestures and Text editing cover selection-wrap and shift-recase.
Suggestions
Section titled “Suggestions”| Setting | Type | Default | Shown when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suggestions | Toggle | On | always |
| Punctuation suggestions | Toggle | Off | always |
| Punctuation marks | Text field | .,?!' | Punctuation suggestions on |
| Number of suggestions | Slider, 2–6 | 3 | always |
| Suggestions in every field | Toggle | On | always |
| Suggestion strip always visible | Toggle | Off | always |
| Best suggestion in the middle | Toggle | On | always |
| Suggest contact names | Toggle | Off | always (requests Contacts permission) |
| Suggest contact emails | Toggle | Off | always (requests Contacts permission) |
| Contact emails in email fields too | Toggle | On | Suggest contact emails on |
| Suggest app names | Toggle | Off | always |
| Inline emoji search | Toggle | On | always |
| Password manager suggestions | Toggle | On | Android 11+ only |
| Smart replies | Toggle | On | Android 11+ only |
| Smart detection of key hits | Toggle | Off | always (needs Suggestions on to bias toward anything) |
| Personal dictionary | Nav row | — | always (opens the Personal dictionary screen) |
| Custom dictionaries | Nav row | — | always (opens the Custom dictionaries screen) |
| Suggestion blacklist | Nav row | — | always (opens the Suggestion blacklist screen) |
Suggestions is the master switch for the whole strip: word completions, typo corrections offered as candidates, and next-word prediction. Punctuation marks sets which marks the punctuation chips offer, one per character in the order you want them; leaving it blank falls back to the shipped .,?!'. Number of suggestions splits the strip evenly, so raising it on a narrow screen buys candidates at the cost of reading each one. The three navigation rows at the bottom each open their own screen rather than an inline setting, and the subtitle on Suggestion blacklist switches from “Words to never suggest or autocorrect to” to a running count (“3 words never suggested”) once you’ve added something. All three are documented in full on Dictionaries & words, not repeated here.
Full writeup: Suggestions & prediction for the strip itself, Contact-aware typing for the three permission-gated toggles, Password manager chips & smart replies for the two Android-11 toggles, and Autocorrect for smart key-hit detection.
Smart chips
Section titled “Smart chips”| Setting | Type | Default | Shown when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smart chips | Toggle | On | always |
| Calculate as you type | Toggle | On | Smart chips on |
| Convert currencies | Toggle | On | Smart chips on |
| Convert units | Toggle | On | Smart chips on |
| Tool keywords | Toggle | On | Smart chips on |
| Resolve dates | Toggle | On | Smart chips on |
| Answer weather questions | Toggle | On | Smart chips on |
| Offer lookups | Toggle | On | Smart chips on |
| Translate hints | Toggle | On | Smart chips on |
| GIFs for celebrations | Toggle | On | Smart chips on |
Convert currencies’ own subtitle names your live target currency (Taka by default, since the app’s built-in default is BDT) rather than a static description, and it updates the moment you change it inside the Currency converter tool. The same three calculate/currency/unit toggles are mirrored inside each tool’s own Options screen; see Smart chips for where. The bottom five rows are the phrase-triggered chips: “next friday” offers a date, “will it rain” the forecast, “define serendipity” a dictionary lookup, “in spanish” the translator, and “happy birthday” a GIF search.
Full writeup: Smart chips.
One-time codes
Section titled “One-time codes”| Setting | Type | Default | Shown when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Codes from notifications | Toggle | Off | always |
| Allow notification access | Nav row | — | Codes from notifications on and access not granted yet |
| Only in number fields | Toggle | On | Codes from notifications on |
| Offer a code for | Slider, 1–10 min | 3 min | Codes from notifications on |
| Clear the notification | Toggle | Off | Codes from notifications on |
| Type codes one character at a time | Toggle | On | always |
Codes from notifications is the only row here that needs a grant. Turning it on shows a disclosure and then the system’s notification-listener screen; the Allow notification access row is the way back to that screen, and it disappears once access is granted. Turning the toggle off stops the keyboard reading notifications immediately and drops any code it was holding.
Type codes one character at a time sits outside the enabled block on purpose. It governs how every code is typed, including one tapped from a clipboard chip, which needs no notification access at all.
Full writeup: One-time codes, and Permissions for the grant itself.
Gestures
Section titled “Gestures”| Setting | Type | Default | Shown when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glide typing | Toggle | On | always |
| Handwrite with swipes | Choice: Type words / Handwrite | Type words | Full edition only and Glide typing on |
| Glide across the spacebar | Toggle | On | Glide typing on and swipe mode is Type words |
| Ask when a glide is unclear | Toggle | On | Glide typing on and swipe mode is Type words |
| Space after a glided word | Toggle | On | Glide typing on and swipe mode is Type words |
| Swipe start distance | Slider, 0.5×–4× | 2.0× | Glide typing on |
| Delay after typing | Slider, 0–500 ms (“Off” at 0) | 160 ms | Glide typing on and swipe mode is Type words |
| Extra time for a dot or a cross | Slider, 0–1500 ms (“Off” at 0) | 700 ms | Full edition only and swipe mode is Handwrite |
| Trail width | Slider, 2–24 dp | 10 dp | Glide typing on |
| Trail length | Slider, 100–1200 ms | 350 ms | Glide typing on |
| Trail opacity | Slider, 0%–100% | 55% | Glide typing on |
| Quick swipe on the spacebar | Choice: Nothing / Language / Cursor / Numpad | Language | always |
| Press and hold, then swipe | Choice: Nothing / Language / Cursor / Numpad | Cursor | always |
| 2-D cursor touchpad | Toggle | Off | either swipe slot above is Cursor |
| Cursor speed | Slider, 8–32 dp | 16 dp | either swipe slot above is Cursor |
| Swipe down to hide the keyboard | Toggle | Off | always (this is the spacebar’s swipe, see note below) |
| Arrows on the spacebar | Toggle | On | either swipe slot above is Language |
| The spacebar shows | Choice: Language / Layout / Both | Language | always |
| Spacebar text | Text field | Blank (falls back to the live spacebar label) | always |
Handwrite with swipes is a two-option picker, not a toggle: it decides what a letter-area swipe means, and only appears in the full edition (it needs the bundled ML Kit handwriting model). Extra time for a dot or a cross is the mirror image of Delay after typing: one guards against misreading a tap as a glide start, the other against misreading a tap as a handwriting dot, and only one of the pair is ever visible at once since they’re gated on opposite Handwrite with swipes choices.
Ask when a glide is unclear covers the strokes that have no single right answer. Hold your finger still at the end of one and the closest words appear under your fingertip; slide onto one and lift to take it, or lift without choosing and you get the best guess as before. It matters most on a fixed Bengali layout, where ক and খ share a key and a word and its aspirated twin are drawn identically.
Full writeup: Gestures for the spacebar/backspace/volume-key drags, Glide typing for the glide sub-settings, and Handwriting for handwrite mode.
Backspace
Section titled “Backspace”| Setting | Type | Default | Shown when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swipe to delete words | Toggle | On | always |
| Word delete distance | Slider, 32–120 dp | 72 dp | Swipe to delete words on |
A leftward drag on ⌫ deletes a word at a time instead of one character per press, and Word delete distance is how far you drag before the first word goes. Later words come off faster on a fixed curve, so that one number tunes the whole gesture. Full writeup: Gestures.
Enter key
Section titled “Enter key”| Setting | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Shift and Enter type a new line | Toggle | Off |
With this on, holding Shift (or pressing it first on a physical keyboard) makes Enter insert a line break instead of triggering the field’s Send/Go/Search action. Only a shift you pressed yourself counts: auto-capitalize’s own shift doesn’t arm it, and caps lock is ignored.
Volume keys
Section titled “Volume keys”| Setting | Type | Default | Shown when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volume keys move the cursor | Toggle | Off | always |
| Release the keys while audio plays | Toggle | On | Volume keys move the cursor on |
With Volume keys move the cursor on, volume down/up step the text cursor left/right instead of changing the volume while the keyboard is showing. Release the keys while audio plays hands the keys back to normal volume control the instant something is actually playing, re-checked on every keypress.
Full writeup: Gestures.
Physical keyboard
Section titled “Physical keyboard”| Setting | Type | Default | Shown when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Process the physical keys | Toggle | On | always |
| Tool shortcuts | Toggle | On | always |
| Tool shortcuts list | Nav row | value = current shortcut key, e.g. “Double-tap Ctrl” | Tool shortcuts on |
| Ctrl + number opens a toolbar tool | Toggle | On | Tool shortcuts on |
| Write the modifier names | Toggle | On | Tool shortcuts on |
| Time to press a key | Slider, 1.0s–30.0s | 8.0s | Tool shortcuts on |
| Arrow keys move a highlight | Toggle | On | always |
| Esc closes the tool | Toggle | On | always |
| Number keys select suggestions | Choice: Off / After the shortcut key / Alt + number | Alt + number | always |
| Show the suggestion numbers | Toggle | On | Number keys select suggestions is Alt + number |
| macOS shortcuts | Toggle | Off | always |
| Ctrl+Space changes the language | Toggle | On | always |
| Show the keyboard for shortcuts | Toggle | On | always |
Process the physical keys only governs typed characters. Turning it off stops physical keys from running through autocorrect and suggestions, but Tool shortcuts, panel navigation, and Esc keep working regardless, since none of them touch typed text.
Three rows are about how much the keyboard takes from your apps, and all three are worth knowing if a shortcut you rely on stops working. Ctrl + number opens a toolbar tool claims Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+0 while a text field has focus, which is exactly what browsers and editors use to switch tabs. Ctrl+Space changes the language claims the chord code editors use for completions. macOS shortcuts is off by default and only makes sense on a Mac keyboard: on a PC one the Meta key is the Search/Windows key and belongs to the system.
Number keys select suggestions ships on Alt + number, so a digit picks a strip candidate with no shortcut key first. Show the suggestion numbers only appears in that mode, because it puts the key under each suggestion for as long as a physical keyboard is attached; on “After the shortcut key” the numbers already show at the moment they work. Time to press a key is how long the badges stay up after the shortcut key, and nothing else happens until they clear or you press one.
Full writeup: Hardware keyboards.
The Tool shortcuts list screen
Section titled “The Tool shortcuts list screen”Tapping Tool shortcuts list opens a dedicated screen (route hwshortcuts) with no reference page of its own, so it’s documented here instead. It has two groups:
- Shortcut key: one nav row showing the current trigger (a double-tapped modifier or a captured chord), defaulting to Double-tap Ctrl. Tapping it opens a capture dialog to record a different double-tap or an arbitrary chord live from an attached keyboard; a chord an app commonly claims for itself (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+S, Ctrl+Tab) is still accepted, with a warning rather than a block.
- Tools: one row per supported tool, bound ones first sorted by letter, then unbound ones. Each row shows the tool’s icon, name, and its assigned letter (or ”—”); a tool turned off under Tools shows a “Turned off in Tools” caption instead. Tapping a row opens a capture dialog for a new letter, with a collision warning if that letter is already taken.
A Reset to defaults button at the bottom restores every letter and the shortcut key itself, behind a confirmation dialog.
T (toolbox) and ? (cheat sheet) are reserved and can never be bound to a tool. The other 23 letters default close to each tool’s own initial. The full binding table lives on Hardware keyboards and the printable cheat sheet on Hardware shortcuts; this page only covers the settings screen itself.
Details & edge cases
Section titled “Details & edge cases”- “Space after a suggestion” sits in the wrong-sounding group on purpose. It reads like a Suggestions setting, but the app itself files it under Automatic corrections, alongside the other space-insertion rules (double-space period/tab, auto-space after punctuation) it shares logic with.
- Structured and secure fields gate autocorrect, suggestions, and the smart key-hit bias together, but smart chips use a related, separate check. Autocorrect, suggestions, and the smart key-hit bias all share one check keyed on field kind: password fields and every keypad-style field (email, URL, number, phone, date, time, date-time) lose all three, regardless of how each toggle is set. Smart chips are gated by whether the app has asked to hide the suggestion strip instead, so with Suggestions in every field on (the default), a calc or currency chip can still appear in an email or URL field even though autocorrect and suggestions stay off there; number, phone, date, and password fields still block chips either way.
- Three separate settings each add a space, and none of them covers the others. “Automatic space after punctuation” spaces what follows a mark, “Space after a suggestion” spaces a word tapped from the strip, and “Space after a glided word” spaces a word a swipe committed. All three treat that space as the keyboard’s to take back, so punctuation typed next removes it and a space press is spent on it, but each has its own switch: turning one off leaves the other two alone.
- The two swipe-down settings are genuinely independent: “Swipe down to hide the keyboard” here under Gestures, and “Swipe down to hide” for the toolbar under Appearance. Turning one on has no effect on the other.
- Handwrite with swipes only exists in the full edition, since it needs the bundled ML Kit handwriting model; the lite edition’s Gestures group goes straight from Glide typing to Glide across the spacebar.
- The Tool shortcuts list route isn’t reachable by deep link. Unlike Typing itself, it doesn’t appear in the app’s
wmkeyboard://settings/allowlist, so getting there means opening Typing first and tapping through. - Smart detection of key hits needs Suggestions on, not Autocorrect: it biases boundary taps toward whichever letter the suggestion engine’s own prediction favours, so with Suggestions off there’s nothing for it to bias toward.
- Three rows sit in Automatic corrections without being corrections. Context-aware suggestions, Adapt to app tone and Typing rhythm all reorder or reweight candidates. Two of them are still gated on the Autocorrect switch (Context-aware suggestions and Typing rhythm), which is worth knowing if you turn autocorrect off and wonder where the reranking went; Adapt to app tone is not.
- Every row with a control carries the per-setting reset, sliders, pickers and the two text fields included. A restore button next to a control means that row no longer matches the shipped default listed above. The navigation rows (Personal dictionary, Custom dictionaries, Suggestion blacklist, Tool shortcuts list) have nothing to reset, since they only open another screen.
For dictionary and blacklist screens opened from this page, see Dictionaries & words. For the toolbar and key-appearance settings that sit next to this screen, see Appearance. For the printable shortcut and gesture tables, see Hardware shortcuts and Gesture cheat sheet.