Hardware shortcuts
Physical-keyboard shortcuts and the leader key, all in one table.
This is the flattened, all-in-one-table version of what a physical keyboard can do in WM Keyboard: the leader key that opens tools, every default letter binding, and the keys that drive an open panel. For the walkthrough with explanations of each setting, see Hardware keyboards.
Opening the tool picker
Section titled “Opening the tool picker”Double-tap Ctrl (the default shortcut key) and every button on the keyboard shows a badge with the key that operates it. Press a letter to open that tool, T for the full toolbox, or ? for the complete legend shown above — which is the place to look for the tools that aren’t on screen to wear a badge. The badges spell their modifier out (Ctrl+2, Shift+Q) unless you turn Write the modifier names off, and they stay up for eight seconds by default — Time to press a key takes that anywhere from one to thirty. The legend has its own close button, so it is never a dead end without a keyboard.
You can pick a different double-tapped modifier (Ctrl, Alt or Shift) or capture an arbitrary chord instead, from WM KeyboardTypingPhysical keyboardTool shortcuts list. A captured chord that the focused app is likely to want still works, but the capture dialog warns that it’s “usually the app’s own shortcut”. It’s a nudge, not a block:
Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Y, Ctrl+S, Ctrl+F, Ctrl+Space, Ctrl+Tab, and Alt+Tab.
A chord with no modifier at all is flagged the same way, since it would swallow ordinary typing instead of arming the picker.
Every tool’s letter
Section titled “Every tool’s letter”The default letter is the tool’s own initial, wherever that letter was still free. Change any binding from WM KeyboardTypingPhysical keyboardTool shortcuts list: tap a tool’s row to capture a new letter, or Reset to defaults to put every letter and the shortcut key back the way they started.
| Key | Tool | Key | Tool |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | AI writing tools | O | Settings shortcut |
| B | Power saving | P | Password generator |
| C | Clipboard | Q | QR code generator |
| D | Dictionary | R | Translate |
| E | Emoji | S | Snippets |
| F | Fancy text | U | Unit converter |
| G | GIFs | V | Voice typing |
| H | Hide keyboard | W | Web search |
| I | Image search | X | Text editing |
| J | Apps | Y | Special symbols |
| K | Stickers | Z | Undo |
| L | Calculator | ||
| M | Media controls | ||
| N | Numpad |
T and ? are reserved and can never be bound to a tool.
The remaining 37 tools ship with no default letter at all: flashlight, compass, bubble level, redo, moon phase, weather, calendar, incognito, themes, autocorrect, sound & haptics, handwriting, camera, text scan (OCR), QR & barcode scanner, document scanner, grammar check, Wikipedia, currency converter, keyboard modes, typing speed test, plugins, one-handed mode, split and floating keyboard, every cursor-move tool, and select word/line. There aren’t 37 letters left to give them, so they get a Shift+key instead, assigned automatically in toolbox order and shown as a badge under each one while the toolbox is open. Handwriting, the three scanners and grammar checking only appear in the list at all Full edition only.
Toolbar buttons
Section titled “Toolbar buttons”Each button on the toolbar answers to a number, counting from the toolbox button at the start:
| Keys | Opens |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+1 | The toolbox |
| Ctrl+2 … Ctrl+0 | The first to the ninth pinned tool |
| Double-tap the shortcut key, then 1–0 | The same buttons, unless the numbers are set to pick suggestions |
The chord is on by default and can be turned off from WM KeyboardTypingPhysical keyboardCtrl + number opens a toolbar tool — browsers and editors use Ctrl+number to change tab, and the keyboard takes the key first while a text field has focus. A toolbar longer than ten buttons leaves the rest without a number; they stay reachable through the toolbox.
Symbol and emoji rows
Section titled “Symbol and emoji rows”Double-tap the shortcut key and each cell in the symbol row and the emoji row shows a Shift+key badge that inserts it.
| Row | Keys |
|---|---|
| Symbol row | Shift+a letter, in keyboard order (Q, W, E, …) |
| Emoji row | Shift+1 onward, counting from the left |
Letters against digits, so the two pools cannot collide and editing one row never renumbers the other. An open toolbox claims the whole Shift tier for its own tools, and the rows drop their badges until it closes.
Switching language
Section titled “Switching language”WM KeyboardTypingPhysical keyboardCtrl+Space changes the language, on by default.
| Chord | Does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+Space | Step forward through your enabled layouts |
| Ctrl+Shift+Space | Step back |
| The dedicated 🌐 / language key, if your keyboard has one | Switch to the next layout |
Keep Ctrl held and each press of Space walks a list on screen; releasing Ctrl commits whatever is highlighted, and Esc cancels. A quick tap and release is just a one-step switch. With only one layout enabled the chord falls through to the app untouched, so nothing is stolen for a switch that has nowhere to go. Meta+Space is left alone on purpose: that one belongs to Android’s own keyboard rotation. The dedicated language key is claimed whatever this setting says, since no app wants it. See Hardware keyboards for the walkthrough.
macOS shortcuts
Section titled “macOS shortcuts”WM KeyboardTypingPhysical keyboardmacOS shortcuts — off by default.
| Chord | Does |
|---|---|
| ⌘+C / V / X / A | Copy, paste, cut, select all |
| ⌘+Z / ⌘+Shift+Z | Undo, redo |
| ⌘+← / → | Start, end of the line |
| ⌘+↑ / ↓ | Start, end of the text |
| ⌥+← / → | One word left, right |
| ⌥+⌫ | Delete the word before the cursor |
| ⌘+⌫ | Delete to the start of the line |
Hold Shift with a move to select. Ctrl is untouched, and every Command chord not in this table goes straight to the app.
Picking a suggestion from the keyboard
Section titled “Picking a suggestion from the keyboard”| Mode | Keys | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Off | — | |
| Alt + number | Alt+1–Alt+9 | Yes |
| After the shortcut key | Double-tap the shortcut key, then 1–9 |
There’s no slot for suggestion “10”: only the first nine entries in the strip are reachable by number. In Alt + number mode the strip shows its keys under the words whenever a physical keyboard is attached, which WM KeyboardTypingPhysical keyboardShow the suggestion numbers turns off. After the shortcut key takes the bare numbers for itself, so the toolbar’s tools then rely on the Ctrl+number chord.
The numbers count slots from the left, not the engine’s ranking, so with WM KeyboardTypingBest suggestion in the middle on the strip still reads 1 2 3 across and 1 commits the leftmost word.
Driving an open panel
Section titled “Driving an open panel”Once a tool is open, the arrow keys move a highlighted ring over its search box, category chips or results; Enter activates whatever’s highlighted; Tab (Shift+Tab to go backward) cycles between the panel’s sections once the ring exists. Esc closes the panel. See Options below.
Not every panel offers the same sections, and some offer none at all:
| Panel | Sections |
|---|---|
| Emoji, GIFs, Stickers, Clipboard | Search, chips, results |
| Special symbols | Chips, results |
| Dictionary, Web search, Image search, Wikipedia | Search, results |
| Toolbox, Snippets, Themes, Modes, suggestion candidates | Results only |
| Everything else (sensors, cameras, ink input, button grids, plugin panels, and any tool the field’s own keys already drive) | None (hardware navigation doesn’t reach these) |
Plugin panels have no fixed set of sections to cycle, so hardware navigation inside one is a known gap for now.
Tab only belongs to the keyboard once the ring is already up: before that, it’s still normal field navigation (or terminal completion), so an armed picker never steals it. The same goes for Enter: with no ring on screen it keeps its ordinary meaning, running the panel’s search or the field’s own editor action, instead of being swallowed.
What always reaches the app
Section titled “What always reaches the app”WM Keyboard doesn’t reimplement the app’s editing shortcuts. Any Ctrl or Meta combination (copy, paste, undo, save, whatever the app binds it to) is passed straight through, whether or not Process hardware keys is on. AltGr is the one combination that looks like a shortcut but isn’t: it arrives as Ctrl+Alt held together, so it falls through to the normal character path instead (a German keyboard’s AltGr+Q still types ”@”).
Three settings are the exceptions, and each says so on its own row: Ctrl + number opens a toolbar tool claims Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+0 (on by default), Ctrl+Space changes the language claims Ctrl+Space and Ctrl+Shift+Space (on by default, and only while you have two or more layouts enabled), and macOS shortcuts claims the Command and Option chords in the table above (off by default). Nothing else is intercepted.
The physical-key behavior WM Keyboard adds on top is all on this page: the leader and its picker, Esc closing an open panel, the focus ring, and the suggestion hotkeys. They work regardless of the Process hardware keys toggle, since none of them touch typed text; that toggle only governs typing itself. See Hardware keyboards for what typing on a physical keyboard does and doesn’t intercept.
Options
Section titled “Options”| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Process hardware keys | On |
| Tool shortcuts | On |
| Shortcut key | Double-tap Ctrl |
| Ctrl + number opens a toolbar tool | On |
| Write the modifier names | On |
| Time to press a key | 8.0s |
| Arrow keys move a highlight | On |
| Esc closes the tool | On |
| Number keys pick suggestions | Alt + number |
| Show the suggestion numbers | On |
| macOS shortcuts | Off |
| Ctrl+Space changes the language | On |
| Show the keyboard for shortcuts | On |
A related pair of settings lives in the same Typing screen’s WM KeyboardTypingVolume keys group rather than here, since they’re volume-key shortcuts and not part of the leader/picker mechanism:
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Volume cursor control | Off |
| Release while audio plays | On |
With Volume cursor control on, volume down and up move the text cursor one character left or right while the keyboard is open; the volume keys behave normally everywhere else, and as soon as the keyboard closes. Release while audio plays (shown only while the setting above is on) gives the volume keys back to actual volume control whenever something is playing, so replying to a message never costs you the ability to turn the sound down.
Details and edge cases
Section titled “Details and edge cases”- Reserved chords still work as a shortcut key, with a warning. Capturing one of the eleven reserved combinations above just gets you a caution in the capture dialog. It isn’t blocked.
- The double-tap fires on the second tap’s release, not its press, and any other key pressed in between resets it: Ctrl-tap, Ctrl+C, Ctrl-tap never arms the picker. A held, auto-repeating modifier doesn’t count as a tap either.
- Process hardware keys only governs typed characters. Turning it off stops physical keys from running through autocorrect and suggestions, but the leader, tool shortcuts, panel navigation and Esc keep working regardless.
- A letter can only ever open one tool. Capturing a letter that’s already bound offers to reassign it: the other tool loses that letter the moment you confirm, so two tools can never share one.
- A tool you’ve turned off in Tools keeps its letter, but the letter does nothing. The row in the shortcuts list still shows the binding, labeled “Turned off in Tools,” and pressing it from the picker just vibrates instead of opening anything; the same letter also drops off the cheat sheet while the tool stays disabled.
- No edition split for the mechanism itself. The leader, the default 23-letter table and panel navigation work identically on full and lite builds; only the five tools gated to Full edition only (handwriting, the three scanners, and grammar checking) are absent from the picker on lite, the same as everywhere else in the app.
- Presence detection is automatic. WM Keyboard notices a physical keyboard attaching and detaching through the system’s own configuration; nothing here needs to be told which mode it’s in.
For the full explanation of every setting on this page, plus what typing itself does and doesn’t do on a physical keyboard, see Hardware keyboards. For the toolbar setting that hides the key grid whenever a keyboard is attached, see Appearance settings.