Keyboard Position Options On the iPad

You can do a few things to make the keyboard on your iPad easier to type on. You can undock the keyboard from the bottom of the screen and move it to a position that is better for your hands. You can also split the keyboard to place the keys closer to the edges when holding the iPad with two hands. Both of these options are available in vertical or horizontal orientations.

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Video Transcript: If you're typing on your iPhone or iPad the default keyboard may not be ideal depending upon how you're holding your device and maybe the type of typing that you do. So let's take a look at better ways to position the keyboard. We'll look at the iPad in this video and the iPhone in the next one.
Here I am in the Notes app on my iPad. If I tap in the note there it brings up the keyboard at the bottom of the screen automatically. This may be great for most uses. To have the keyboard there at the bottom of the screen. But you have some options. Notice the key there at the bottom right hand corner that has a little keyboard on it. If I tap and hold that you see it brings up a little menu. It has two options. Undock and and Split.
So I'm still holding down and I can move my finger up to Undock and what happens is the keyboard is released from the bottom of the screen and moves to the middle. So this might be easier if you're holding the iPad up with both hands to actually be able to access it this way. Or perhaps, maybe, you're just more comfortable with the position you're in of typing in the middle of the screen rather than at the very bottom. 
You can adjust the position by tapping and dragging that same key. Now if you tap and hold too long the menu appears. So you want to tap it immediately and start dragging it up and down. You can see I can put it anywhere I want. Now if I drag it all the way down to the bottom it will redock with the bottom of the screen. You can also use that menu item there and you can see here, dock, and it docks with the bottom of the screen really quickly.
Notice the other option is called Split. This also brings the keyboard to the middle of the screen but splits it in half. So if you're holding the iPad with both hands and you just want to use your thumbs to type you can actually reach all these keys with your thumbs. You can tap and drag and move this up and down so you can position it right where your thumbs are going to be. If you drag all the way to the bottom it will dock with the bottom of the screen as well. You can also tap and Dock and Merge or just Merge to merge the two sides of the keyboard. A quick way to get there is just to tap and drag on that key and it basically splits the keyboard and allows you to move it at the same time. So you can avoid that menu completely just by using that key there and dragging up and down.
It's really handy to have and it's something worth trying. It may be the kind of thing where in some cases, maybe say when you're sitting in your favorite chair, it's easier to type with the keyboard split and in the middle of the screen. But yet if you're sitting at your desk it's easiest for you to type with the keyboard fully docked and merged.
Now here's what this looks like in the horizontal mode. So you can see when I tap to bring up the keyboard here in Notes the keyboard takes up nearly half the screen. It definitely can be hard to type a little bit. So if you use this button here at the bottom to split now I end up with much smaller pieces of the keyboard on either side. I can easily reach them with my thumbs. I can drag up and down as before. I can simply Undock it if what I want to do is move the whole keyboard up and down. So whatever feels most comfortable for you and it may be different in vertical mode than horizontal mode. You can see how easy it is to switch between these so you could switch between them even while you're working on the same bit of text.

Comments: 5 Responses to “Keyboard Position Options On the iPad”

Anne Burke

5 years ago

Oh thank you for that info Garry. I accidentally caused the keyboard to split one morning which took me ages to work out how to "fix it " Now I know I can use it any time I want.

Stan Greenberg

I do not get the menu (undock/split) when I tap & hold the keyboard icon.

Gary Rosenzweig

Stan: What device and iOS version are you using? Did you maybe disable this in Settings, General, Keyboard, Split Keyboard?

After spending time at the Apple Store, where they tried to solve the problem by Resetting All Settings, then Erase All Content and Settings-to no avail→an appt. was set up with Apple. When the Advisor called, he initially was stumped, but then found a little known fact:
If you look in Apple Support→How to split and move the keyboard on your iPad, under Split the keyboard, in small print, it says: You can't use a split keyboard on iPad Pro (12.9-inch)!!!

Alexander Konczey

I have an iPad Pro 12.9 inch also, and I can not move the keyboard, nothing happens when I hold the small keyboard

Comments Closed.

Keyboard Position Options On the iPad

Comments: 5 Responses to “Keyboard Position Options On the iPad”

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