You'll see an ellipsis (.) at the bottom of their keys when you slide over them, and if you keep your finger in place for a second or so, you'll see a selection of additional related characters pop up for your sliding-selection pleasure. Some of the symbols - like the parentheses, for instance - have even more special characters embedded within them. Once you let go, that character will be inserted into your text, and the keyboard will go back to its regular QWERTY panel. You'll see a screen full of numbers and special characters instantly appear, and you can then just swipe your finger (without lifting) to the one you want.

On the surface, Gboard seems to make it slightly difficult to get to special characters like the underscore or the asterisk - but there's actually a super-simple way to find and access practically every number or symbol your language-lovin' heart could ever desire.Īll you've gotta do is touch your finger to the '?123' key and then slide it upward across the keyboard. Gboard shortcut #2: Fast character access

That'll give you a series of arrows for positioning the cursor and also selecting, copying, and pasting text with precision. Within the keyboard's settings, select 'Glide typing' and make sure the toggle next to 'Enable gesture cursor control' is activated and in the on position.Īnd a bonus tip: If you want even more precise cursor control, look for an icon that looks like an 'I' with arrows on either side of it in that same top-bar menu of the keyboard (and if you don't see an 'I' there, tap the three-dot menu icon in that same area, find the item labeled 'Text Editing,' and then drag it up into the menu bar - sensing a pattern here yet?). If sliding on the space bar doesn't do anything for you, don't panic: Just tap the gear-shaped icon within Gboard's upper row (or if you don't see that icon in the keyboard's top row, tap the three-dot menu icon within that same area and then find the gear icon in the larger menu that comes up). That'll move your cursor accordingly and let you place it wherever it's needed. Well, Gboard has a hidden answer: Just touch your finger to the space bar, and - without lifting it up - slide it to the left or right.

How to use quick text paste