Modifying Keyboard Settings
If you use your iPad for email or word processing, you will use the on-screen keyboard a lot. The keyboard does several things to make it easier for you to type, but some of these might get in the way of your typing style. Use the following steps to modify the keyboard settings to your preferences.
Open the Settings app and tap General.
Scroll to the bottom of the General Settings list and tap Keyboard.
Tap Keyboards to choose a different keyboard layout. In addition to keyboards commonly used in other countries, you can switch to a Dvorak keyboard or one of several other alternatives to the traditional QWERTY keyboard. You can also select a keyboard installed by a third-party app.
Tap to add your own text shortcuts. For instance, you can set it so “omw” is instantly expanded to “On my way!” Add your own replacements for things you commonly type.
Turn Auto-Capitalization on to automatically make the first character of a name or a sentence a capital letter.
Turn Auto-Correction on to have mistyped words automatically corrected.
Check Spelling underlines words in red that do not appear to be spelled correctly.
Turn Enable Caps Lock on. When Caps Lock is turned on, you can double-tap the Shift key to lock it.
In Chapter 1, “Getting Started,” you learned about the shortcut bar. You can disable it with this switch if you prefer.
Turn on or off Predictive Text. See “Using Predictive Text” in Chapter 1 for more about this time-saving feature.
If you want to lock the keyboard so it can never be split and moved up vertically, then switch this to off. See “Using the On-Screen Keyboard” in Chapter 1 for more details on using a split keyboard.
Turn on the “.” shortcut if you want a double-tap of the spacebar to insert a period followed by a space.
Tap the key to the left of the spacebar (that looks like a globe) to change keyboards. Tap it to move to the next keyboard in your list, or tap and hold to get a list of keyboards so you can select one. You can also turn off Predictive Text and Shortcuts in this menu.