Learning to type on the virtual keyboard can take practice, but once you get used to it, you'll find that your fingers actually move less than when using a physical keyboard. As a result, the virtual keyboard can place less stress on your hands and wrists, making typing faster and easier.
One great timesaver is the iPad's voice dictation feature, which lets you talk and turn your spoken words into written text. Not everyone can afford a secretary, but your iPad already knows how to take a letter.
And to make typing even easier, you can create unique shortcuts. After typing a short, memorable acronym, your iPad will expand it to full text, without forcing you to type the whole phrase yourself. This is useful for anything you type again and again, like your contact information, a salutation, or even a whole paragraph.
To customize the virtual keyboard, you need to use the following:
Anything you can type, you can also create using voice dictation, which translates spoken words into text. While not always perfect, it's often accurate enough that you may need to do only minor editing.
To use voice dictation, you have to tap the Voice Dictation key once to turn it on before you speak. When you're done speaking, tap the Voice Dictation key a second time to turn it off. To see how to use voice dictation, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Notes. The Notes screen appears.
Tap anywhere on the right side of the screen that looks like a yellow notepad. The virtual keyboard appears.
Tap the Voice Dictation key. The Voice Dictation key pops up to let you know your iPad is listening to you, as shown in Figure 6-1.
Note
The Voice Dictation key appears only when you have a 4G or Wi-Fi Internet connection. If you do not have an Internet connection, you won't see the Voice Dictation key.
Speak to your iPad and say a phrase such as “I am testing voice dictation on my iPad.”
Tap the Voice Dictation key again to signal to your iPad that you're done speaking. After a few moments, the iPad displays the text it thinks you said.
Press the Home button.
Tap Safari. The Safari screen appears.
Tap the Search field in the upper-right corner of the screen. The virtual keyboard appears.
Tap the Voice Dictation key. The voice dictation key pops up to let you know it's listening.
Say “CNN” into your iPad.
Tap the Voice Dictation key again. After a few moments, your iPad displays the text it thinks you said in the Search field.
The main idea behind shortcuts is to let you type a short acronym and have the iPad expand it into a complete phrase automatically. To see how to use a shortcut that's already available on the iPad for you, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Notes. The Notes screen appears.
Tap the Notes screen to make the virtual keyboard appear.
Type omw. The complete phrase On my way! appears, as shown in Figure 6-2.
Press the spacebar. The iPad types the phrase On my way!.
Press the Home button.
The iPad includes the omw shortcut, but chances are good that you'd rather create your own keystroke shortcuts.
To create your own shortcut, you need to decide on an acronym and the phrase that you want to associate with the acronym. When you're ready to create a shortcut, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Tap General. The General settings screen appears.
Tap Keyboard. The Keyboard settings screen appears.
Tap Add New Shortcut. The Shortcut screen appears, as shown in Figure 6-3.
Tap the Phrase text field, and type the entire word or phrase you want the iPad to type for you, such as Thank you very much!.
Tap the Shortcut text field, and type an acronym such as ty.
Tap Save. The Keyboard settings screen appears again and displays your newly added shortcut, as shown in Figure 6-4.
After you've created a shortcut, you may want to try it out by following these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Notes. The Notes screen appears.
Type your shortcut acronym such as ty. Your iPad displays your complete phrase.
Press the spacebar. The iPad types out your complete phrase automatically.
Press the Home button.
After you've created a shortcut, you may eventually want to delete that shortcut. You can delete a shortcut either by swiping or by tapping the Edit button by following these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Tap General. The General settings screen appears.
Tap Keyboard. The Keyboard settings screen appears.
Swipe your shortcut left or right. A red Delete button appears, as shown in Figure 6-5. One way to delete a shortcut is to tap this Delete button.
Swipe your shortcut to the right to hide the Delete button.
Tap Edit in the upper-right corner of the screen. The Keyboard settings screen displays your shortcuts, as shown in Figure 6-6.
Tap the white dash inside the red circle that appears to the left of your shortcut. A red Delete button appears.
Tap the red Delete button to delete your shortcut.
Tap Done in the upper-right corner of the screen.
Press the Home button.
When creating acronym shortcuts, think of how to use them for specific purposes. For example, you might create acronyms that represent common search terms you look for or phrases you like using in emails.
Voice dictation is best when you can't use your hands to type. You can use voice dictation to dictate memos, email messages, or even entire letters and reports that you can edit later if necessary. For many people, voice dictation can be handy with text messaging. If you can't physically talk to someone, you can talk through text messaging and have your iPad transcribe your words as the next best alternative.
By using shortcuts and voice dictation, you can reduce or even eliminate typing altogether. For many people, the less typing they do, the happier and more productive they'll be.