The on-screen keyboard is a very useful tool. It will retain the ability to use a computer or laptop in case of failure of the push-button keyboard or its individual keys. In this article, you will learn how to enable the on-screen keyboard on Windows 7, 8, 10.
How to enable the on-screen keyboard on windows 7?
In Windows 7, the on-screen keyboard is enabled as follows. Open the Start menu. In the bottom search bar, enter "Screen" without quotes.
Enabling the on-screen keyboard through search
After that, the coveted on-screen keyboard will be displayed in the list of results, clicking on which will launch it.
On-Screen Keyboard in Windows 7
Or you can open Start and follow the path "All Programs -> Accessories -> Accessibility -> On-Screen Keyboard".
On-screen keyboard in the Accessibility folder
How to enable on-screen keyboard on windows 10?
In Windows 10, the on-screen keyboard is enabled in a similar way.
Open the Start menu. Depending on the version of Windows 10, you will immediately open a list of applications, or you will need to click on "All applications".
Expanding the list of all programs in the menu Windows start 10
In the list of all applications that opens, sorted alphabetically, we find the folder “Special. opportunities" and open it. This is where you'll find the on-screen keyboard.
On-Screen Keyboard in Windows 10 Start Menu
You can also use the search. We type the word "Screen" and launch the keyboard.
Enable On-Screen Keyboard in Windows 10 via Search
If you wish, you can pin it to the taskbar so that you do not have to look for it in the start every time. To do this, click on the on-screen keyboard icon with the left mouse button and select "Pin to taskbar".
Create a Windows 10 On-Screen Keyboard Shortcut from the Taskbar
Virtual keyboard or according to the "correct" one: "On-screen keyboard" is intended for entering characters in the query field, for example, the address bar of a window, Text Document and so on.
There are rare cases when you urgently need to type something, and the keyboard is broken or not at all. The virtual keyboard will help us solve this problem.
By the way, such a keyboard is necessary not only because there is no main "manual" keyboard, it is sometimes necessary for security purposes (there are malware"keyloggers", which are designed to track actions on the computer and transfer this data to a third party).
: Learn how to find and open the On-Screen Keyboard app ( virtual keyboard).
: installed system Windows.
Options for enabling the virtual keyboard
In this tutorial, we will look at several options for enabling the built-in keyboard on Windows example 7, and you can choose for yourself which option is more convenient or faster.
Start and Quick Search
This is the fastest of the options, except for assigning a keyboard shortcut (this method is described below, the latest).
To quickly find a program Screen keyboard”, go to “Start” and in the quick search bar enter the word “screen”:
Rice. 1. Search for the on-screen keyboard through "Start"
After a moment at the top we will see the search results, there we find the entry " Screen keyboard” and left-click on it:
Rice. 2. Launching the On-Screen Keyboard program
Start and search for the program
This option is the most accurate and correct, but the longest. To get started, go to "Start" and left-click on the item "All Programs":
Rice. 3. All Programs button
After that, a menu with all programs will open for us, scroll the list of programs to the very bottom (if it is large) and click on the “Standard” element (folder icon) with the left mouse button:
Rice. 4. Press the "Standard" button
After that, we will open the composition of this folder, in it we look for a folder called "Accessibility" and click on it with the left mouse button:
Rice. 5. Press the "Accessibility" button
This folder will also open and in this list we find the program " Screen keyboard” and click on it with the left mouse button:
Rice. 6. On-Screen Keyboard location
After we clicked on the program icon, the main window of the On-Screen Keyboard program or the so-called virtual keyboard:
Rice. 7. The main window of the On-Screen Keyboard program in Windows 7
For those who often use the virtual keyboard
If you often need to use the virtual keyboard, then constantly entering through the "Start" will be too time-consuming and inconvenient.
To quickly call virtual keyboard, you can assign the so-called "hot keys", their combination. Those. we will launch the virtual keyboard by pressing just a few keys 1 time.
In order to assign a key combination to call the on-screen keyboard, we need to go to the properties of this program (or shortcut).
To configure, click the "Start" button and enter the word "screen" in the quick search bar:
Rice. 8. Search for the on-screen keyboard through the "Start"
At the very top, usually the first position, a result will appear named " Screen keyboard". Find this result and click on it with the right mouse button and select "Properties":
Rice. 9. Button "Properties" of the program
This will open the "Properties: On-Screen Keyboard" window. In it, we are now interested in the "Quick call" field:
Rice. 10. On-Screen Keyboard Properties Window
If the program has no hotkeys already assigned, then the value "None" will be in the "Shortcut" field. Now the most interesting thing: we need to come up with and remember / write down the future key combination, by pressing which we want our virtual keyboard to open. Many key combinations are reserved in the system, so try to check if "Your combination" is free.
To check if a key combination is free most in a simple way, you need to collapse all open windows and while on the desktop, press the planned combination. If nothing happens after pressing the key combination, then it is free.
For example, I will use the key combination on the keyboard: " Ctrl+Alt+K". This entry means that to call the virtual keyboard, we will press these 3 keys at the same time. "K" is chosen because it is the first letter in the translation into English language the words "keyboard" ("keyboard").
In order to assign this key combination to the program, left-click in the "Shortcut" field and press the desired key combination. After that, our combination should automatically appear in this field:
Rice. 11. Field for entering the desired key combination
Rice. 12. Saving the desired key combination
Being, say, on the desktop, press the reserved key combination " Ctrl+Alt+K” and after a while our virtual keyboard will open:
Rice. 13. Windows 7 On-Screen Keyboard
It remains only the simplest thing - to choose from these three options the most convenient for you and use the virtual keyboard. I recommend other lessons on our website for review, choose what interests you and enjoy.
The Windows 7 On-Screen Keyboard is the keyboard that appears on the screen after launching it, and all the buttons on this image are clickable using the mouse or keyboard.
Rice. 1 Windows 7 on-screen keyboard with Alt key pressed
In the above picture, the Alt key is pressed, so it is highlighted in white.
Why do you need an on-screen keyboard when there is a regular keyboard?
- Firstly, the on-screen keyboard is needed for people with poor finger mobility or in the absence of several fingers.
- Secondly, it will help in the case when the buttons on a regular keyboard, of course, at the most inopportune moment, suddenly stop working, but you need to urgently finish an almost finished document.
- Thirdly, the on-screen keyboard is necessary if you have a tablet.
- Fourth, the on-screen keyboard is needed to protect against a keylogger that reads the password input from a regular keyboard (a keylogger is special program or hardware device, fixing each keystroke on the PC keyboard).
From the comments left on the site: “I used to write text and I can move the blinking line to enter text where I want, and now one day the right, left, down, up arrows just do not work. I didn't spill anything and everything should be fine. But the arrows are desperately necessary. What do you advise?"
If desperately, then you can connect an additional one to the laptop. This is done in the same way as connecting a USB flash drive to a laptop via. In addition, there is also the On-Screen Keyboard option, which we are now moving on to.
How to enable on-screen keyboard in Windows 7?
Consider 2 options for this.
1st option.
Windows 7 has a well-implemented search function, so let's use the search. Click on the Start button (Start), in the search field, enter "On-Screen Keyboard", a window appears:
Rice. 2 We are looking for the on-screen keyboard through Start - Search
As shown in the figure, now it is enough to click on the "On-Screen Keyboard" link and it will immediately appear on the monitor screen.
2nd option How can I enable the on-screen keyboard in Windows 7:
Start - Control Panel - Accessibility:
Rice. 3 We are looking for the Windows 7 on-screen keyboard through “Ease of Access”
Click on the link "Center accessibility" and see the sentence "Enable the on-screen keyboard":
Finally, you see the Windows 7 On-Screen Keyboard on the screen. You can make small adjustments by clicking on the "Settings" button, which is circled in red in the first figure in this article. The Options window appears:
Rice. 4 OSD options Windows keyboard 7
In this window, you can set the position of the switch (red frame with the number 1), on which the work with the on-screen keyboard depends: by pressing the keys or hovering the mouse pointer over the keys.
On-screen keyboard is buggy
If suddenly the main keyboard does not really work on a laptop, then users remember the on-screen keyboard and begin to actively use it.
What should I do if the main keyboard does not work and at the same time the on-screen keyboard suddenly starts blinking and “buggy”? Then it makes sense to disable the main keyboard.
The fact is that the on-screen keyboard and the regular keyboard are interconnected, since you can enter characters from both one and the other. If the Ctrl key on the main keyboard is faulty, then Ctrl may also not work on the screen.
The on-screen keyboard sometimes interferes with work, the question arises:
For this, in the right upper corner Windows 7 On-Screen Keyboard:
- you need to click on the button 1 (Minimize), after which it will be minimized to the Taskbar, from where it can be called again if necessary,
- or click button 2 (Close) and the on-screen keyboard program will be closed.
P.S. The article is over, but you can read more.
Knowing how to turn on the on-screen keyboard can solve problems with connected devices, which may, for example, stop working as a result of a system reinstall.
Most often, this is not difficult to do, since the corresponding utility is built into Windows. But, even if it fails to start, there are alternative options.
You may need to enable the on-screen keyboard on a laptop or PC in the following situations:
- When the system did not recognize the device driver, but the mouse or display sensor works (some models of modern laptops have it);
- If necessary, increase the confidentiality of information. It is believed that screen input is more protected from spyware than the standard one.
Keyboard in Windows 7
For the seventh generation operating system Microsoft is the most familiar and easiest way to call a utility that allows you to enter characters using the mouse or touch screen- entrance through the "Accessibility" item (looked for in standard programs start menu).
The second option is to search through the corresponding field.
If the on-screen keyboard could not be found by any of the above methods, the option to go to the Control Panel and the Programs and Features menu may be suitable.
On the left is an item that opens a list of installed Windows elements 7.
Note here the Tablet PC Components item.
After selecting this option, a manual will appear on the screen. If it is not provided at all, most likely, you will have to update the system.
Advice! For the virtual keyboard to automatically appear when you log into Windows 7, you must follow all the same steps as for other versions of the OS from Microsoft.
Windows system 8 was immediately developed taking into account the possibility of using touch displays. For this reason, the virtual is present in it by default.
An exception may be perhaps a simplified Home-version.
You can start it like this:
- Open the item "All applications" of the system;
- Find the "Accessibility" section;
- Enable virtual on-screen keyboard in the application list.
The second way is to type text "on-screen keyboard". In this case, a search results window should appear with the desired item.
Although this option is possible only during the normal operation of a conventional keyboard and is useful only to increase the secrecy of data entry.
The third option is to enable the manual through the System Control Panel. It will take about the same time as the first one.
But sometimes a quick exit to the system control panel is possible directly from the desktop - for this you just need to configure the settings for its icons.
In cases where the on-screen keyboard needs to be used frequently, its removal can be made automatic.
To do this, you need to open the special features of the system in the same way and find the item “Using a computer without a mouse or keyboard”.
If you select the use item, it will be available when you open the user password entry window.
Enable in Windows 10
There are no special differences in launching a virtual keyboard for Windows 10. However, the way to access the accessibility menu and its appearance other.
The on-screen keyboard is required not only to be selected, but to be turned on by moving the corresponding slider.
Download the on-screen keyboard
Sometimes the functionality of a standard virtual keyboard is not enough for the user. Or such a utility is not provided in the system.
In this case, you need to download an alternative version from the Internet.
Free Virtual Keyboard
And in Windows 10 there is even a special emoji keyboard for simplified introduction of emoticons.
On-Screen Keyboard in Windows 8
When problems arise with the regular keyboard, the On-Screen Keyboard in Windows 8 comes to the rescue. And even more: in certain cases, it can be more convenient than the regular one.
