Virtual Keyboard always on top instead of docked

Anonymous
2015-08-16T15:02:46+00:00

Split from this thread.

The new virtual keyboard is a mess.  I never really thought about it in W8.1; would just start typing.  In W10, I hate it.

And it's not just a matter of getting used to something new.

You can make the keyboard pop up.  There is a setting under Devices.  In the search window, search for TYPING.  The top line looks like a heading, but it is really a choice.  It just says TYPING SETTINGS. Choose it.

Near the bottom of the options there is one that allows, "Automatically show the touch keyboard in windowed apps..."

Keep in mind that the behavior is different whether you are in TABLET mode or not. (Which is yet ANOTHER annoying feature designed to help)

Finally, perhaps the biggest problem is that the keyboard does not clip into the screen, but instead stays on top.  This means it will effectively cover many of the text fields when you are trying to type. This is absolutely UNBELIEVABLE! It is hard to understand how anyone could make this on purpose. It is highly unusable.

And of course they didn't seem to anticipate that the keys on the far right of the keyboard will be pressed from time to time and are in the same area as the touch zone of the swipe from right.  so often as I am typing the ACTION CENTER will appear.  Grrrrr....

Surface | Surface Headphones | Touch and gestures

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-08-17T20:04:16+00:00

    Here is an example.  I hit REPLY.  It will open the Reply Text message field, with a cursor blinking in field.  As soon as I touch the field, the keyboard will appear.  But the keyboard completely hides the field!  So I scroll the screen up until the field is above the keyboard.  And they continue to scroll it up as I fill the field.

    Of course, this only works if there is the ability to scroll the window.  Some (many) apps do not have that option.

    Alternately, I could move the keyboard like shown below. 

    But moving the keyboard or scrolling the window are workarounds to a problem.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-08-19T21:03:34+00:00

    Even after all those abbreviations we also have to deal with the confusion between docking a window and docking an entire tablet (physical dock). It makes searching for any info on this topic really hard to find.

    And to further complicate it, my question is specifically related to Surface Pro 3.

    So the searches look something like:

    Virtual Keyboard not docking in Windows 10 on Surface Pro 3

    Windows 10 on Surface Pro 3 Virtual Keyboard Always on Top

    And so on...

    With all of those keywords, the search certainly casts a pretty wide net, and catches a lot of unrelated junk.  :-(

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-08-19T19:22:03+00:00

    The Touch Keyboard (TK) is the large keyboard that automatically appears in tablet mode and can be made to appear in desktop mode.

    The On Screen Keyboard (OSK) is a resizable keyboard that can be found under the Ease of Access tools.

    In Windows 8.1 the OSK behaved exactly as the original poster wanted. If you used the Dock key on the OSK it would lock itself on the bottom of the screen and other windows would be resized so that nothing was under the OSK. In Win 10 this does not happen.

    Unfortunately it seems that Microsoft chose to remove this feature and force both the TK and OSK to float over other windows even when they are "docked".

    Earlier thread on this topic

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-08-17T19:04:14+00:00

    Yes, there is an input field.  The question about an input field really seems as if I have not communicated the problem well, yet I'm not sure how more simple to describe.  I'm wondering if we're talking about the same thing.  I'm talking about something very obvious and normal.  For example, clicking to reply to this message opens the area where I can type my reply, and the keyboard sits right on top of it.  Or try to reply to an email in outlook, and the keyboard sits on top of the message.

    Not sure what the "Run... dialog" means.

    What is "the TK"?  Touch Keyboard?  If so, what is the difference between a Touch Keyboard and and OSK (On Screen Keyboard)?

    I'm talking about a real no-brainer thing... you click anywhere and the keyboard should pop-up, dock at the bottom, and resize the rest of the app window.  It behaves like this on every single moble device I've ever used... iphone, ipad, android, windows phone, even my Surface Pro 3 when it was running Windows 8.1

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-08-17T00:59:52+00:00

    And for what its worth, the title of this thread is not going to pull people that are having the same problem. 

    maybe try "Virtual Keyboard always on top instead of docked"

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