On-Screen keyboard icon no longer pops up when touch text box

The touch features that worked really well in Windows 7, namely the Windows Input Panel and editing flicks, have been removed from Windows 8,

 

No.   They are there.   Or at least they work with a pen.  I supposedly have them activated but I don't think I am skilled enough with the gestures to make any use of them.   E.g. on the practice pad it always says I am too slow and there doesn't seem to be any way to make it slow enough for it to accept my skill level with it.   YMMV.

However, I am pretty sure that they do not allow those gestures where they would be really useful--in the TIP.   Is that what your comment is about?   There are other pen gestures which should supposedly work (e.g. the Enter one would be nice to try and master I think) but again I do not seem to have the necessary skill level to pull them off consistently enough, so I just don't bother trying.   And again, I highly doubt that they are enabled inside the TIP where they would be most useful, even if I had the skill to perform them consistently enough.   Another thing that I have given up on is fixing recognition errors.  I just enter my "typos" and then switch to a keyboard to correct them.  FWIW I think that I *once* managed to get all of the editing gestures, etc. working inside a Notepad window but never inside the TIP.   IMO it is essential to enable the icons which indicate when an Editing gesture has been recognized but I have noticed experienced users mocking that feature, so again YMMV.

Ref.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/How-do-I-use-gestures-in-Tablet-PC-Input-Panel

FYI

Robert Aldwinckle

No, your advice didn't help at all. I don't understand why when I enter a text field I have move my hand to the bottom of the screen to get to the Keyboard. It don't makes any sense at all.

Hi AlanPack,

Is BING a Modern UI/Metro UI App? The keyboard should automatically pop up within Modern UI as in it should work flawlessly in apps. However, I still can't get it to work.

I have contacted Microsoft Online Technical Support(OST) however they acknowledged this is actual behaviour of Windows 8 and directed me to manually click the keyboard icon on the bottom right. I know how you feel as myself a Windows 8 user using the OS on an Acer Iconia Tab W500.

There is also a MOD REQUEST on XDA-Developers. I personally have not tried this but judging from the comments I think it could work. Can someone here try it?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1992361&page=2

Apparently it will look for the cursor icon and once this is detected it will automatically start the keyboard application. However im not sure if this will affect the keyboard in other areas such as in Modern UI. Once I am free maybe later I will try and test it out.

But if anyone can manage to get the Windows 7 Touch Input Panel to work, that would be the best where the keyboard icon appears near the text input field. This gives us the option to launch the keyboard or not.

Im just wondering why with an Operating System designed with tablets in mind ( touch based ) this simple working application was not carried forward from Windows 7 to Windows 8. Also not sure if you use this feature [flicks] where we could flick to the right,left,up,down, up-left,up-right,down-left,down-right to do simple tasks such as Copy, Paste, Delete, Redo. This feature is still present in Windows 8 however it now requires you to use a stylus [Wacom im guessing] to use the feature. This is rather stupid on Microsoft's end as it was working perfectly in Windows 7. With this, I feel that although this OS is meant to be more touch-friendly, certain key features have taken a step back.  [As what Joe was saying]

Sourcing the web, by far no one has gotten it to work automatically except maybe with the XDA-Dev link above. I will try and get hold of the required files for the keyboard from a Windows 7 computer and get its dependencies too and try and work my way backwards to get the same Windows 7 feature in Windows 8.

Im glad to see other users are having the same fustrations as me.

If anyone has gotten this to work please let us know.

Thanks,

Nic

Nic

Did you find the answer for this keyboard issue?

Frustrating indeed when using a Windows 8 tablet.

However I realized that the keyboard pops-up automatically when you start BING from Apps menu and it hides autimatically after hitting the search button in this engine

Therefore I still don't know really what Microsoft has as plan, but the consistency is missed here.

At least I would prefer to be able to configure the auto hide selectively myself depending on which application I want to use or disable it when using an external physical keyboard.. This would be the best proactive approach

Anyway, guys let me know if you have a workaround

AlanPack

In a way, it's nice to know that others are experiencing this issue too, but most of all, I find it aggravating. The touch features that worked really well in Windows 7, namely the Windows Input Panel and editing flicks, have been removed from Windows 8, which is supposed to be specifically designed for touch. I don't understand this decision and sincerely hope these features will be added back in an upcoming service pack.

I realize that Microsoft is emphasizing the new Metro interface, but the fact is that the desktop is still the predominant domain of productivity. By removing functions that enable tablet users to work fluidly within MS Office applications like Excel and Word, Microsoft is risking losing its major edge over platforms like Android and iOS. Sure, apps are nice and Metro is fun, but when I need to get serious work done, I turn to Windows because it can run the power software I need. Please Microsoft, don't turn Windows into just another toy...

Joe