5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know Your Pixel’s Keyboard Could Do

Whether you’re rocking a Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold or an older, more compact-friendly option like the Google Pixel 8a, you’re likely to make use of the default keyboard, Gboard. While some manufacturers offer their own, like Samsung and Huawei, you can still override your smartphone’s keyboard by installing the Gboard app.

Beyond providing a clean, user-friendly UI, Gboard is a top keyboard app for its functionality. It has good predictive text, fantastic glide typing, and helpful text editing tools in its arsenal. Plus, it makes sense to stick with the app if you like staying within Google’s ecosystem on your Pixel phone.

As you might already know, one of the awesome perks of being a Pixel user with Google-related apps, is that you get to try out new features when Pixel Drops happen, like the new Gboard AI writing tools during one of 2025’s Pixel Drops. But if you don’t pay attention to all of Google’s patch notes, you might miss out on features hidden away in your Gboard settings or tucked away in the grid menu — some of these are very convenient, enabling shortcuts or saving a lot of time while you’re typing.

If you’re bilingual, or practicing another language while chatting or typing on your smartphone, it’s not really convenient to keep swapping the keyboard language, especially if you’re participating in a dynamic, fast-moving chat. This is where you’ll want to add another language to Gboard.

You can do this through your Pixel settings. Then, in the app, you can enable multilingual typing in the languages you set, with them needing to be set in Gboard as available inputs. When you’re typing, Gboard will automatically recognize the language you’re typing in, and should be able to provide suggestions without switching to the other language.

Of course, the only limitation to this cool feature is that you can set it to only two languages at a time, which shouldn’t be too bad if you only speak one or two languages frequently. To ensure you have this setting on, tap the gear icon (settings) in Gboard, choose “Languages” and then tap the listed language under the “Keyboard languages & layouts” header and toggle on Multilingual typing underneath it. 

If you’re someone who accidentally sends the wrong link or overwrites the link you were going to send, you definitely want to take advantage of your Gboard’s built-in clipboard manager. The clipboard is built into the app, so you can see what you have saved anytime you open your keyboard on your Pixel phone.

While that might seem handy to access, you can do a little more to control it. For example, your Gboard’s clipboard has a pin feature. Content that is pinned to your keyboard does not get deleted (unless you clear the app’s data or uninstall it), even if you restart your phone or copy something else. It isn’t limited to text; you can use it to paste images. It’s really handy if you want to send something later, but don’t want to lose it, or if you have repetitive text that you find too tedious to keep pasting, like your email address, you’ll want to save it to your pins for easy access.

To use the pinning feature, you need to have copied the text or image, then open the clipboard on your keyboard (the icon should be above your letter inputs). From there, you should find items you have recently copied, hover over them, and tap-hold to open more options. Select “Pin” underneath ‘Paste,’ and you’ll find the text or image shown under the “Pinned” header in your Gboard’s clipboard.

You probably have a pretty good idea of how to add special words, like slang, into your Gboard’s personal dictionary. But instead of adding actual words to the dictionary, you can use it to recognize abbreviations or shortcuts, and then let it expand those words out for you.

If you wanted to say your own version of “talk to you later,” or “talk to you soon,” such as “I will message you in a bit,” and don’t want to keep writing that out, you can write “IWMYIAB” and let Gboard recognize the shortform and automatically expand it for you. It’s pretty easy, and can save you loads of time and repetition when you’re on the go or are busy.

To start adding entries into your dictionary, open Gboard (use an app that requires typing), select the settings, and then tap “Dictionary'”> “Personal dictionary”. You’ll then choose the keyboard, and you can start adding words, including abbreviations (shortcuts). Tap the “Plus” sign in your keyboard dictionary menu, and you can type a phrase and add its shortcut.

Gboard has a gesture-activated shortcut for inputting symbols. When the keyboard is open, you flick down on the letters to open the symbol section. This is great if you frequently type numbers, or if you’re trying to redeem codes that often contain mixed letters and characters. But you can only do this if you’ve enabled the feature in your Gboard settings inside the preferences menu. However, if you already have swipe typing enabled, you can accidentally activate that instead of accessing the symbols on your keyboard.

The easiest way to correct this is to experiment with the flick sensitivity so it matches a more natural flick than a longer swipe. The flick input sensitivity can be adjusted below the ‘”Flick keys to enter symbols” toggle in the preferences menu.

While it may look like a slider, you can only adjust the sensitivity to five notches — the lower the sensitivity, the harder and longer you may need to press for the flick to register, but the higher the sensitivity, the quicker you need to be. You may need to play around with the sensitivity to match your natural input. Start with a lower sensitivity and turn it up if needed.

One-handed mode on Gboard is really convenient when you don’t want to use both hands to send a quick response. It ensures that your thumb can comfortably reach around the keyboard. Enabling one-handed mode can be done when Gboard is opened (you don’t need to do this in your Pixel settings). In the upper-left corner, above the letters, should be a grid button. Tap the grid and select One-handed. This will slightly shrink the onscreen keyboard, which, in theory, will let your thumb span the keys and enter prompts. Tapping the four arrows next to your keys will return it to full-screen mode, disabling the one-handed option.

If you’re left-handed, you can set that in your Gboard settings under preferences. Choosing “One-handed keyboard'” and picking “Left-handed” will change the layout to suit left-handed typing. Or if you’re ambidextrous, you can tap the arrow in one-handed mode to switch the side. You can also resize the keyboard once one-handed mode is enabled.

Another option that might work well if you enjoy the accessibility features of one-handed typing is the floating window option. Tapping the grid will let you access the “Floating” button, which should be right beneath the one-handed option. This will shrink your keyboard and create an overlay across your apps without being overly intrusive or taking up too much space. Tapping the grid icon and selecting “Floating” will return the keyboard to normal size. It’s a great alternative to keep in your back pocket for larger Pixel devices like the Pixel Pro Fold or even the Pro XL variants for resizing your keyboard appropriately.