Use a physical keyboard with your tablet

You can purchase an Android-compatible physical keyboard and connect it to your tablet. This lets you quickly compose documents, write emails, and navigate your tablet’s interface.

Important: Some of these steps work only on Android 14 and up. Learn how to update your Android version.

Connect a physical keyboard to your tablet

To connect a Bluetooth keyboard to your tablet:

  1. Put the keyboard into pairing mode. For help, refer to the keyboard manufacturer’s instructions.
  2. Open your device’s Settings .
  3. Tap Settings and then Connected devices and then Pair new device.
  4. Next to “Available devices,” tap the keyboard you want to connect.

Change your physical keyboard’s settings

  1. Open your device’s Settings .
  2. Tap System and then Keyboard and then Physical keyboard.
  3. Under “Physical keyboard:"
    • Change the physical keyboard layout: Choose your current physical keyboard and then choose the language for which you want to change the layout and then choose a layout.
  4. Under “Options,” change a setting:
    • Use on-screen keyboard: Turn this on if you want to keep your virtual keyboard on the tablet’s screen when the physical keyboard is active.
    • Keyboard shortcuts: Tap to display a list of useful keyboard shortcuts.
    • Modifier keys: Tap this setting to change the behavior of physical keyboard keys like Caps lock, Ctrl, and Alt.

Tip: The language settings for your on-screen keyboard are automatically applied to your physical keyboard after you connect it to your tablet.

Change touchpad settings

If your physical keyboard has a touchpad, you can adjust the touchpad’s settings after you connect it to your tablet:

  1. Open your device’s Settings .
  2. Tap System and then Touchpad.
  3. Change a setting:
    • Tap to click: When this setting is on, you can tap your touchpad to select, similar to left click on a mouse.
    • Reverse scrolling: Turn on to make content move up when you scroll down.
    • Bottom-right tap: Turn on to access more options when you tap the bottom-right corner of your touchpad.
    • Pointer speed: Drag left and right to change speed.

Related resources

Search
Clear search
Close search
Google apps
Main menu
1417739850658080587
true
Search Help Center
true
true
true