Gboard, ironically, makes using a physical keyboard better

Gboard is probably one of the most used keyboards on Android phones, and that’s for good reason. It comes with a ton of amazing features that make typing on Android a treat. However, you’d be missing all these features if you use a physical keyboard. The company is looking to change this, as Gboard now has a useful toolbar for people using a physical keyboard.

When you use the full Gboard keyboard you see a toolbar at the very top. This toolbar gives you access to word suggestions, emojis, stickers, gifts, settings, and your clipboard. You just don’t have access to these when you connect a physical keyboard.

Thankfully, Gboard is coming out with a toolbar to use when you add a physical keyboard

This feature is still rolling out, so there might be a chance that you won’t see it just yet. In any case, it should be widely available soon. When you connect a physical keyboard to your phone/tablet, you’ll see a small toolbar occupying the bottom of the screen. It occupies as much less space than the full keyboard, and it gives you access to many of the tools you use on the digital keyboard.

Looking at the screenshot, we see that it only occupies a small sliver of the bottom of the screen. We see the text recommendations in the middle. The suggestions are flanked by the emoji button on the left and the collapse button on the right. Depending on the device you’re using, you may also see a microphone button next to the collapse button. This will allow you to hop into voice typing. Tapping on the collapse button will shrink the toolbar even more and pin it to the side of your screen.

On the other side of the emoji button, you’ll see a hamburger-style menu button. The menu has options that will take you to your settings, show the on-screen keyboard, show the keyboard shortcuts, show your clipboard, and show translations.

This is a great update to Gboard, and it lets us know that Google is thinking about people using physical accessories. For example, the company also unveiled stylus handwriting tools for Gboard.