How to Change the On-Screen Keyboard Layout on a Chromebook

Chrome OS offers a variety of keyboard layouts for its on-screen keyboard, also known as the software keyboard or touch keyboard. If you’d prefer the layout for another region or language, here’s how to change it.

This is also particularly useful if you can’t see the Ctrl and Alt keys on the software keyboard and need to enable them, which is a problem some Chromebook users have reported.

First, click on the clock to open the system menu and notification tray; then click on the Settings icon.

Scroll to the bottom and click “Advanced.”

Scroll a little bit further until you see the “Language and Input” section. Click on “Input Method” to expand it, then click on “Manage Input Methods.”

Locate the keyboard you want to use and check the box to its right to install the keyboard settings. For example, if the Ctrl and Alt keys don’t appear on your Chromebook’s current on-screen keyboard, click the “US Extended Keyboard” box to enable it.

Now, when you open the on-screen keyboard, tap or click the language input icon to the left of the Space bar, and select the keyboard you want to use from the list.

Your keyboard’s layout will change immediately—you don’t have to restart anything.

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Chromebooks don’t support third-party software keyboards, as Android does. Google does say it has plans to enable this in the future. Until Google allows the use of third-party keyboard apps on Chrome OS, however, the keyboard layouts included with Chrome OS are your only options.

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