Thumb keyboard

Updated: 04/26/2017 by Computer Hope

A thumb keyboard may refer to any of the following:

1. A thumb keyboard is a small physical keyboard that usually connects using USB (universal serial bus) designed for only the left and right thumbs on your hands. These small keyboards usually help users type quicker, as they can use more than one finger. These types of keyboards are also great for console gamers, Internet TVs, and other locations a traditional keyboard doesn't work.

2. A thumb keyboard is also a type of on-screen keyboard commonly used with smartphones and tablets that allow the user to type messages on their devices. With the introduction of Windows 8, Microsoft released a touch keyboard that could convert to a thumb keyboard, as shown in the picture below.

Windows 8 Thumb Keyboard

How to enable the thumb keyboard in Windows 8

  1. Right-click the Taskbar.
  2. Click Toolbars and select Touch Keyboard. After Touch Keyboard is selected, a small keyboard should appear on the Taskbar.
  3. Click the keyboard to open the Touch Keyboard and click the keyboard icon in the bottom-right corner to open available keyboards and select the second thumb keyboard icon.

Keyboard terms, On-screen keyboard