- The virtual keyboard in the Steam Deck can be summoned by simply pressing the X button while holding the Steam button, whether in Game Mode or Desktop Mode
- What are the steps to follow to customize this virtual keyboard on Steam Deck?
Not that many people know that you can summon the virtual keyboard in the Steam Deck just by pressing the X button while holding down the Steam button. As you can see, using the virtual keyboard on the Steam Deck is much easier than you might imagine. Today you will learn how to customize it according to your tastes.
And this is important because Steam Deck does not offer a hardware keyboard, which forces us to resort to the virtual one to write whatever interests us on the screen. It is useful but also configurable and that is not a minor detail.
How to access the Steam Deck virtual keyboard?
Accessing the Steam Deck virtual keyboard on your screen is very simple, since all you have to do is click on these buttons as we explained before. Another advantage is that you can open it both in Game Mode and on the desktop. Once the keyboard is onscreen, you can type on it with the trackpads, onscreen, or on the controller.
In Game Mode
In Game Mode, you can invoke the Steam Deck’s on-screen keyboard by clicking those two buttons at the same time. Note that you can’t summon the keyboard anywhere in the game but at very specific times.
For example, you cannot access the keyboard if you are on the home screen or inside the Settings menu. But you can summon the keyboard in the game whenever you want while you are in the middle of the games.
Selecting a text box, the Search tab, and in other specific situations will invoke this virtual keyboard.
in desktop mode
On the other hand, you can summon the Steam Deck keyboard in desktop mode, with the X button in this circumstance. Hit the X button to summon the on-screen keyboard, as that works pretty much anywhere in this mode. As long as you have Steam running, sure, because it’s needed for button mappings.
Some of the hotkeys include pressing the Steam button next to other keyboard buttons. You can see the rest of the hotkeys on the screenshot which we leave you below.
And how to customize the virtual keyboard?
In order to customize your Steam Deck virtual keyboard a bit, click on the Steam button and go to Settings. Within this menu, scroll down until you enter Keyboard, where you will see various possibilities to customize it. There you can change the keyboard theme, adjust the haptic technology, and various other things.
Where to get new virtual keyboard themes?
Also, if the keyboard themes that you have available do not quite convince you, you can get new ones. You just have to visit the Points Store in the Steam market from Store and then Store Points.
Once in the Steam Points Store, you have to select the Keyboards tab to see what’s there.
However, you can also search for new keyboard themes for Steam Deck in a much more direct way. Go to Keyboard Settings from Steam, Settings, Keyboard, and click on the Visit Store… button, located in the Keyboard Settings menu. You will get new themes when you enter the Theme Store.
Themes cost 5,000 points to download, so think about paying that for them.
Have you been able to use the virtual keyboard in Steam Deck and customize it with these tricks that we teach you?
