Activate on-screen keyboard in Windows 10, 8, and 7

Windows’ on-screen keyboard is ultra helpful if you’re unable to use an external physical keyboard for your PC or Windows device. The on-screen keyboard is a standard input tool in Windows 7, 8, and 10 that lets you navigate the system and use text input without a classic keyboard.

Quick guide: Ac­ti­vat­ing the on-screen keyboard

Windows 10 on-screen keyboard

1. Open “Settings” via the Windows Start menu or via [Windows] + [I].
2. Click on “Ease of Access”.
3. Open the “Keyboard” menu.
4. Set the toggle under “Use your device without physical keyboard” to “On”.
5. The visual on-screen keyboard will now appear onscreen.
6. Click on “x” to close the on-screen keyboard.

Windows 8 on-screen keyboard

1. Right-click in a free area in the lower taskbar.
2. Click on “Toolbars”.
3. Activate “On-Screen Keyboard”.
4. Click on the keyboard icon in the lower right corner of the taskbar to open it.
5. Click the icon again to close the keyboard

Windows 7 on-screen keyboard

1. Click on the Windows logo at the bottom left.
2. Go to “All Programs”.
3. First select “Ac­ces­sories” and then “Ease of access”.
4. Click on “On-Screen Keyboard” to open the keyboard.
5. Click on the “x” to close the keyboard.

On-screen keyboards in Windows: What are they for?

For many, a normal, physical PC keyboard is as natural to their computer use as the screen. But what happens if your keyboard is broken or not re­spon­sive? For­tu­nate­ly, Windows has a visual on-screen keyboard in case problems with the physical keyboard arise. This is also helpful if devices are infected with keylogger malware and there is a risk that malware will record sensitive data input such as login data or bank details via a physical keyboard.

With a Windows on-screen keyboard, you have all the standard physical keys and can make visual key­strokes with and without tablet mode, with a mouse, or, if parts of the keyboard don’t work, with selected key groups.

To enable or disable the on-screen keyboard on Windows 10, 8, and 7, follow our detailed step-by-step in­struc­tions or our quick guides.

Open on-screen keyboard in Windows 10

Shortcut for onscreen keyboard

The fastest way to open the on-screen keyboard in Windows 10 is the shortcut [Windows] + [Ctrl] + [O]. This way, the on-screen keyboard can be activated im­me­di­ate­ly if a physical keyboard is available or intact.

Al­ter­na­tive­ly, on Windows 10, 8, and 7, you can open the “Run” command prompt window by pressing [Windows] + [R] and display the on-screen keyboard with the Windows CMD command “osk”.

It is also possible to open the Windows on-screen keyboard via the “Settings”, which you can open with the shortcut [Windows] + [I]. Select the submenus “Ease of Access” and “Keyboard” and then activate “Use On-Screen Keyboard”. We will show these steps again in more detail below.

Via mouse / without keyboard use

Step 1: First open the Windows “Settings” menu. To do this, click on the Windows logo at the bottom left and then on the gear icon for the Settings menu.

Step 2: Click “Ease of Access” in the Settings menu.

Step 3: Under “In­ter­ac­tion” in the “Ease of Access” sidebar, select the “Keyboard” menu.

Step 4: Click the toggle below “Use your device without a physical keyboard”. When the toggle is set to “On”, the visual on-screen keyboard appears.

Step 5: To disable the on-screen keyboard, click the “x” at the top right of the on-screen keyboard.

Open on-screen keyboard in Windows 8

Step 1: Go to the bottom taskbar with the mouse and right-click on a free area.

Step 2: In the menu that opens, go to “Toolbars” at the top.

Step 3: Check the “On-screen keyboard” box.

Step 4: The Windows on-screen keyboard icon will now appear at the bottom right of the taskbar. Click on it to open the visual keyboard.

Step 5: Close the keyboard by clicking the keyboard icon again. To disable the on-screen keyboard, right-click again to open the taskbar menu and uncheck “On-screen keyboard”.

Step 6: Al­ter­na­tive­ly, the Windows on-screen keyboard can be opened by swiping inward from the right edge of the screen, typing “on-screen keyboard” into the search bar, and clicking it.

Activate an on-screen keyboard in Windows 7

Step 1: Click the Windows logo at the bottom left to open the Start menu.

Step 2: Go to “All Programs” on the Start menu and click on it.

Step 3: Click the “Ac­ces­sories” tab, and then click the “Ease of Access” tab.

Step 4: Activate the visual keyboard by clicking on “On-Screen Keyboard”.

Step 5: Click on the “x” to de­ac­ti­vate the keyboard again.

Pin an on-screen keyboard to Windows 10 taskbar

To open the on-screen keyboard in Windows 10 extra quickly, simply pin it to your taskbar.

Step 1: Type “system icons” at the bottom of the Windows search bar and open the system icons menu.

Step 2: Set the slider to “On” in the menu window that opens. The on-screen keyboard is now pinned to your taskbar and can be opened with one click.