How to Enable a Keyboard on PC or Mac

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Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: January 20, 2024

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• Enabling the Accessibility Keyboard (Mac)
|
• Enabling the On-Screen Keyboard (Windows)
|
• Enabling the Touch Keyboard (Windows)
|
• Adding Another Language Keyboard (Windows)
|
• Detecting a New Keyboard (Windows)

|Show more |Show less

This wikiHow teaches you how to enable different types of keyboards for Windows and macOS.

Quick Steps

• Click the Apple menu and click System Preferences/Settings.
• Click Accessibility.
• Click Keyboard and click Accessibility Keyboard.
• Toggle on Enable Accessibility Keyboard.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 5:

Enabling the Accessibility Keyboard (Mac)

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1. 
   1
   Click the

   

   menu. It’s at the top-left corner of the screen.
2. 
   2
   Click System Preferences.
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3. 
   3
   Click Accessibility. It’s the blue circle with the outline of a person inside.
4. 
   4
   Click Keyboard.
5. 
   5
   Click the Accessibility Keyboard tab.
6. 
   6
   Check “Enable Accessibility Keyboard” box. The accessibility keyboard is now enabled.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 5:

Enabling the On-Screen Keyboard (Windows)

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1. 
   1
   Click the Search icon. It’s usually a magnifying glass or white circle next to the Start menu.

   • If you don’t see these icons, press ⊞ Win+S.
2. 
   2
   Type keyboard. A list of search results will appear.
3. 
   3
   Click On-Screen Keyboard. It should be near the top of the search results.
4. 
   4
   Slide the “On-Screen Keyboard” keyboard to

   

   . This opens the on-screen keyboard. You can use this keyboard by clicking the mouse (or tapping the touchscreen) on the key you want to type.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 5:

Enabling the Touch Keyboard (Windows)

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1. 
   1
   Right-click the part of the taskbar with the clock. It’s usually at the bottom-right corner of the screen. A menu will appear.
2. 
   2
   Click Show touch keyboard button. This adds a small keyboard icon to the area by the clock.

   • If you have a lot of icons in this area, click the arrow to display the icons you can’t see.
3. 
   3
   Click the keyboard icon. This opens the touch keyboard. You can now use your touchscreen to type.
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Method 4

Method 4 of 5:

Adding Another Language Keyboard (Windows)

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1. 
   1
   Click the Search icon. It’s usually a magnifying glass or white circle next to the Start menu.

   • If you don’t see these icons, press ⊞ Win+S.
2. 
   2
   Type region. A list of results will appear.
3. 
   3
   Click Region & Language. It should be the first match.
4. 
   4
   Click + Add a language. A list of languages will appear.
5. 
   5
   Click the language you want to enable. This downloads the language and adds it to the Languages list.
6. 
   6
   Click the language you just downloaded. It’s under the “Languages” header. Some buttons will appear.
7. 
   7
   Click Options.
8. 
   8
   Click Download. The keyboard for this language will download to the computer. When it’s finished installing, you’ll be prompted to restart the computer.
9. 
   9
   Restart your computer. Click the

   

   , click

   

   , then click Restart. The computer will turn off and then turn back on.
10. 
    10
    Switch the keyboard to the new language. Now when you need to switch languages, press and hold ⊞ Win and the Spacebar to bring up the language list, then click the language you want to use.
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Method 5

Method 5 of 5:

Detecting a New Keyboard (Windows)

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1. 
   1
   Plug the keyboard cord into the computer’s USB port. If you plugged the keyboard in and it was not automatically detected, unplug the cable, then plug it back in.
2. 
   2
   Open the Device Manager. If the keyboard is still not detected, type device manager into the search bar, then click Device Manager in the search results.
3. 
   3
   Right-click Keyboards. A context menu will appear.
4. 
   4
   Click Scan for hardware changes. This scans the computer for new keyboards. Once your keyboard is detected, the appropriate drivers will be installed.
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