It’s Now Easier to Use Your Xbox Controller to Enter Text in Windows 11
By now, typing on a keyboard is second nature to most of us. However, you cannot type on a game controller. As much as I played games, I didn’t want to slowly move the on-screen cursor over each key using the joystick. It’s just not fun.
Microsoft seems to agree that there are issues with game controller and keyboard input, especially when using the typical on-screen keyboard design for PCs. As a result, the company plans to release an on-screen keyboard designed for use with an Xbox controller running a future version of Windows. In theory, this should make interacting with Windows much easier when you’re tethered to a controller and away from your mouse and (physical) keyboard.
As The Verge reports , the new on-screen keyboard has shortcuts that include the buttons on your Xbox controller. As you can see in the screenshot below, “X” activates the Backspace key, “Y” activates the spacebar, the menu button activates “enter”, the left trigger activates the “&123” menu, the screen share icon activates the microphone, the left button activates the left arrow, the right button activates the right arrow, and pressing the left joystick will activate Caps Lock.
Microsoft also notes that the keys in this mode are aligned vertically, which it believes will promote “better controller navigation patterns.” Players can judge when this will be fully implemented, but I think it will be easier than dragging the cursor around the horizontally aligned design of the existing on-screen keyboard. In fact, the overall experience is probably similar to the on-screen keyboard that Xbox players are already accustomed to if you’re using a Microsoft console.
How to try Microsoft’s new Xbox On-Screen Keyboard
Microsoft has added a new on-screen keyboard to the Windows 11 Release Preview Channel . This means that PC users will be able to experience this whenever Microsoft releases the next official update for Windows 11.
However, you don’t have to wait for the official update if you really want to try out this keyboard today. You can enroll your PC in the Windows Insider program to try early builds of future versions of Windows. This is essentially a beta program that I do not recommend users install on their main devices. However, if you’re going to sign up for the Insider program, the Release Preview channel is the most stable option, as Microsoft will highlight the version of Windows it intends to release to the general public, provided that no Insiders find any device-breaking bugs that need to be fixed.