Swype Help

Table of Contents

Quick Start

Swype is a word-based text entry method on a standard keyboard.

• Use a drawing motion to trace entire words. To begin, place your finger (or the stylus) on the key with the first letter of the word and glide to the following letters. Lift your finger after the last letter.
• Sloppy is ok – try to get near each letter while gliding quickly from letter to letter.
• Spaces are usually automatic. Swype a word, lift your finger, and continue on to the next word. Swype will add the space for you.
• To enter a double letter in a word, just "scribble" on the key.
• Words can include punctuation. Example: To enter the English word "it's", glide through the 'I', 'T', apostrophe, and 'S' keys. The apostrophe is on the same key as the '.'.
• Swype accented characters by gliding through all the letters for the word, without concern for the accent. Usually, Swype recognizes the word and correctly accents the letters.
• Traced paths might match multiple words, popping up a Word Choice window. The first word in the list is selected by default when you start to Swype the next word.
• To correct a word, double-tap the word you would like to replace in your text.
• If Swype doesn't know your word, tap each letter of the word then Space. Swype automatically learns it for future input.
• To enter numbers and symbols, tap the SYM key. The Symbols keyboard shows alternate characters for each key.
• To learn more about Swype, watch this introductory video:

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Auto-Spacing

Swype automatically inserts a space between words where necessary.

Swype can also determine the spacing requirements around most symbols and automatically insert spaces. There are some symbols where Swype can't anticipate the appropriate spacing: period, hyphen, and single and double quotes. In these cases, tap the Space key to generate the intended text. Swype supports special punctuation "words" which virtually eliminate the need to tap the Space key to enter spaces.

Auto-spacing can be temporarily turned off to run words together. Enter the first word, and then tap-long-hold on the Space key until it says "No Auto Space". An icon will show on the Space key to show that auto-spacing is turned off for the next word. Example: enter "myspace" by Swyping "my", doing a tap-long-hold on the space key, and entering "space".

You can permanently turn the auto-spacing feature on or off in Swype Options.

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Caps

Swype recognizes special gestures as you trace a word to produce capital letters.

• Shift – To capitalize a word, start on the first letter of the word and glide your finger above the top of the Swype keyboard window, then back down into the keyboard to the next letter. To capitalize more than one letter in a word (e.g. McDonald), glide your finger above the Swype keyboard after each desired capital letter.

• ALL CAPS – To capitalize an entire word, start on the first letter of the word, glide your finger above the top of the Swype keyboard window, make a complete circle ("loop-the-loop") above the keyboard, then go back down into the keyboard to complete the word as normal. Keep your finger in contact with the screen the entire time. You can glide up to make the circle above the keyboard at any point in the word.

  If you want to generate a number of words in ALL CAPS, you can also turn on CAPS Lock by double-tapping the Shift key. Tap it again to turn CAPS Lock off.

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Double Letters

Swype recognizes special ways of moving your finger as you trace a word to produce two of the same letter in a row.

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Word Choice Window

When Swype isn't certain of the word you intended, it displays a window with word choices.

If you continue Swyping, the first word in the window is automatically selected.

If your intended word appears lower in the window, tap and glide to select the word in the Word Choice window. Set your finger down anywhere in the Word Choice window and then glide it off the right side of the window, being sure to exit in the area next to your desired word. Gliding off the bottom displays more word choices (if there are any), and gliding off the left side of the window cancels word entry. Gliding off the top of the window selects the first word.

Customize how often Swype displays the Word Choice window by setting the 'Word Choice Window' slider in Swype Options.

• To see the Word Choice window less frequently, set the slider towards the Left.
• If you are very distracted by the Word Choice window popping up, you can set the slider all the way to the left so that the Word Choice window will never be shown automatically.
• To see the Word Choice window more frequently, if you prefer to select the correct word right away as each word is entered, set the slider further towards the right.

Try the default setting – you will find that the Word Choice window usually pops up when you need it to. Remember that even when the Word Choice window pops up, if you start Swyping a word, the window will be dismissed and the default word (at the top) will be output.

Many people learn to ignore the Word Choice window as it pops up, looking at it only when they want to check a word.

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Punctuation "Words"

Swype recognizes certain combinations of punctuation characters, spaces and letters, as "words" that can be Swyped rather than manually tapping these common sequences. The following punctuation combinations may be generated by Swyping between the keys shown. If it says to Swype a key twice, use the double letter gesture. The symbol "␣" represents the space character.

• ␣"
• ␣-␣
• !␣
• !␣␣
• "␣
• 'd
• 'll
• 's
• ,␣
• ,␣␣
• .␣
• .␣␣
• .com
• .edu
• .gov
• .net
• .org
• 2moro
• 4ever
• :-)
• ?␣
• ?␣␣
• ac/dc
• at&t
• c/o
• http://
• http://www.
• i'd
• i'll
• i'm
• i've
• i/o
• l/cpl
• m&a
• n/a
• nd
• pre-
• q&a
• r&d
• rd
• re-
• s'
• st
• th
• www.
• °␣c
• °c

Example: The period and space at the end of a sentence can be entered by Swyping from the Period to the Space key. This is much faster and easier than trying to tap precisely on the Period key and then on the Space key.

You can see some of the punctuation used in these words displayed as alternate characters on the main keyboard, but they work whether you can see them or not. Example: To get space followed by an open quote, you would Swype from the space key to the key with the open quote, even though that key is shared with a letter.

If auto-spacing is turned on, Swype will add a space only where it's needed. Example: To get "Bill's" in English, Swype "Bill", lift up, and then Swype "'s". Swype will know not to add a space between them. To get "d'accord" in French, Swype "d'", lift up, and then Swype "accord".

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Accented Letters

Even though they are not shown on the keyboard, Swype associates a full set of accented letters with the corresponding unaccented letter ("base letter"). Swype your word as you normally would, using the base letter key for the desired accented letter. Swype recognizes words with accents and provides appropriate word matches with the correct accented characters. For example, you would enter the French word "café" by Swyping to the 'e' key at the end of the word.

Swype also provides access to accented letters when tapping to add words to the dictionary. Example: To explicitly enter the 'ñ' character, place your finger or stylus on the 'n' key and hold it there for longer than you normally would (a tap-long-hold rather than a tap-hold). This pops up a Character window for choosing among the accented letters associated with the key. Tap the desired letter from the Character window and then finish tapping the rest of the word followed by a space. Swype automatically learns the word with the accented character.

To capitalize an accented letter you are entering this way, tap the Shift key either before or after the Character window displays. The Character window will then show the capitalized accented letters.

Note that by "accented letters", we mean letters with any kind of diacritic mark and even some derived or related characters. Example: "ß" is available from the key with "s", "þ" is with "t", and "ð" is with "d".

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One-Letter Words

There is a Swype method for faster entry of common one-letter words: Simply touch on or near the key for the letter of the one-letter word, then glide over to the Space key before lifting your finger or stylus. If a space is needed, it will be automatically generated when you Swype the next word. You can still enter a one-letter word by tapping the key containing the desired letter, but you may find that it slows you down to tap a key precisely.

Swyping from "i" to space will generate "I" – no Shift gesture is necessary.

Short cuts for the following one-letter words are supported in this language:

• a
• i

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Editing

It is often faster to ignore the Word Choice window and just keep entering text, checking the text after you have entered a paragraph or so.

If you spot an incorrect word, edit it by double-tapping the word. The Word Choice window will display, allowing you to select the intended word, which will automatically replace the highlighted word. The intended word will usually be the first word in the list, in which case you can touch anywhere in the window and glide up through the top of the window to correct the word. In addition, the text cursor will automatically return to where it was before you double-tapped the word, so that you can keep going with entering text where you were before you paused to review the last paragraph.

If you don't find the word you want anywhere in the Word Choice window, simply Swype the word again and the new word entered will replace the incorrect word (in this case, the text cursor will be left at the end of the word you enter, in case you wish to do further editing there).

Instead of double-tapping a word to correct it, you can also tap your finger once anywhere within the word, and then press the Swype key .

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Adding Words to Swype

If the word you desire doesn't show up in the Word Choice window when you try to enter it, you can teach Swype the word by adding it to Swype's dictionary. Example: Swype does not recognize the word "zaq". Instead of Swyping the word, tap each letter key carefully: 'z', 'a', 'q', followed by a Space, and Swype learns this is a new word. You can then enter "zaq" using the normal Swype entry method and it will appear in the Word Choice window.

To teach Swype words that include symbols (for example, “info@swype.com”), or words that are all digits (like phone numbers or login ID's): First type the word (or words) that you want to add, then highlight the text area containing the new words. Finally, tap the Swype key . Swype will identify any new words in the highlighted text and add them to the dictionary. A Help screen will display showing what words were added. Example: If "(206) 555-0191" was in the highlighted text, Swype would add both "(206)" and "555-0191" to the dictionary.

To remove a word from the dictionary, highlight ONLY the word that you want to delete, and then tap the Swype key. A message screen will display to confirm that you want to delete the word.

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Typing in Swype

In addition to Swyping complete words, you can type using individual keys. This allows you to use the compact Swype keyboard to generate just about any text you might want. Swype gives you access to hundreds of different characters – without having to change to a different keyboard or remember complicated key combinations.

Short Tap: When a key is quickly tapped, the key's unaccented "base letter" or function will be generated or activated. This is the letter shown in black in the center of each key. This is just what you'd expect – tap the 'j' key, you get a 'j'. If the Shift key is tapped prior to tapping the key, the letter will be generated as a capitalized letter. Tap the Shift key then the 'j' key, and you get a capital 'J'.

Tap and Hold (tap-hold): When you contact a key for a little longer, this is a "Tap-Hold", and this generates the alternate character displayed on that key. For instance if you want to type the number '1', you can just tap and hold on the key with '1' until you see the '1' symbol appear. We also display this alternate character in a small pop-up window to let you know when you have tapped and held long enough.

Tap and Long Hold (tap-long-hold): When you contact a key for even longer, this is a "Tap-Long-Hold", and this generates a Character window that presents all of the letters or functions associated with the key. This window includes all of the accented and unaccented, punctuation, numeric or other special characters that are associated with this key. Just touch the key without moving your finger, and hold it there until the alternate character pop-up disappears. Tap the Shift key before touching the key (or after the menu appears) to get capitalized letters.

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Alternate Characters

There are several ways to get characters other than those shown on the main keyboard.

The SYM Key: In addition to the standard letters, most of the keys are also associated with one or two alternate characters or functions. These are shown on each key as the alternate or secondary character on that key. To enter an alternate character explicitly, tap SYM key. The keyboard then re-displays, showing only the alternate characters on each key. You can see that there are two pages of alternate characters. If you don't see the character you are looking for, press the Shift key and this will show you the next set of characters. Note that ALL of the characters are Swype-able from the main layer (whether you can see them or not) and remember that you can tap and long hold to access all the characters associated with a key.

You can Swype using this view of the keyboard, but you will only get words that have at least one number or symbol.

Tap and Hold (tap-hold): Tap-Hold on a key to enter the alternate character from a key without having to tap the SYM key first. Tap-Hold any key by placing your finger or stylus on the key and remaining on the key for a moment.

Activating the Shift key first will display a different set of alternate letters and functions – again, simply tap-hold the key to get the alternate letter shown on the key. Or, if you tap the SYM key first, you can tap-hold a key to get the Shifted alternate character (without having to tap the Shift key).

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Switching Languages

Swype supports text entry in a number of languages. To switch between languages:

1. Tap the SYM key.
2. Tap the key showing the abbreviation code for the currently active language (e.g. "EN" for English).
3. A Language Choice window displays, showing available languages.
4. Select the desired language by tapping it in the list.
5. View all available languages by scrolling through the list using the arrow at the bottom of the window.
6. To cancel, tap the 'x' at the left of the list.

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Numeric Keyboard

You can enter numbers from the main keyboard, but Swype also provides a ten-key layout on the Numeric keyboard for entering numbers and for direct access to basic calculation symbols.

To display the Numeric keyboard, first tap the SYM key, then the '123' key. Alternatively, Swype from the Swype key to the key with a '5' on it.

The Numeric keyboard supports two methods of character entry: tapping, and tap-holding. Tap-holding a key will generate an alternate character on the key. Symbols are grouped on the keys by function or by characters that are in some way related in their appearance.

To return to the main keyboard, tap the 'ABC' key.

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Editing Keyboard

The Editing keyboard provides a quick way to move the cursor and highlight text. To get to the Editing keyboard, first tap the SYM key, then tap-long-hold on the '123' key. Alternatively, Swype from the Swype key to the SYM key.

If the application in which you are working supports editing functions, you can cut, copy or paste highlighted text. You can also apply formatting such as Bold, Italic and Underline. The UnDo key and the ReDo key aid you in correcting editing mistakes and repeating actions.

Four arrow keys – Up, Down, Left and Right – are arranged in a cross with other cursor movement keys – Page Up, Page Down, Home and End – available nearby.

Tapping the Cursor Jump key on the Editing keyboard highlights the key and changes the function of the arrow keys to work as Paragraph Up, Paragraph Down, Word Left and Word Right. It makes the Page Up and Page Down keys work as Top of Page and Bottom of Page, and it makes the Home and End keys work as Beginning of Document and End of Document.

Tapping the Select Text key on the Editing keyboard makes it so the text area that the cursor moves across becomes highlighted or "selected".

When text is highlighted, you can then use the other keys to apply editing actions or use the Swype key to find any words in the selected text that are not yet present in Swype's dictionary and automatically add them.

To return to the main keyboard, tap the ABC key.

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Speed & Accuracy

To gain speed when using Swype, trust the software to do its job. Try ignoring the Word Choice window when entering text, instead editing at the end of the paragraph or thought.

Because Swype is very forgiving of inaccuracies, you can enter a word path quickly, without needing to precisely touch each letter – just getting close to the letters of the word is sufficient.

With longer words, it usually doesn't matter if you make mistakes when entering the path for the word. Even if you completely forget a letter, or trace through some of the letters in the wrong order, or head off in the wrong direction and "double-back" to get to the letter you meant to go to next, Swype will usually find the word you wanted. You may need to use the Word Choice window to select it, but even if you know that you "goofed" on a longer word, just keep going – you'll usually find the word at the end.

You can also customize how hard Swype will "try" to find the word that you meant. In Swype Options there is a slider labeled 'Speed vs. Accuracy'. Setting the slider further to the right tells Swype to spend more time trying to figure out what word you meant. This allows you to be "sloppier" (and therefore faster!) in tracing out each word. The further to the right, the sloppier you can get, including tracing paths with more "spelling" errors. Swype will take a little longer to respond, depending on the speed of the processor in your device. Setting this toward the left end tells Swype to spend less time trying to figure out what word you may have meant, so that Swype makes a "quick decision" and responds with a word very soon after you lift your finger. If you tap the "Default" button, the slider is adjusted so that, on average, Swype responds within 1/4 of a second after you lift your finger (Swype measures device processor speed to determine this setting).

You don't have to wait for Swype to respond – keep entering the text that you want, and when you pause for a moment to think, Swype will catch up and all the words you entered will appear in the text.

When Swyping one-letter words, touch on or near the letter, then glide to the Space key.

One other suggestion: To increase your speed, try not to move your eyes to every letter of word as you enter them. Instead, look toward the middle of the keyboard and use your peripheral vision to direct your finger near the desired keys. It also helps to think one letter ahead of where you are in your word. Over time, you will learn common patterns found within words and become faster entering them.

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Customizing Swype

Swype can be customized through an Options menu.

To customize Swype:

1. Tap the SYM Key to display the Symbols keyboard.
2. Tap-hold the ABC key on the Symbols keyboard to display the Swype Options menu.

On Windows Mobile phones, you can get to Swype options as follows:

1. Make sure that Swype is selected as the current input method.
2. Tap the triangle next to the input-method icon on the menu bar at the bottom of the screen to pop up the Input-Method menu.
3. Choose 'Options' from the menu.
4. Tap the Options button at the upper right of the resulting screen to display the Options menu.

From the Swype Options menu you can:

• Set the language used to produce words in Swype.
• Turn on or off automatic spacing between Swyped words.
• Turn on or off word prediction for tapped words.
• Turn on or off the flashing Tip Indicator. You can tell the system to quit flashing the "info icon" that flashes when there is a helpful tip about Swype.
• Turn on or off audio warnings. These are the occasional informative "beeps" that Swype may generate, for example when you double-tap to edit a word for which Swype doesn't have any alternate word choices.
• Turn on or off automatic capitalization at the start of sentences.
• Adjust the length of the trace that "trails behind" your finger as words are entered.
• Adjust how likely it is that Swype will automatically display the Word Choice window when you trace an input path.
• Adjust Swype Response to respond faster (because the Swype software is doing less processing) or to allow for "sloppier" input (which requires more processing). See ”Speed & Accuracy“.
• Adjust the default word timeout that determines how many seconds the Word Choice window will be displayed before Swype will automatically select the first word in the list.
• Display this Help text.
• Run an Interactive Tutorial which introduces Swype features.
• Display information on the version of Swype installed.

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	A new way to type

	Just trace a path through the letters of a word
'the'

For Tips and Help — press and hold the flashing Swype Key

	The Swype Key
The Swype key only works if you Swype in words.

	Just trace a path through the letters of a word
'the'

For Tips and Help — press and hold the flashing Swype Key

Go Faster!
You don't need to be quite so accurate...try going faster.

Quicker Word Selection
To get the word 'café,' put your finger anywhere in the Word Choice window, and just glide it through the red arrow!
It's faster than tapping.

Swype Punctuation

You can Swype from the period to the space to enter period–space. This also works for '?', '!', and ','.

Capitalization
	'The'
Swype capital letters by gliding your finger above the keyboard.

Advanced Swype Paths

To improve accuracy, you can curve your finger around unwanted letters as in 'put' above.

The Swype Key
You pressed the Swype key but we don't know what you are trying to do.
	Tap-Hold gives you Tips. This brings up helpful Tips or Help about Swype.
	Tap gives you Swype Functions. This will let you correct words, add words, remove words, etc.

Shifted Punctuation
To input a '?' start at the '?' and glide above the keyboard and back down to the space key. It works for '!' too.