Keyboard and Input

The core idea of iA Writer is to write without taking your hands off the keys. Knowing how to use the keyboard efficiently greatly improves your performance with iA Writer.

On Screen Keyboard

iA Writer 6 puts even more power at your fingertips than previous versions. With Quick Search and the new Lightning menu or Command Keyboard, you never have to leave the keyboard.

• In the Editor tap the loupe at the left to activate Quick Search for files and actions
• Long-press then swipe up on the loupe to bring in Find/Replace; tap again to dismiss
• Use the < and > keys to move the caret left and right
• Hide the keyboard by swiping down from the textview to the keyboard, or tap the Dismiss Keyboard key in the center of the bar (iPhone only)
• Undo and Redo (when appropriate) buttons are now right where you need them for editing
• Tap the ⌘ button to toggle the Command Keyboard
• Tap the ⚡️ button to present the Lightning Menu

Quick Search

Tap the Search icon in the keyboard bar—or anywhere in the app—to show the Quick Search dialog. From here you can search for files or actions to perform. e.g., “To Do List” or “Export as PDF…”. Type “?” or “help” for a full list of available actions.

• Normal tap an item to open the file or perform the action
• You can tap an item or return on the keyboard to open an item in the results
• Use 3D Touch for a quick preview of document contents
• Up and down cursor keys can be used to navigate search results
• Swipe a file to the left to show more options—just as in the Library

Advanced Search

iA Writer also offers improved ways to search through your documents.

• ".m" will match all files where extension is m (image files not supported)
• text machine will match files where name or text contain words that begin as text* and machine*
• "text* machine" will match all files where name or text contain a phrase with a word that begins as text* and a word machine
• #priority will match text files that contain a hashtag that begins as #priority*
• "#diary" will match text files that contain a hashtag #diary
• ^first will match files where the first word of a name or a text is first*
• time AND space will match all files where name or text contain words that begin as time* and space*
• name:alice will match all files where name contains a word that begins as alice*
• name:^"note" will match all files where name begins with a word note
• time OR "space" will match files with time* or space
• time NOT space will match files with time* but not space*
• NEAR(time space) will match files where time* and space* are located with 10 or less words in-between
• NEAR(time "space" "travel" 4) will match files with time*, space, and travel with 3 or less terms in-between
• (time AND life) OR "me" will match files with time* and life*, or me

NB: Only a single word is supported for queries with name: or text: prefix

Arrange the Command Keyboard Keys

1. Tap and hold a white key on the keyboard until the keys begin to jiggle
2. Next, tap and hold a jiggling key to pick it up
3. Drag it into a new position in the pop-up and release it
4. When finished, tap Done in the key selection pop-up

Change Command Keyboard Keys

1. Tap and hold a white key on the keyboard until the keys begin to jiggle
2. Next, tap a jiggling key
3. Scroll through the available keys in the pop-up and tap the one you want
4. When finished, tap Done in the key selection pop-up

Key Types

There are five kinds of keys that can be added to the Keyboard Bar:

• Markdown keys add Markdown punctuation to your text, to easily apply formatting
• Content keys allow you to insert text, images, tables and dates into your text
• Commands offer the ability to Cut, Paste, etc. as well as more complex commands such as creating a new document or copying HTML
• Smart Punctuation keys insert punctuation marks used in pairs, such as parentheses or quotation marks, and the appropriate opening or closing punctuation is chosen automatically
• Punctuation keys insert the character depicted when tapped

Lightning Menu (iOS 15+ required)

Press ⚡️ to access your favorites functions.

Select Configure Menu to add/remove/rearrange options.

Bluetooth Keyboards

You can turn any iOS device into a dedicated writing machine by pairing your device with an external Bluetooth keyboard.

By default this hides Apple’s on-screen keyboard and Writer’s Keyboard bar, but you can reveal them using the Bluetooth keyboard’s Eject button (top right, if present), or the keyboard maker’s equivalent shortcut (e.g. Fn+⌘5 for a Logitec in-cover keyboard). However, they’re generally not necessary, because you can use keyboard shortcuts. To pair:

1. Press the keyboard’s power button to turn it on
2. Go to Settings → Bluetooth, and turn on Bluetooth
3. Tap the keyboard that appears
4. Enter the number code using the keyboard to pair

With a connected keyboard you can take advantage of keyboard shortcuts. Pressing and holding the ⌘ key will reveal the full list of available shortcuts.

For a full list of shortcuts please see: Keyboard Shortcuts

Use keyboard on a Mac and an iOS device in turn

You’ll need to “forget” the current keyboard pairing when you want to swap (if the currently paired device is still in range). To go from a Mac to an iOS device:

1. On the Mac, go to System Preferences → Bluetooth
2. Click on the keyboard in the connected devices list
3. Click the Minus icon at the bottom of the list to unpair
4. Press the keyboard’s power button to turn it on
5. On the iPad or iPhone turn on Bluetooth under Settings → Bluetooth
6. Tap the keyboard and pair

To go from an iOS device to a Mac:

1. On the iPad or iPhone, go to Settings → Bluetooth
2. Tap the connected keyboard, and tap Forget this keyboard
3. Press the keyboard’s power button to turn it on
4. On the Mac go to System Preferences → Bluetooth
5. Click the Plus icon at the bottom of the device list
6. Click on the keyboard and pair

Language Support

iA Writer for iPadOS supports writing in many languages, and is localized in English, German, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Korean and Portuguese. At present languages such as Thai, Hebrew, and Arabic are not yet officially supported.

To write in more than one language, add a keyboard for each language you want to use. You can then switch keyboards by tapping the Globe key, which switches spell checking too.

Add a keyboard for an additional language in Settings

Switch input and spell checker while writing