How to make a keyboard with a small letter on Xiaomi

Xiaomi smartphone owners often face situations where the virtual keyboard does not behave as expected. Rather than typing lowercase (small) letters, the system stubbornly starts every phrase with a capital letter or changes the register at the wrong time, which is especially annoying when typing passwords, nicknames or specific commands where each character is important.

The problem is not the hardware of the device, but the software settings of the standard text-input application. Xiaomi defaults on the MIUI or HyperOS shell, which is closely integrated with Google’s Gboard keyboard. Autocorrection and autocapitalization algorithms often cause inconvenience, requiring the user to take additional actions to turn them off.

In this guide, we will go into detail on how to get a keyboard to type exactly the way you want it to. We will look at the settings of the application itself, the system settings of the language, and additional features that affect the character register. Understanding these mechanisms will allow you to fully control the process of typing on your device.

The basics of the Gboard keyboard on MIUI

The standard keyboard in Xiaomi smartphones is based on the Gboard engine. It's an intelligent system that tries to anticipate user desires. One of these features is the automatic capitalization of the first word in a sentence. The algorithm believes that any new sentence should start with a capital letter, which is true for literary text, but not always convenient in messengers or when entering codes.

There's also Autocorrect, which can change the little letters you write into big ones if it thinks it's grammatically correct, so when you type "iphone," for example, the system can automatically correct it to "IPhone." To change the behavior of the keyboard, you need to delve into the settings of the input application itself, not just the general settings of the system.

It's important to note that the path to settings may vary slightly across versions of the MIUI shell, but the logic of the Gboard application remains the same across devices. The changes you make will apply globally to all input fields that use a standard keyboard, meaning you won't have to customize each chat or note separately.

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Changing the keyboard settings applies to all apps at once, so be careful when turning off useful autocorrect functions.

How to turn off the automatic capital letter

The most common user request is to turn off forced start with a capital letter. If you want the keyboard to always start with a lowercase character, regardless of the context, you need to find the appropriate switch in the settings menu. This action does not require the installation of third-party software.

To start, open any app where you can type text, such as Notes or a Telegram dialog. When the keyboard appears, look for the gear icon on the top of the Gboard. If there is no icon, press and hold the comma or language change button until the menu appears, and select Settings. Next, follow the path: System -> Language and input -> Keyboard Management -> Gboard.

In the menu that opens, find the Enter text section, and here is the Autocapitalization switch, and if you turn it off, you will prevent the system from automatically making the first letter of the capital letter, and you should also pay attention to related settings, such as AutoReplacement and Error Correction, as they can indirectly affect the letter register in certain use cases.

After making changes, it is recommended to test the keyboard in different applications. Sometimes the system cache can save the old parameters, so rebooting the device will not be unnecessary. If the problem persists, it may be a conflict with another installed application for text input.

Using the Shift button for manual control

You don't always have to turn off the automatic functions completely. Sometimes you just have to type in small letters once without changing the global settings, and you have a Shift button on the keyboard that looks like an up arrow.

The logic behind this button on Android devices, including Xiaomi, is as follows:

• One press (arrow illuminated): the next letter will be capital, after entering it will again become lowercase.
• Double press (arrow painted over): Caps Lock mode is turned on, all letters are entered in capital.
• Lack of backlighting: all letters are entered in lowercase (if autocapitalization is disabled) or according to the rules of autocapitalization.

If you want to guarantee a small letter at the beginning of a sentence with autocapitalization enabled, just click on Shift once before entering the character to reset the state, or wait until the keyboard itself goes into lowercase mode after the dot. However, the most reliable way is to still disable autocapitalization, as described in the previous section.

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To quickly enter one capital letter, hold the desired character on the screen - in a second a pop-up menu with register options will appear, select the desired one.

Configuring language profiles and layouts

Keyboard behavior may vary depending on the language you choose, Russian and English grammar rules differ, and Gboard tries to take this into account. If you type in a mixed language (e.g., "RU/EN"), the settings may not be applied correctly.

Go to Gboard and select Languages. Make sure that active languages don't have specific rules that can conflict. Sometimes removing extra language from active layout helps to reset input errors. Also check if the "Suggest fixes" option is only on one language, which can cause strange register surges.

For advanced users, you can add frequently used words or nicknames to the dictionary and set a priority register for them, which is especially useful for programmers or users who often type technical terms with camelCase (for example, myVariableName).

Keyboard problems in specific applications

Sometimes users notice that the keyboard behaves differently in different applications, such as in Chrome, it can ignore the system settings, and WhatsApp works correctly, because some applications have their own input fields that dictate their rules.

Email or password fields usually automatically disable autocapitalization and autocorrection at the code level of the application itself. If in any particular application on Xiaomi the keyboard still changes the register, try to clear the cache of that application. Go to Settings -> Applications -> All applications, find the problematic application, select Memory and click Clear Cache.

⚠️ Attention: Clearing the data (not to be confused with cache) of the application will delete your logins, settings and correspondence history within this application".

It’s also worth checking if the phone has third-party themes installed. Some deep MIUI themes can modify the keyboard’s system files to cause it to malfunction. Switching to a standard theme “Classic” often helps identify the source of the problem.

Alternative solutions and third-party keyboards

If Gboard's standard settings don't work, or the interface seems too complicated, alternatives can always be considered. Google Play offers a variety of keyboards with flexible case-of-letter settings. One of the most popular is Microsoft SwiftKey, which allows you to customize the behavior of a capital letter in detail.

SwiftKey, for example, can completely disable the automatic capital letter in the Settings -> Print and autocorrect. The settings interface is more understandable for beginners, and predictive input algorithms often work more accurately than those of a stock solution. Installing a third-party keyboard on Xiaomi is standard: download APK, install, grant permissions, and select as the default input method.

Another option is to use voice input, which can also be customized. In Google input settings, you can specify punctuation and capitalization preferences, although this is less reliable for precise character input.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)