How to reduce the keyboard on Xiaomi: the complete guide

Xiaomi smartphone owners often face the need to adapt the interface to their needs, and one of the most popular features is resizing the virtual keyboard. Standard settings may not be suitable for users with large fingers or, conversely, for those who are used to typing with one hand on large displays. Reducing the keyboard allows you to free up more space on the screen to view content, which is especially true when working in vertical orientation.

The process of changing the size of the input depends on the keyboard application used, since the MIUI or HyperOS shell only provides the platform, but does not dictate the rigid rules of button rendering. In most cases, Google’s Gboard is installed by default, which has flexible customization tools, but users can install alternative solutions. Understanding the principles of these tools will allow you to create the perfect ergonomics of printing.

In this article, we will discuss in detail all available methods to reduce the height and width of the keyboard, including hidden settings and third-party software. You will learn how to fix situations when the keys have become too small or, conversely, overlap half the display. Change the height of the keyboard on Gboard is possible only through the Settings menu, not through simple scaling of the interface.

Standard settings Gboard on Xiaomi

The most common scenario is the use of the standard Gboard keyboard, which is preinstalled on most Xiaomi devices. This tool offers native functionality to resize without the need to install additional software. To start, you need to enter the settings menu of the input application itself, rather than the general settings of the system.

Open any application that requires text input to make the keyboard appear, and click on the gear icon in the top panel. Next, go to Settings, where the keyboard Settings is located, and this is where the keyboard Height slider is located, moving which allows you to visually reduce or increase the input area.

• 📏 Move the slider to the left to reduce the height of the keyboard to the lowest possible value.
• 🔍 Use the “getting stuck Keyboard” mode to create a small floating input window.
• ⚙️ Check the Preferences setting to disable unnecessary features taking up space.

And it's important to note that reducing the height of the keyboard directly affects the size of the buttons themselves, making them smaller. If you have a large rook, excessive reduction can reduce the speed of printing, so you'd better use one-handed typing mode, which shifts the keyboard sideways, keeping it full size, but freeing up space on the other side of the screen.

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If a standard height slider doesn’t work, try turning on the “Shopping Keyboard” in the Gboard settings – this will create a compact window that can be moved around the screen.

Use of one hand and floating window mode

One-handed input is a great compromise for those who want to free up part of the screen but are not willing to sacrifice the size of the buttons. Unlike simply reducing the height, this mode compresses the keyboard across the width and shifts it to one of the edges of the display, and you can activate this feature quickly without going into the deep settings menus.

To switch to this mode, just press and hold the Enter icon or a special setting icon (often looks like four squares or a gear) on the keyboard panel. In the menu that appears, select the icon with the image of the hand holding the phone. The keyboard instantly compresses and moves to the left or right, depending on your choice.

⚠️ Attention: In one-hand mode, the keys don't get smaller in height, they just cluster together in a compact way. If your goal is to maximize the visible area of the screen above the keyboard, this may not be the right method.

The alternative is a floating mode that turns the keyboard into a small window getting stuck above the interface. This is especially convenient on Xiaomi Pad tablets or smartphones with huge screens, where the standard keyboard takes up too much space. You can freely drag and drop that window anywhere on the screen, which provides maximum comfort when watching videos or working with documents.

Setting up the Sogou keyboard and other alternatives

Xiaomi devices, especially global and Chinese firmware, often feature Sogou keyboards or other local solutions, and their customization principles may differ from Gboard, but the logic remains similar, and users of such keyboards need to look for sections with names like Size, Height or Scale in the personalization menu.

In Sogou, you have to go to the settings to resize by clicking on the app logo and select the keyboard settings. There's often a separate height slider that works independently of the system fonts. Some versions allow you to set the height as a percentage of the screen, which gives you more precise control.

If you use third-party keyboards such as SwiftKey or Yandex Keyboard, the algorithm of actions will be as follows:

• 📱 Open the keyboard app through the home screen or Android settings.
• 🎨 Find the “Look”, “Themes” or “Makeup” section».
• 📉 Look for a “Height” or “Size” slider if it is supported by a developer.

Note that not all third-party developers provide flexible height changes. In such cases, the only option is to change the system scale or DPI, as discussed in the following sections. Installing an alternative keyboard is always a risk, so download apps only from trusted sources such as Google Play.

Change DPI and scaling the system

If the built-in tools don't work, you can use a more radical method, which is to change the density of dots per inch (DPI), which affects the size of all interface elements, including the keyboard, application icons and text, and it requires caution, because the wrong values can make the interface unreadable.

To access these settings, activate the developer mode. Go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click 7 times on MIUI Version (or OS Version). Once the notification “You became a developer” appears, go back to the main settings menu, select Additional → For developers.

In the list of engineering options, find the Minimum Width (or "Smallest width"). Remember the original value to be able to go back. Increasing this number visually reduces all the elements on the screen, including the keyboard. For example, changing the value from 360 to 400 will make the interface smaller.

⚠️ Attention: Do not set the value DPI higher 600-700 Without first examining the characteristics of your screen, too high a value can lead to the fact that you can not see the control buttons to return to normal settings.

Display problems after MIUI update

Xiaomi users often notice that after updating the system, the keyboard settings are reset or start to work incorrectly, this is because new versions of MIUI or HyperOS can change the way the interface is rendered, in which case the keyboard can spontaneously enlarge or occupy the entire screen.

The first step when problems arise is to clear the keyboard app cache. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps, find your keyboard (like Gboard) and select Memory. Click Clear Cache, but don't confuse it with Clear All so you don't lose dictionaries and custom settings.

There may also be a conflicting theme in the Themes app, where some custom themes in the Themes app force the system fonts and indentations to change, ignoring the keyboard settings. Try switching temporarily to a standard Classic or Default theme to see if the problem will go away.

In rare cases, reinstalling the keyboard app helps: Remove Gboard updates through the app menu or completely uninstall the app if it was installed separately, then download the fresh version from the store.This is guaranteed to reset all the software errors accumulated over the time of use.

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Resetting keyboard settings to factory ones often solves problems with the “scattered” interface after major system updates.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)