Virtual keyboard for Photoshop iPad app

Question

I've been informed that Adobe does not provide a virtual keyboard (on-screen) for their iPad app.

I cannot believe this! At least, I don't want to believe it!

I've been using an iPad Pro for a couple years and it has become my device-of-choice. The ability to draw onscreen in a lightweight and portable device is a game changer. A huge ipad selling point is that it will do (almost) everything I need without having to add hardware, and that I can use it almost anywhere.

Another game changer has been Procreate, a very inexpensive and user-friendly app with nearly all the features I came to rely on in Photoshop.

I was delighted to hear Adobe would be offering an iPad version.

Now, not so delighted. Considering what I paid (once) for Procreate vs what I have to pay every month to rent Photoshop, I am very dissatisfied.

Maybe someone can provide me with a correction to what I've been told (by Adobe Help) -- or a reason to hope Adobe will listen to its customers.

Conrad_C · Accepted Answer

You might have thought the Photoshop keyboard looked different because it was shown in Dark Mode. In Light Mode, the Photoshop for iPad virtual keyboard is basically the same as the iOS virtual keyboard.

Since you mentioned Procreate I fired it up on my iPad and started to add text. What I am seeing is that the Procreate virtual keyboard does not look “standard” to me because for one thing, it’s missing the Cut/Copy/Paste icons that are visible in the virtual keyboards in many apps, including Photoshop and in Affinity Photo for iPad.

In most apps, the standard iOS virtual keyboard cannot be used for keyboard shortcuts. The only modifier key on the standard iOS keyboard is Shift. The only iPad apps I have seen that allow desktop-like keyboard shortcuts on the virtual keyboard are apps that made their own non-standard keyboard, so that they could add various keys like Command and Fn that are not normally available virtually.

If you need modifier key shortcuts (Alt/Option, Shift, Ctrl/Command), Photoshop for iPad has a Touch Shortcut circle visible on the screen. If you hold down a finger in the center of that circle while painting with the other hand, it works like a desktop modifier key. If you move the finger toward the edge of the ring, it triggers a second modifier that works like a second key to alter the behavior. This allows modifier key shortcuts without needing a keyboard.

If you want to use keyboard shortcuts more extensively than that, you must use a real hardware keyboard. That’s not Adobe, it’s how iOS works. You can pop up a screen listing all available keyboard shortcuts for an app by holding down the Command key on a hardware keyboard; this works in many iOS apps including Photoshop. But without a hardware keyboard, iOS will not show you that keyboard shortcut list.

Conrad_C · Answer

Maybe the person you spoke to misunderstood what you were asking about. Do you mean the standard virtual keyboard shown in the screen shots in this link?

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/add-edit-text-ipad.html#CreateaTypelayer

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