Microsoft has today added a new handy feature to its Swiftkey keyboard app for Android that allows users to search for anything on the web directly from the keyboard. There are times when you are in the middle of a chat with someone and want to look up for something on the internet. In such a situation, you are expected to get out of the app and fire up a browser to search what you need. To prevent you from taking this extra step, features like ‘built-in search bar’ are being rolled out to keyboards.
However, this is not the first time a feature like this has been rolled out to a keyboard app. Earlier, Google also included a search bar on its Gboard keyboard that allowed users to look up anything on the internet in between an on-going conversation.
How to use the built-in search tool for SwiftKey
As you would expect, Bing is the default search engine here! Here is how it works.
- With keyboard open, you need to hit the plus ‘+’ icon located on the top left corner of the keyboard.
- Now, you will see a small search bar next to it. Tap on it.
- Once done, the search bar will expand, and you can search for anything on the internet.
The result of your search will now appear in the form of a card, and you will get two options to share the result with the other person: ‘Screenshot’ – which will open a resize-tool to allow you to get what you want in the screenshot, and ‘Share’ – which sends a Bing link to the other person.
Yes, the built-in search on SwiftKey uses Bing as the preferred search engine, and cannot be changed to any other.
As for the availability, this new feature is available to users across 11 countries, which include – US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, Brazil, India, Italy, and Spain. So, go ahead and update your app to get this new handy feature, and in case you don’t use SwiftKey keyboard, the feature makes it worth a try.