iPad All-in-One For Dummies. Nancy C. Muir

tap and hold the key until a set of alternative symbols appears (see Figure 2-10).

      

Note that displaying variations on symbols works only on some symbols.

      Figure 2-10: Only some symbols offer alternatives when you press and drag them.

      1. Tap the Dictation key (refer to Figure 2-9) to activate the Dictation feature, and then speak your input.

      This works in several apps, such as Mail, Notes, and Maps. Tap the Dictation key again (or tap in the note) to turn off the Dictation feature.

      1.

Tap the Emoji key (a smiley face symbol to the left of the Dictation button) to display and select from a set of smiley symbols to insert in your document. Tap tabs along the bottom to display other graphic icon sets such as pictures from nature or city skylines.

      2. To hide the keyboard, press the Keyboard key in the bottom-right corner.

      3. Tap the Home button to return to the Home screen.

      

You can unlock the keyboard to move it around the screen. To do this, press and hold the Keyboard button on the keyboard and, from the pop-up menu that appears, choose Unlock. Now by pressing the Keyboard button and swiping up or down, you can move the keyboard up and down on the screen. To dock the keyboard again at the bottom of the screen, press and hold the Keyboard button and choose Dock from the pop-up menu. (For this to work, go to Settings and be sure to enable Split Keyboard in the Keyboard section of the General pane.)

      

To type a period and space, double-tap the spacebar. (For this to work, go to Settings and enable "." Shortcut in the Keyboard section of the General pane.)

       Using the split keyboard

      The Split Keyboard feature allows you to split the keyboard so that each side appears nearer the edge of the iPad screen. For those who are into texting with their thumbs, this feature makes it easier to reach all the keys from the sides of the device. The feature is on by default, but if it doesn’t work for you, it may have been turned off. (You can enable it by going to Settings and turning on Split Keyboard in the Keyboard section of the General pane.) Follow these steps to use it:

      1. Open an application, such as Notes, where you can use the onscreen keyboard.

      2. Tap in an entry field or page, which displays the onscreen keyboard.

      3. Place two fingers in the middle of the onscreen keyboard and spread them toward the left and right.

      The keyboard splits, as shown in Figure 2-11.

      4. Hold the iPad with a hand on either side and practice using your thumbs to enter text.

      5. To reconnect the split keyboard, place two fingers on each side of the keyboard and move them together to join them again.

      

When the keyboard is docked and unified at the bottom of your screen, you can also simply drag the Keyboard key upward. This both undocks and splits the keyboard. To reverse this, drag the Keyboard key downward. The split keyboard is both docked and joined into one keyboard.

      Figure 2-11: A split keyboard makes thumb entry quicker.

       Flicking to search

      Can’t find that song you downloaded or an email from your boss? You’ll be relieved to know that a search feature in iPad called Spotlight helps you find suggestions from the Internet, Music, iTunes, and the App Store, as well as suggestions for nearby locations, photos, music, emails, contacts, movies, and more. This search feature can be found on the screen to the left of the default Home screen.

      Follow these steps to access and use Spotlight:

      1. Swipe downward near the top of any Home screen (but not from the very top or bottom of the screen).

      The Search field appears.

      2. Tap in the Spotlight Search field.

      The keyboard appears. (See Figure 2-12.)

      3. Begin entering a search term.

      For example, in Figure 2-13 I typed the letter C. iPad might display any app, contact, music, video, or note that begins with C. As you continue to type a search term, the results are narrowed down to match.

      4. Tap an item in the search results to open it in the associated app or player.

      To close the app and go back to the Search screen, tap the Home button, and then tap the left side of the Home button to display the Search screen again.

      Figure 2-12: Use the familiar Search field to enter search terms.

      Figure 2-13: Narrow your search by typing more letters.

      5. To enter a different search term, tap in the Search field and tap the circled X at the right end of the box or the Delete key on the keyboard to delete the current term, and then enter another.

      6. Scroll down to the bottom of the search results and tap Search Web or Search Wikipedia to check results from those sources.

      

You can use some standard search techniques to narrow your search. For example, if you want only the emails that include both Bob Smith and Jane Jones, enter Smith, Jones and Bob, Jane as your search terms. To change the search language, tap the key on the onscreen keyboard that looks like a little globe to cycle through available languages.

       Updating the Operating System

      This book is based on the latest version of the iPad operating system at the time, iOS 8.0. If you have an iPad (generation 4 and later can update to iOS 8.0), to make sure that you get the latest and greatest features in iPad, it’s a good idea to update right now to the latest iOS (and periodically, no matter which recent model of iPad you have, to receive minor upgrades). If you’ve set up an iCloud account on your iPad, updates will happen automatically, or you can update over a Wi-Fi or 3G/4G connection by going to Settings and, on the General pane, tapping Software Update. Note that the original iPad model cannot run iOS 7 or later, so this book’s coverage will not match its functionality in large part.

      

It’s a good idea to have your iPad plugged into a power source before you start to download an iOS update so that the battery doesn’t drain before the update is complete.

      

Before you perform an update to the iOS, make sure that you have updated to the latest version of iTunes on your computer. (iOS 8.0 requires iTunes 11.4 or later.) After you do, here’s how to update the iOS via a connection with your computer:

      1. Plug the Lightning to USB Cable (or the Dock Connector to USB Cable) into your iPad and plug the USB end into your computer.

      When