Touch Keyboard in Windows 11 number pad version removed with recent update?

Hi PhillipSheppard,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community. I'm sorry to hear about the inconvenience that the update on the touch keyboard has caused you.

I would like to confirm first, do you happen to have a screenshot of this number pad version of the touch keyboard? If yes, please share it with us here.

If I may suggest also, how about using the On-Screen Keyboard (OSK) and see if this option works for you. Search OSK on the search bar of your Taskbar then select the OSK (Run command) option. you will have this keyboard then:

Select the Options key, check the box next to Turn on numeric keypad option then click OK. It should then provide you with this keyboard layout:

For easy access of the On-Screen Keyboard, you may pin it to your Taskbar.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Marrion

Hi PhillipSheppard,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community. I'm sorry to hear about the inconvenience that the update on the touch keyboard has caused you.

I would like to confirm first, do you happen to have a screenshot of this number pad version of the touch keyboard? If yes, please share it with us here.

If I may suggest also, how about using the On-Screen Keyboard (OSK) and see if this option works for you. Search OSK on the search bar of your Taskbar then select the OSK (Run command) option. you will have this keyboard then:

Select the Options key, check the box next to Turn on numeric keypad option then click OK. It should then provide you with this keyboard layout:

For easy access of the On-Screen Keyboard, you may pin it to your Taskbar.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Marrion

No, this is not helpful because the on-screen keyboard is not as useful as the touch keyboard was. The Touch Keyboard is designed to work with Microsoft software and pops up when you enter Microsoft software and senses when it is needed. The OSK blocks the aps, does not automatically pop up and is significantly harder to use than the Touch Keyboard. The touch screen keyboard worked perfectly, with the number pad option enabled, but with one of the recent Microsoft updates it went away. And the ability to activate it was removed from the options.

The size of the number pad keys on the touch keyboard were significantly larger and easier to use. The OSK has tiny keys and using my fingers to enter as much as I use them makes it an unacceptable option.

I cannot provide a screen capture because the update changed the Touch Keyboard and reverted it to the basic form. Google searches show in pre-update versions how to activate it, but when you follow those instructions, Microsoft has changed the menus and removed the option.

It wasn't broken, I cannot be the only person that found this useful and was part of the daily usage of my Microsoft Surface. My entire company team all use Microsoft Surface with the keyboard and it has gone away. I do not understand why Microsoft would remove a feature that changes the ability to use use the Surface to it's full capability. And offering an OSK that does not recognize when it is needed, or blocks the bottom third of the screen is a total waste.

Extremely frustrated,

Phillip

Hi PhillipSheppard,

Thank you for the response and I'm sorry to hear that the On-Screen Keyboard won't help and replace what was taken out from the Touch Keyboard which was useful on your end and your company. For this case, I would suggest submitting a feedback to Microsoft through the Feedback Hub app to let our engineers and developers know about the need for the feature. This will also helps us to improve and do better on our products. Please see: Send feedback to Microsoft with the Feedback Hub app.

With the Touch keyboard open you can also get to this by selecting Give Feedback from the settings menu.

Again, apologies for the inconvenience this has caused you and your colleagues.

King regards,

Marrion

Access the registry settings and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\TabletTip\1.7

Add a new DWORD (32 bit), name it DisableNewKeyboardExperience

Give it a value of 1. Sign out and back in and you should have a number pad back when using the touch keyboard.

Access the registry settings and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\TabletTip\1.7

Add a new DWORD (32 bit), name it DisableNewKeyboardExperience

Give it a value of 1. Sign out and back in and you should have a number pad back when using the touch keyboard.

Unfortunately, I tried this, I made the suggested change to the registry, rebooted, and the touch keyboard remains unchanged. I also went to the place in the settings where previously you could select number pad, but that option which disappeared when this update happened, still does not appear.

If you are sure this works, I would love to see a screen capture showing that it works, maybe I did something wrong?

This is still a major problem, affecting my day-to-day use of the Surface and making navigating in Excel very challenging. I really wish this could be fixed.