S4 keyboards, learning words, and Personal Dictionary

[DCFlyer]

I had some questions about various S4 keyboards and how they dealt with learned words. Searching the web and various forums, I found a lot of frustration and some misinformation, so I tried to figure it out myself. Here's what I came up with for my Verizon Galaxy S4 after research and experimentation.

Samsung Keyboard
Does it learn new words?
Yes, automatically. If the new word conflicts with existing words (as often appears to be the case), it will take several uses of the new word (perhaps 5) to learn the word.
Can you delete learned words?
Yes - when a learned word appears as a suggested option, press and hold the suggested word. A dialog pops up permitting you to remove the word.

Swype
Does it learn new words?
Yes, it learns new words automatically. Again, it may take a few uses.
Can you delete learned words?
Yes - when a learned word appears as a suggested option, press and hold the suggested word. A dialog pops up permitting you to remove the word. You can also press and hold the Swype logo button on the keyboard and choose My Words, Edit my dictionary.

What the heck is Personal Dictionary under global settings, My Device, Language and Input (Input and control section), Personal Dictionary?
Rather than being a personal dictionary of auto-correct words, this seems to be more of a text expansion or shortcut dictionary. In theory, you can set a phrase and a shortcuts for it (for example, you can set the letters omw to expand to "On my way."). However, and this nearly drove me mad looking for the answer, the Samsung and Swype keyboards don't seem to access it. What good is it then? Well, I found that if you download the stock Android keyboard by Google, available in Google Play, that keyboard will access it, so that if in the Personal Dictionary you have set omw as a shortcut for "On my way," typing omw will pop up "On my way" as a suggestion.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

I don't even have a personal dictionary under my settings...not sure why not?

Essentially though, each keyboard has it's own way of doing things (each creates it's own database), so that built-in dictionary probably only works with the default Android keyboard.

I personally use Swiftkey and love it, couldn't imagine using anything else at this point, especially now that it has the "flow" feature which gives it swype-like functionality as well. Swiftkey does not have a accessible dictionary to add or remove words from, but it does learn as you type (and can learn from other sources, such as existing SMS and gmail), and suggestions can be deleted in the same manner that you describe for Swype in your post above.

 

[DCFlyer]

Swiftkey does not have a accessible dictionary to add or remove words from, but it does learn as you type (and can learn from other sources, such as existing SMS and gmail), and suggestions can be deleted in the same manner that you describe for Swype in your post above.

Yup. The S4 stock keyboard is powered by Swiftkey. Still find it strange that the personal dictionary is built in when the stock Android keyboard that uses it isn't included and must be downloaded.

 

[myjanee]

I had some questions about various S4 keyboards and how they dealt with learned words. Searching the web and various forums, I found a lot of frustration and some misinformation, so I tried to figure it out myself. Here's what I came up with for my Verizon Galaxy S4 after research and experimentation.

Samsung Keyboard
Does it learn new words?
Yes, automatically. If the new word conflicts with existing words (as often appears to be the case), it will take several uses of the new word (perhaps 5) to learn the word.
Can you delete learned words?
Yes - when a learned word appears as a suggested option, press and hold the suggested word. A dialog pops up permitting you to remove the word.

Swype
Does it learn new words?
Yes, it learns new words automatically. Again, it may take a few uses.
Can you delete learned words?
Yes - when a learned word appears as a suggested option, press and hold the suggested word. A dialog pops up permitting you to remove the word. You can also press and hold the Swype logo button on the keyboard and choose My Words, Edit my dictionary.

What the heck is Personal Dictionary under global settings, My Device, Language and Input (Input and control section), Personal Dictionary?
Rather than being a personal dictionary of auto-correct words, this seems to be more of a text expansion or shortcut dictionary. In theory, you can set a phrase and a shortcuts for it (for example, you can set the letters omw to expand to "On my way."). However, and this nearly drove me mad looking for the answer, the Samsung and Swype keyboards don't seem to access it. What good is it then? Well, I found that if you download the stock Android keyboard by Google, available in Google Play, that keyboard will access it, so that if in the Personal Dictionary you have set omw as a shortcut for "On my way," typing omw will pop up "On my way" as a suggestion.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[myjanee]

Indeed this helped mightily!! Thank you so much!!

 

[jambrose]

This was a great help. Since getting the S4 then noticing the keyboard and short cuts were diminished, this restored the ability to truly edit dictionary and shortcuts for phrases. Thanks.

 

[Mikey Herndon]

I can't edit the handwriting Mode on my S4

 

[Ashley Treadway]

I have used several words over 20 times each and my phone has not learned them. I'm getting rather upset because this is my first Android that didn't give you the option to save a new word the first time you use it.