Talk: On-screen keyboard fails to open automatically in KDE on a touch device

Ask Fedora
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3

Hmm, so I tried this today and I don’t seem to be able to reproduce it. Let’s take it step by step.

  1. I installed a clean F38 KDE into a virtual machine and fully updated it.
  2. On first login, there seems to be no accessibility menu that would allow me to trigger a virtual keyboard.
  3. After logging in, I can go to System Settings → Accessibility, there’s no virtual keyboard either.
  4. But I can go to System Settings → Input devices → Virtual Keyboard, and there’s None (default) and Maliit.
  5. If I enable Maliit, nothing happens. I don’t get a virtual keyboard when I click into a text field (Plasma, KWrite, etc).
  6. I create ~/.config/plasma-workspace/env/immodule_temp_fix.sh as instructed in your workaround, reboot.
  7. On login screen, there’s still no option to invoke a virtual keyboard, nor it pops up automatically (which makes sense, the workaround was done just for the user session).
  8. After logging in, the virtual keyboard still doesn’t pop up in text fields (Plasma, KWrite). I have no idea how to trigger it. In Plasma bottom right corner, there’s Input Method icon, but after clicking on it, it just says “On screen keyboard deactivated” (or “activated” when I click again), nothing happens.

I’m confused. First of all, why is the virtual keyboard not working at all? And second, what is your target use case? How does it help you to have a virtual keyboard in the user session when the login screen seems to have no support for it? Do you use it as an accessibility option or only when running KDE on a mobile device?