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Gboard is preparing a new ‘Undo’ button for deleted text [Video]

Google’s Gboard on Android is full of useful keyboard features, and it seems like there’s always something new around the corner. Now, it looks like Gboard is adding an “undo” button for bringing back text you’ve deleted.

As highlighted by developer RKBDI and discovered by Akos, Google is preparing a new feature for Gboard which allows users to “undo” deleted text. The ability to undo is a mainstay of text editing apps and programs and has been for years, and you’ll find it in most of those for Android too. Google Keep, for example, has a built-in undo button.

But systemwide, this isn’t available with a virtual keyboard. Like on Windows and macOS, a physical keyboard has the “Ctrl + Z” shortcut available for undo in almost any app, but not with an option like Gboard. That’s soon to change, though.

Through Gboard’s buttons, Google is adding this functionality systemwide. We can see the feature in action in a brief video. There, it’s showcased within a search bar, which has no built-in undo option. The test is typed, then deleted, and then brought back using the undo button. This option appears within Gboard’s overflow buttons, which is a bit buried, but Google recently added an option to reorganize the toolbar with those buttons, which could make this a powerful feature.

Notably, the keyboard has long had an “undo” option available for autocorrect, but this is clearly much more advanced than that.

It’s unclear when this feature will roll out to the public, though. Right now, it’s live in the latest Gboard beta but buried under a disabled flag. In other words, it’s not easily user accessible.

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Avatar for Ben Schoon Ben Schoon

Ben is a Senior Editor for 9to5Google.

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