Disable NEXT word prediction in SwiftKey?

UncleMike · Jun 12, 2014

I purchased SwiftKey a long time ago, but never really used it because I find PREVIOUS word suggestions far more useful than SwiftKey' NEXT word prediction. With all the mention of SwiftKey lately (with their new version being free) I thought I would give it another try. Unfortunately, I still can't find a way to disable NEXT word prediction, or even better, replace it with PREVIOUS word suggestions.

Am I missing something, or is this still not possible?

chanchan05 · Jun 12, 2014

I don't seem to have thay problem. Anyway, Swiftkey behavior is that it would predict the next word if the cursor is a space apart from the previous word, but it shows suggestions for the previous word when the cursor is right next to the last letter of the previous word. I do not claim to understand you, but IMO this is to me intuitive. Not really sure why anyone wants previous word suggestions if you consider it. Previous word means you've already typed it correctly. You wouldn't be pressing space if the prediction was off, and you know what you are typing. I use next word and current word prediction more often than previous word. However if it comes down to it, I can always go previous word suggestions by pressing backspace once.

UncleMike · Jun 12, 2014

I had not noticed that the suggestions change based on which side of the space the cursor is on. The problem I have then is that when "flowing", a space is automatically added when you stop "flowing", so the NEXT word prediction kicks in. I find that SwiftKey guesses "flowed" words incorrectly often enough that I prefer to be able to quickly correct the previous word with a single tap, than break my train of thought and see if the predicted NEXT word is correct. The ability to choose my next word from a list is completely unnatural to me.

Now that I know the space after the previous word is affecting the behavior, maybe I can change some other setting to get the behavior I want.

Thanks.

Stuntman · Jun 12, 2014

UncleMike said:
I purchased SwiftKey a long time ago, but never really used it because I find PREVIOUS word suggestions far more useful than SwiftKey' NEXT word prediction. With all the mention of SwiftKey lately (with their new version being free) I thought I would give it another try. Unfortunately, I still can't find a way to disable NEXT word prediction, or even better, replace it with PREVIOUS word suggestions.

Am I missing something, or is this still not possible?

I think I understand what you want. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like that after you finshed typing a word and press the space bar (or punctuation) to complete the word, SwiftKey does its auto correct if necessary and then suggests what your next word may be. What you seem to want is if the auto correct makes a correction you don't want, you want alternate suggestions for that word you just typed and possibly select an alternate word.

If this is what you want, then it is possible in SwiftKey. I stopped using SwiftKey a year ago because it would not do this when using SwiftKey Flow (the gesture typing method). I just started using SwiftKey again (because of the hype it is getting) and found a way to do this.

If after you completed a word, you can get alternate suggestions for the word you just type. What you have to do is press the <backspace> key. The word suggestions will then change from the next word prediction to the predictions for the word you just typed. It takes an extra key stroke. Normally, when you are typing a current word before you press space, it will predict the current word. Once you press space to complete the word, it moves onto the next. Pressing <backspace> will make SwiftKey go back to the word you just typed and give the three suggestions for it and you can choose one of the other suggestions.

Stuntman · Jun 12, 2014

UncleMike said:
I had not noticed that the suggestions change based on which side of the space the cursor is on. The problem I have then is that when "flowing", a space is automatically added when you stop "flowing", so the NEXT word prediction kicks in. I find that SwiftKey guesses "flowed" words incorrectly often enough that I prefer to be able to quickly correct the previous word with a single tap, than break my train of thought and see if the predicted NEXT word is correct. The ability to choose my next word from a list is completely unnatural to me.

Now that I know the space after the previous word is affecting the behavior, maybe I can change some other setting to get the behavior I want.

Thanks.

I had this problem before. You just have to press the <backspace> key and then it will give suggestions for the word you just typed. You don't have to change any settings. Flow assumes you want to complete the word once you finished the gesture typing of the word and moves onto the next. Most of the time, it gets it right. For those times when it doesn't, just backspace and select another word. Sometimes, you may have to retype the word.

UncleMike · Jun 13, 2014

Stuntman said:
I think I understand what you want. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like that after you finshed typing a word and press the space bar (or punctuation) to complete the word, SwiftKey does its auto correct if necessary and then suggests what your next word may be. What you seem to want is if the auto correct makes a correction you don't want, you want alternate suggestions for that word you just typed and possibly select an alternate word.

That's exactly what I want. I've discovered (and you mention) that I can just press the backspace key to get suggestions for the previous word. While that does work, I'd prefer it to just not insert the space after completing a word, much like the way Android keyboard and Swype work. Thanks for the tip.

On another SwiftKey note - is there any way to have it use my contact names as suggested words? I know I can allow it to "adjust" suggestions based on sent email (which I haven't done and have no intention of doing), but does that somehow include contact names? Or is there another way?

chanchan05 · Jun 13, 2014

It could 'learn' from your sms if you let it. Not sure about other ways except that, Facebook, Twitter and Gmail.

Disable NEXT word prediction in SwiftKey?

UncleMike

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chanchan05

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UncleMike

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Stuntman

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UncleMike

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chanchan05

The Doctor

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