One reason I’d never tried predictive text before is that I didn’t even know Windows 11 offered it. Unlike features that get highlighted during Windows setup or appear front and center in the Settings app, predictive text is tucked away under the typing settings.

Enabling it is straightforward, though. Open Settings > Time & language > Typing, then switch on “Show text suggestions when typing on the physical keyboard“.





Oh, and while you’re at it, you can also enable “Autocorrect for Misspelled Words” if that’s something you prefer, although I find predictive text useful even without it.

The biggest benefit isn’t typing faster

It’s staying in the flow

As someone who spends a good part of the day writing, I’ve noticed predictive text shines in situations that come up more often than I expected. Long words like “configuration,” “application,” or “notification” frequently appear in my work, and Windows often suggests them after I’ve typed just the first few letters. Instead of finishing the entire word, I can accept the suggestion and keep moving.

The same goes for words I type repeatedly throughout the day. It gradually starts feeling like a small convenience that saves a few keystrokes every now and then. What I like most about it is that it also suggests emojis. I don’t have to copy it from somewhere or use WIndows’s native emoji picker.

Though I must admit. I don’t think predictive text has made me dramatically faster, and that’s not really the point. If I measured the time it saves on a single paragraph, the difference would probably be negligible. But over the course of writing emails, notes, messages, and articles throughout the day, those tiny shortcuts start to add up.

Of course, predictive text doesn’t always get it right. Sometimes the suggested word isn’t what I had in mind, and other times it’s completely off the mark. Another problem is that there’s no keyboard shortcut for accepting a suggestion. I need to reach for the arrow keys in order to navigate the suggestions and press Enter to take one. When you’re in the middle of a fast typing session, this can be infuriating.

Fortunately, that never felt like a problem because accepting a suggestion is entirely optional. If it’s useful, I take it. If it isn’t, I keep typing exactly as I would have before.