If your keyboard isn’t working properly, it can compromise every single task you do on your computer. This situation is particularly frustrating when writing is the main part of your job.
Luckily, keyboard typing backwards is an issue you can easily get rid of. However, before you look into any solutions, it is important to detect what is causing your keyboard to act up.
This way, you can take care of this issue once and for all and avoid dealing with it in the future. Keep on reading to find out how to troubleshoot and fix your keyboard.
Why is your keyboard typing backwards?
The easiest way to fix the keyboard when it’s typing backwards is to find what is causing this issue in the first place.
There are a few possible scenarios that could either concern your keyboard settings, Microsoft Word settings, keyboard driver, or the keyboard language you’ve chosen.
Either way, if you notice that your keyboard isn’t working properly, here are some of the most common problems that could be causing it to type backwards.
1. Region settings
If you notice that your laptop keyboard or external keyboard is typing backwards all of a sudden, it could be that you’ve changed your region settings.
In your keyboard settings, you can select languages that will automatically switch your keyboard to writing from right to left.
Also, it could be that you’ve switched your home location to a region where these languages are spoken, which made automatic changes to your keyboard language, as well.
2. Keyboard settings
Even if your region is set right, your problem could be coming from the wrong keyboard settings.
In case you don’t remember adjusting your keyboard settings, it could be that you’ve accidentally pressed some keyboard keys that changed the typing direction on your Windows PC external keyboard or Mac keyboard.
3. Outdated keyboard driver
One of the most common reasons behind any typing issue on your keyboard is an outdated or corrupt keyboard driver.
Aside from shifting the direction of your typing in MS Word, Google docs, and any kind of text document, a corrupt keyboard driver can impact all keyboard types in many different ways.
Therefore, it is necessary to keep your keyboard driver updated – whether the updates are automatic or manual.
4. Application settings
Is this keyboard problem happening in every single application or just a particular one?
If you notice that the keyboard is typing backwards only in one application, such as Google Chrome or Internet Explorer, the settings of that app could be the issue.
How to fix a keyboard typing backwards?
Now that we narrowed the issue down to a few common causes, let’s see what you can do to fix your keyboard and avoid this problem in the future.
1. Change region settings
Even if you don’t remember changing the region settings, it could be that you’ve accidentally switched your region to a right-to-left typing one.
If this is the main issue, you can easily fix the keyboard by adjusting the region. All you need to do is open Control Panel, then click on Region or Region and Languages, depending on what Windows version you have.
Under the Location tab in this section, make sure the Home location is properly adjusted. In case your location isn’t properly set, choose it from the drop-down menu.
After you’ve saved these settings, make sure to restart your computer.
2. Restart your computer
Restarting your computer, even if you’ve made no changes or adjustments to any settings, is one of the easiest ways to fix the keyboard whenever it is acting up.
As you already know, this hack can help whenever you’re experiencing any issues with your computer in general. While it may not work every time, it is still worth the try. You can consider using voice commands to do the restart action without touching mouse or keyboards.
3. Disconnect your external keyboard
In case you’re using an external keyboard, the issue may be in the keyboard itself, not any settings or drivers.
Try restarting your computer and disconnecting the external keyboard, then plugging it in again to see if the problem persists.
4. Adjust keyboard settings
As we’ve mentioned, even if you don’t remember changing your keyboard settings, it could be that you’ve changed them accidentally by pressing a keyboard shortcut.
For most systems, the left to right typing is set by pressing the shortcut sequence Ctrl+Left Shift.
What could have happened in your case is that you’ve accidentally hit Ctrl+Right Shift, which is the keyboard shortcut you’d use for the right to left typing.
However, if using these shortcuts doesn’t change anything, you may need to reset your keyboard settings completely.
To reset your keyboard settings to factory settings, go to Control Panel, then click on Language. In this window, make sure to set your language, and make it the primary language (in case more languages are enabled).
However, if only one language is enabled, add your language as the new language and make it the primary language by moving it to the top of the list.
Once you’ve completed this step, reset the keyboard by moving your language back to the top position, making it the primary language.
Also, if you’re using a specific keyboard that came with a software, ensure you’ve adjusted those specific settings.
5. Keyboard driver update
An outdated or corrupt keyboard driver can not only cause your keyboard to type backwards, but create all sorts of problems with your keyboard.
Therefore, whenever your keyboard driver is updating, you don’t want to interrupt this process in any way.
If you suspect that your keyboard isn’t functioning properly, you can always download the latest available version to ensure it is up to date.
The easiest way to update your drivers is to go to Device Manager, then scroll down to Keyboards, click on this option, then right-click on your keyboard device.
Once the list of options opens, select Update driver, then click on Search automatically for updated driver software.
This way, Windows will automatically search for the available updates and install them for you.
Once the updating process is complete, restart your system for these changes to take place.
You can also try reinstalling the drivers to see if this makes any difference:
- Go to Device Manager, then navigate to the Keyboards menu.
- Under the Keyboards tab, find the Standard PS/2 Keyboard option, right-click on it, and then click on Uninstall and hit OK.
- Once this process is completed, restart your computer, then launch the Device Manager again.
- Under the Action tab, select Scan for hardware changes.
This step will detect the necessary keyboard drivers online, so you can install them in place of the ones you deleted.
Once you’ve installed the suggested keyboard drivers, restart the system again.
6. Adjust the application settings
In many cases, the backward typing keyboard issue appears in a single application, not in the entire system.
If this is the case with your computer, you can easily fix the issue by adjusting the settings in that particular app.
For instance, if this happens in your Google Chrome browser, paste the following sequence into the search bar: about://flags, then hit Enter.
In the new menu that shows up, select Force UI Direction, then change this setting to Left-to-right.
Once you’ve changed the typing direction, save the changes, then restart the browser.
However, if the problem persists, open the Google Settings menu (the three dots in the upper right corner of your browser).
Select Settings, then scroll down to Extensions. In this menu, try disabling each and every extension until you figure out which one is causing the bug.
If you can’t seem to detect the root of the issue, you can always reset the Google settings completely by going to Google Chrome Settings, clicking on Settings, then clicking on the Advanced option.
In this menu, select Restore settings to their original defaults, then close the browser.
In case none of these methods work and the keyboard keeps typing backwards only in Google Chrome, you may need to uninstall the browser, then download it and install it again.
7. Use the keyboard troubleshooter
A keyboard troubleshooter is the best solution if you simply can’t figure out what is causing your keyboard to type from right to left.
To launch the keyboard troubleshooter, simply press the Windows button, then navigate to Troubleshoot settings.
In this menu, find the Keyboard option, then click on the Run the troubleshooter option below it.
The system should now display the steps you need to follow to fix your keyboard and stop it from typing backwards.
8. Hard reboot your laptop
When the restarting hack fails on a laptop, many people choose to hard reboot their computer – and not just when it comes to keyboard bugs.
Before you hard reboot your device, make sure to save any document or other type of work on your computer.
Hold the power button until the laptop turns off completely. After that, remove the battery from the device and wait for a couple of minutes.
After a few minutes have passed, connect the adapter without the battery and restart the system.
You can try the same hack on your PC, but instead of removing the battery, you’d remove all the connections, including the keyboard, the mouse, as well as wireless connections.
After a few minutes, reconnect everything and boot the system up to see if the issue is now gone.
