Onscreen keyboard tips - iPad

The onscreen keyboard appears automatically anytime you need to type. Use the keyboard to enter text. The keyboard corrects misspellings, predicts what you’re typing, and learns as you use it. Here is a list of editing tips when using the iPad onscreen keyboard. Please let me know if you are aware of a tip not listed.

• CAPS Lock: Double-tap the Shift key on the onscreen keyboard, to make all letters you type uppercase. The Shift key turns blue when caps lock is on. In iPad settings you can enable caps lock: Choose General > Keyboard and turn Enable Caps Lock on or off.
• Period space: The “.” shortcut lets you double-tap the space bar to enter a period followed by a space when you’re typing. You can turn the “.” shortcut on or off in iPad settings: Choose General > Keyboard and turn “.” Shortcut on or off. It’s initially on. Another way to quickly insert a period space is to tap the space bar with two fingers.
• Undo: Shake your iPad to bring up the undo dialog, and tap the "Undo Typing" button. If you're afraid of flinging your trusted digital sidekick off into the wild blue yonder, you can also access undo via the onscreen keyboard. Tap the ".?123" button. This brings up another set of virtual keyboard buttons, including an "undo" button.
• Redo: To redo a recent undo, shake your iPad to bring up the redo dialog, and tap the "Redo Typing" button. You can also access redo via the onscreen keyboard. Tap the ".?123" button, then the "#+=" button. This brings up another set of virtual keyboard buttons, including a "redo" button.
• Quick Punctuation: Tap and hold the ".?123" button, slide your finger to the desired punctuation, and release. The punctuation you want will be inserted and, upon release, the keyboard will automatically go back to the "ABC" option on its own and you can continue your typing.
• Text expansion (shortcuts): iOS 5 adds Shortcuts, which allows you to type an abbreviation for frequently used text, that will be automatically expanded. For example, typing "brb" would automatically expand to "be right back". Access it via Settings > General > Keyboard : Shortcuts. CNET has a step-by-step how to with screen shots.
• Dictation: Tap the microphone icon on your iPad (3rd generation) keyboard to enable dictation of card text.
• Special Characters: Touch and hold a letter using the onscreen keyboard to reveal a list of special characters.
• Word Select: You can select a word by double-tapping it, and select more or less text by dragging the grab points.
• Paragraph Select: Tapping on a paragraph with 2 fingers will select the entire paragraph
• Open in Safari: If the selected text is a URL, including http://, the popover will display an option to open the page in Safari app.
• Send Mail: If the selected text is an email address, the popover will display an option to compose a mail to the address.