The Intrusive Keyboard
Ubuntu includes a suite of accessibility tools designed to make the operating system usable for everyone. One of these is an on-screen keyboard, primarily intended for touchscreens or users with mobility impairments. Sometimes, due to a misconfiguration, a bug in the GNOME desktop environment, or an accidental keyboard shortcut press, Ubuntu will begin automatically launching this massive on-screen keyboard every time you click into a text field, open a terminal, or even just log into the system. If you have a perfectly functional physical keyboard, this giant digital overlay blocks half your screen and is incredibly frustrating to dismiss constantly.
Disabling the Accessibility Keyboard
To reclaim your screen space and stop Ubuntu from automatically launching the on-screen keyboard, you must explicitly turn the feature off within the system’s Universal Access settings.
Click the system menu in the top-right corner of the Ubuntu top bar (where the battery and network icons are located) and select Settings. In the left-hand navigation sidebar, scroll all the way down until you find Accessibility and click on it. In the main panel, look through the list of options for the Seeing or Typing section (depending on your specific Ubuntu version). Locate the setting specifically labelled Screen Keyboard. Next to this option is a toggle switch. If it is currently active, click the toggle to turn it Off. The on-screen keyboard should immediately disappear and will no longer pop up when you select a text input field.