Help, how can I learnt to type faster??

[Keha]

Basically that. I have to type everything now in my job. I'm not awful at it but I'm slow, I don't need to touch type but I'd love to whizz along the key board like some of my colleagues. Feel like it holds me back!

Any tips? Online courses? Strategies? Can I get better??

Keep doing it all of the time.

I type fast purely from 20 years of sitting in an office typing. I can touch type now.

Learn touch typing. You can find lessons online for free I'm 95 percent sure.

If you don't want to do that you can still improve on your current speed by sheer practice and repetition. I learned to touch type and it was just through practice that I sped up.

Also don't worry about correcting mistakes. Type out what you want to say, then go back and fix it.

Go on to BBC Bitesize, and find the typing DanceMat.
It's a bit corny but fun aimed at kids but will get you typing in no time.

You can look on sites such as Coursera or LinkdIn Learning for free courses on learning to type. It's actually one of the easiest types of courses to find; you may want to look for an interactive one.

It is an invaluable skill to have, not only in your professional life, but also personal. I recommend doing this as quickly as possible because as somebody who can type up to about 100 WPM with half-correct form, if I had completely textbook technique that would probably be closer to 130 and with less errors. Which is to say, muscle memory from improper techniqueusually over-reliance on your index and middle fingersis harder to unlearn the more you reinforce it.

There's a PC game called "The typing of the dead" on Steam. Words appear above a zombie's head and you have to type the words to shoot the zombie.

There's a YouTube video here to show what it's like, (though be warned, before the playthrough starts there is some swearing in the set scene that starts it off.)

You can also get dlc which turns all the phrases into ones from Shakespeare, or dlc that turns the phrases into film titles and quotes if you fancy a bit of random culture while you're touch typing zombies to death.

A course is great. I learned by "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing". There must be all kinds of programs now. Then practice. The games really helped.

It’s definitely worth learning to touch type. It’s my ninja skill. 😂 I was taught by a nun at school on a manual typewriter but I’m sure more modern methods are on offer!

Was just coming on to say Mavis Beacon!

Another one who used Mavis Beacon. Pretty sure it was a CD-Rom - those were the days!

14 years later and I’m so glad I did it, it’s such a useful skill.

Touch typing, you need to know your home keys and your fingers use those keys and then you cant type as you go

I used touch typing lessons on the BBC website when I moved back here from a country with a different keyboard layout. It's boring but it just took lots of practice.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

There are no shortcuts.

I've got an HND, a BEng and a Masters degree. Honestly learning to touch type was the most useful thing I've ever learnt.

Thank you for all these responses, I really appreciate it! Going to look at some of those links. Have been googling as well. Think I just need to practice and try and use more of my fingers...

Seriously do a couple of hours with the BBC Bitesize Typing Dancemat its free on the BBC Website. It is done as a game and will get you going

Dancemat is great!

I'll tell you how I learned to touch type at school - on a manual typewriter because I am a gimmer.

You learn the placement - so that's basically the Dancemat stuff, you learn the home keys (F and J) and that's where your index fingers sit, and you learn what finger then goes for what key.

You get a printout of a qwerty keyboard and stick it above your screen, to remind you where each key is.

You tape a sheet of A4 over the keyboard so you can't peak at your fingers - you always find the home keys by touch (that's why they have raised buttons on them).

Then you start typing stuff.

Touch typing is such a useful skill. If you already type relatively quickly you might find it a bit frustrating in the beginning, because you'll be much slower at touch typing than your normal method - but it really is worth persisting if you can grit your teeth and carry on.

Then you start typing stuff.

Pretty much this, over and over again without looking at the keyboard.

You will go from excruciating slow to faster and eventually you will splat the words out without looking at the keyboard.

Now I don't even now where the letters are on the keyboard. My fingers just know where to go, except for outer reaches like z and x. You can peek for those.

I will also look at some of those sites!