To type without looking at the keyboard, rest your fingers on the home row (ASDF and JKL;), find the raised bumps on F and J by feel, and learn a few keys at a time instead of the whole keyboard at once. Type slowly enough to be accurate, and do not look down to check. Most people stop looking within two to three weeks of daily practice.
Why looking down keeps you slow
Hunt-and-peck typing is a loop: your eyes find a key, your finger presses it, then your eyes go back to the screen to check what happened. The loop is what costs the time, not the pressing. Because your eyes are on your hands, mistakes are spotted late, sometimes a whole sentence late, and fixing them costs more time again.
Touch typing removes the loop. Your fingers know where the keys are, so your eyes stay on the screen and mistakes are caught as they happen. The 30-day touch typing course is built around exactly that: fifteen minutes a day, accuracy first. That is the whole reason touch typists are faster: not quicker fingers, fewer journeys.
The five rules that make it work
- Anchor on the home row. ASDF for the left hand, JKL; for the right, thumbs resting on the space bar. Every key is learned as a short reach from that position, and your fingers come back to it after every reach. If that is new, start with the home row keys.
- Find the bumps. The F and J keys have small raised bars. They exist so that you can put your hands in the right place without looking. Feel for them every time you sit down.
- Learn a few keys at a time. Four keys, then six, then eight. The whole keyboard at once is what makes people give up and look down.
- Accuracy before speed. A wrong key pressed confidently teaches your hand the wrong movement. Type slowly enough to be right, and speed arrives on its own.
- Do not look, even once. Checking a key is the habit you are trying to replace. If you are lost, look at the screen, not your hands, and start the word again.
What to expect, week by week
- Week 1: the home row and your first reaches. Everything feels slow and deliberate. This is the point.
- Week 2: most letters by feel. You will still hesitate, and you will be slower than your old hunt-and-peck speed.
- Weeks 3 and 4: capitals, punctuation and real sentences. Speed starts to come back, and passes where you were. A fuller timeline is here.
Getting slower for a couple of weeks is not a sign that it is going badly. It is the old habit being replaced. Almost everyone goes through it, and almost nobody mentions it afterwards.
Three ways to stop yourself peeking
- Cover your hands. A tea towel over your hands and the keyboard removes the temptation completely. A keyboard cover or a cheap typing shield does the same job.
- Use a lesson that stops on a mistake. If the cursor refuses to move until the right key is pressed, you cannot practise the wrong movement, and there is nothing to check by looking.
- Sit so looking is awkward. Screen at eye level, keyboard flat, back supported. If you have to move your head to see your hands, you will stop doing it.
The parts everyone struggles with
Numbers and symbols are the last thing to come, and looking at them is normal for far longer than letters. Capitals are the other sticking point: the trick is to press Shift with the hand that is not typing the letter, so the left little finger shifts for a letter on the right, and the right little finger shifts for a letter on the left.
If one particular key keeps going wrong, do not practise everything harder. Practise that key, in real words, until it stops being the one you think about.
Questions people ask
Is it normal to look at the keyboard while typing?
It is extremely common. Most people who were never taught to type look down, and many are fast at it. It stops being normal only in the sense that it puts a low ceiling on your speed and accuracy, because your eyes cannot be in two places at once.
How long does it take to stop looking at the keyboard?
With about fifteen minutes of practice a day, most adults can type the letters without looking within two to three weeks. Numbers and symbols usually take a few weeks longer.
Should I cover my hands when I practise?
If you keep peeking, yes. A towel over your hands, or a lesson that will not let you type the wrong key, removes the habit faster than willpower does.
Do blank keycaps help you learn to touch type?
They force the issue, but they are not necessary and they can be discouraging early on. Covering your hands during practice gives the same benefit and can be undone in a second.
Is it cheating to look for numbers and symbols?
No. Letters are what you type most, so they come first. Most touch typists glance at the number row occasionally for years, and it costs them very little.