---
name: "onboard"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "onboard"
version: "1.4.1-14"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/onboard"
---

# onboard(1)

On-screen Keyboard

## NAME

onboard - On-screen Keyboard

## SYNOPSIS

**onboard**  \[ *options* \]

## DESCRIPTION

**onboard**  is an on-screen keyboard that can be useful for tablet PC users, as well as  for mobility impaired people.

**onboard** supports macros, easy layout creation and word suggestion.

## OPTIONS

**onboard** accepts the following command-line options:

- FC**-h, --help**F\[0\]

  Display a help with all available command line options and exit.

- FC**-l \<LAYOUT\>, --layout=\<LAYOUT\>**F\[0\]

  Layout file (.onboard) or name

- FC**-t \<THEME\>, --theme=\<THEME\>**F\[0\]

  Theme file (.theme) or name

- FC**-x \<X\>**F\[0\]

  Window x position

- FC**-y \<Y\>**F\[0\]

  Window y position

- FC**-s \<SIZE\>, --size=\<SIZE\>**F\[0\]

  Window size, widthxheight

- FC**-e, --xid**F\[0\]

  Start in XEmbed mode, e.g. for gnome-screensaver

- FC**-a, --keep-aspect**F\[0\]

  Keep aspect ratio when resizing the window

- FC**-d \<DEBUG\>, --debug=\<DEBUG\>**F\[0\]

  \<DEBUG\>={notset\|debug\|info\|warning\|error\|critical}

- FC**-m, --allow-multiple-instances**F\[0\]

  Allow multiple Onboard instances

- FC**-q \<QUIRKS\>, --quirks=\<QUIRKS\>**F\[0\]

  Override auto-detection and manually select quirks QUIRKS={metacity\|compiz\|mutter}

- FC**--not-show-in=\<DESKTOPS\>**F\[0\]

  Silently fail to start in the given desktop environments. \<DESKTOPS\> is a comma-separated list of XDG desktop names, e.g. GNOME for GNOME Shell.

- FC**-g, --log-learning**F\[0\]

  log all learned text; off by default

## SEE ALSO

**/usr/share/doc/onboard**

## AUTHOR

This manual has been written by Mike Gabriel \<mike.gabriel@das-netzwerkteam.de\> by using the options from Config.py (see COPYING file for authors of options). It is distributed under the GPL-3+ license.