Oh, yeah, I'm aware of the need to attach / remove the keyboard only while the computer is on. I've made it a point to do that ever since I found out about it.
I'm fairly sure that isn't the problem.
I see there is a tip on adding the keyboard to the taskbar and I'm going to do that and see how that works.
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OK, just tested it. Removed keyboard while Surface was turned on at the Start screen.
Went to the desktop and ran Paint.
Pulled a pic up and tried to do a Save As and clicked in the Name box but the keyboard does not auto-pop.
I can tap the keyboard icon and bring it up --- that works.
But the question remains --- WHY doesn't the keyboard pop up automagically when you click in a text box?
Is there a setting to chose this behavior somewhere?
If I click with the Mouse or tap with my finger / pen in a text box ... a keyboard should pop up automatically.
I realize that
but there is a known issue with the Surface Pro. If you detach the keyboard while it is asleep then it still thinks it is attached. The only way to clear the situation might be to reattach and then detach the keyboard properly. Once you have the ability to call up the onscreen keyboard you can detach the physical keyboard and then use just as you described.
The proposed solution isn't about using the cover keyboard instead of the onscreen but about clearing the issue of the onscreen keyboard to get it working again
You might also need to reboot.