In the same night that I wondered if I could plug my keyboard into my android phone, I wondered if I could do the same for my Steam Deck.

I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me sooner, but instead of needing to buy a dock for the Steam Deck (or using Bluetooth which for some reasons disconnects my Steam Deck from wifi), you can plug a keyboard directly into the USB C port. Of course this means you can’t plug in anything else as the Steam Deck only has one port (so no mouse, no external monitor, and no charging). But this is great if you want to tinker around with Konsole on Desktop Mode, or play a game that only needs the keyboard.

What you’ll need

  • a steam deck
  • a keyboard
  • a cable that goes from your keyboard and ends in a USB C
    • if your keyboard cable ends in USB 2 or 3, you’ll need an adapter

If your keyboard has Bluetooth functionality, turn it off. Plug in your keyboard to your Steam Deck and voilà!

You should be able to use your keyboard’s arrow keys to navigate around in Gaming Mode and use your keyboard in-game. And in Desktop Mode you’ll be able to use your keyboard instead of Steam’s on-screen one.