How do I plug in an emoticon into my keyboard

Question

I have the original Swype keyboard on Android 4.4.2 (KitKat). When I type some words, sometimes some emoticons appear, and I can click on them to insert them into the text flow.

This is handy at times, but I would like to address two issues:

1. If I am missing an emoticon which I frequently use, can I download one and "plug it into a word", in a special settings area, so that then, when I type or swipe that word, it shows up.

2. How do I associate a set of emoticons with ASCII smiley, so that when I type that one smiley, different choices for that ASCII smiley appear, from which I can select one (while also being able to opt for the classical funny looking ASCII smiley at the same time)?

Perhapsthis would be a better post for the User Experience or Software Recommendations site.

Please let me know.

Thanks.

P.S., the stock SMS app on my device does some ASCII smiley to emoticon conversion automatically. I think this is a feature that must be dealt with. I am aware of some of the limitations with this though, as I know SMS are sent over the network as ASCII without embedded emoticons, and MMS is expensive.

Answer 1

The feature that emoticons can appear when you type in a word was introduced in some previous Swype versions earlier, maybe with version 2.0. It is hardcoded and not subject to change in any way, like so many things concerning Swype. The only thing is that you can switch off the icon prediction, if you run a newer Swype version. If your keyboard came preinstalled, you need to deacitvate it and buy the actual Swype keyboard on Google Play.

Hardcoded also is the languages dictionary and in some languages the dictionary is very poor (e.g. german) but since long they got never updated/repaired. The only thing the user can fill is the user dictionary, which is very limited to some few hundreds entries, then it is full and older entries are deleted. Also this is not changeable.

The Swype keyboard (run by Nuance) is as it is and the support (e.g. in the forum) is nearly not existing, so don't hope about any change.

Sorry, nothing you can do. Use it as it is.