Add modifier keys on mac keyboard windows#

I occasionally send a dispatch with personal stories, things I’ve been working on in the past month, and other interesting tidbits I come across online. If you enjoyed this post, you might be interested in my newsletter. You can add custom app shortcuts in System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts. You can then press the modifiers keys Option, Shift or Command, the screen will then show you a different keyboard with the symbols you can type using the modifier keys. To launch the virtual keyboard, click Show Keyboard Viewer. For example, n (sometimes written + + n) means you should hold down the command key, the control key, and the 'n' key, all at the same time. To check, click on your Menu bar you should see the Show Keyboard Viewer as one of the options. Safari doesn’t have these keys mapped by default, so I added them myself. To use a keyboard shortcut, you would press all keys in the combination at the same time and let go at the same time. In all apps, I often cycle through tabs with Option+Command+Left and Option+Command+Right. I also tried hiding the Menu Bar for a while, but I like having the clock and other Menu Bar items visible at all times. You can set this in System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar > Automatically hide and show the Dock. I don’t really care about having it there persistently, so I hide it. Delete a keyboard shortcut hover the mouse cursor over the shortcut and click the Delete button. This setting allows you to tab through all controls in a UI, in addition to hitting return to confirm.įocus all inputs is in System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Accessibility > Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls. Go to Settings > Keyboard to start adding or editing shortcuts. Key repeat settings are in System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard > Key Repeat & Delay Until Repeat. This is especially useful for backspace and space. Key delay means a key will start repeating fast, key repeat will make it repeat fast. To use a keyboard shortcut, or key combination, you press a modifier key with a. Like my trackpad, I like my keyboard to respond fast too. function in OS X by pressing a combination of keys on your keyboard. Tracking speed can be set in System Preferences > Trackpad > Point & Click > Tracking speed. This takes a day to get used to, but once you do every other machine feels slow. I have my tracking speed almost at the fastest setting. This setting is a bit hard to find in ‌System Preferences > Accessibility > Pointer Control > Trackpad Options… > Enable dragging three finger drag.

Three finger drag allows you to “grab” something by placing three fingers on your trackpad and moving them around. However, I always found the force you need to apply to drag awkward. I use an external keyboard on my desk, so I need to set this up twice.

You can remap Caps Lock in System Preferences > Keyboard > Modifier Keys.

Add modifier keys on mac keyboard windows#

What trips me up is when I use a keyboard designed for Windows on a Mac. Remapping Caps Lock to Escape feeds two birds with one scone. There are reasons for shortcuts being different. On the other hand, I often need the Escape key, but it’s hard to reach. I have an (irrational?) hate for the Caps Lock key.