Article updated on 11/11/2019
Switching from a PC to a Mac requires some adaptation efforts, especially for the keyboard.
After my first article on how to type numbers with an Apple keyboard, let’s now look at the problem of reactivity of the caps lock key.
On Mac, the lock key. Shift requires a slightly longer press than the other keys to be taken into account (green LED lights up). You must therefore hold the key for half a second to switch to SHIFT mode (but a simple press exits SHIFT mode). Apple has decided to add a delay on this key to prevent accidental locking of capital letters.
This decision has a small impact because it should be noted that Mac users are used to type upper case letters with the SHIFT key and not with the caps lock key (so by holding down the SHIFT key + their letter)
For those like me (and most often from Windows), writing capital letters with the lock key. It is extremely painful to have to press this key longer, especially in the case of a word processor where you type very quickly. On Windows, you barely touch the key when it is activated.
In fact, many people think of a manufacturing defect in this key and take the Mac to an Apple Store for repair.
It is not a material manufacturing defect, just a questionable technical choice and there is a solution for those who are totally resistant to this capricious touch.
Here is the procedure for using the Shift Left key to enable/disable capitalization.
Install Karabiner-Elements
Launch Karabiner-Elements
Click on the “Complex modifications” tab and press the “Add rule” button located at the bottom left of the window
Click on the button “Import more rules from the internet”
The software will then open a web page.
Type “change caps_lock key” in the search bar.
Results are displayed below. Click on the “Import” button in front of “Change caps_lock key (rev 4)”
The browser asks you if you want to open Karabiner-Elements. Open it up.
A window appears. Click on “Import”.
The software tells you that the file has been imported.
Another window appears with a list of items to activate.
Press the “Enable” button located in front of “Disable caps_lock delay (rev 1).”
The element in question then appears in your active rules.
Close the software.
You now have an SHIFT key as responsive as on Windows and you don’t need to press it hard to activate it 🙂
So, I still don’t get the meaning of why OSX ignoring my clicks on the caps lock when I’m typing fast, do I got too fast that out of OSX’s handle? Just depressed about how hard to get back the NORMAL function that I should have at the beginning.
Great article, dude.