How to Turn the Caps Lock Key Into Something You’ll Actually Use
How often do you actually use Caps Lock? Unless you’re a PERMANENTLY EVIL UNCLE, the answer is probably not much. It’s strange that the Caps Lock key takes up a huge amount of space on the keyboard; It’s absolutely annoying that it’s so easy to accidentally bump yourself.
Google’s Chromebooks replaced the Caps Lock key with a search key a few years ago, and now there’s an easy way to reassign Caps Lock on a Mac . However, Microsoft doesn’t offer a built-in tool to do this job. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have options.
We previously talked about PowerToys, a Microsoft suite full of utilities worth trying . One of these utilities, called Keyboard Manager , allows you to reassign any key on your keyboard. This means you can change the Caps Lock key to mimic another key or even keys that aren’t on your keyboard. If you don’t want to install PowerToys, there is a special tool called Sharpkeys that works in a similar way, but honestly, PowerToys is so useful that you might as well install it.
Setting up the Keyboard Manager
To get started, you’ll need to download PowerToys from the Microsoft Store or Github . Once installed, you will find Keyboard Manager on the left sidebar of PowerToys.
Click Reassign Key and you will be prompted to select a key on your keyboard. Press Caps Lock and then press OK .
Now you can choose what you want to replace the caps lock with. Click the Select button, and then press the key or key combination you want to simulate. Additionally, you can use the dropdown to select any key, including ones that aren’t on your keyboard (this is how I turned the Caps Lock key into a music pause key). You can also disable the key completely by selecting Disable from the same list.
Click OK and you’re done. Congratulations: your Caps Lock key will never ACCIDENTALLY work again.