How To Use Windows Keyboard On Mac

Macs can utilise nearly all keyboards built for Windows PC, whether they are USB or Bluetooth, simply you may notice that the layout of some of the modifier keys are different on a Mac keyboard from the layout of a Windows keyboard. Specifically, the WINDOWS and ALT cardinal of a Windows keyboard are switched compared to the Mac keyboard layout of OPTION/ALT and COMMAND keys. This tin lead to erroneous keyboard shortcuts or other unexpected central printing behavior when using a PC keyboard with a Mac.

A simple solution to this trouble is to remap the Windows and ALT key and the command and option/alt keys on the Windows PC keyboard connected to the Mac, so that the keyboard layouts will mimic expectations based on the standard Apple modifier key layout, rather than what information technology says on the PC keyboard. For well-nigh Mac users who connect a PC keyboard to their Mac, this volition dramatically improve their typing experience when using a PC keyboard.

Using a Windows PC Keyboard on Mac with Remapped Windows & ALT Keys

This trick works the same with all Windows and PC keyboard with the standard CTRL / Windows / ALT key layout, and all versions of Mac Bone:

1. Connect the Windows PC keyboard to the Mac as usual, either by USB or Bluetooth
2. Pull down the  Apple menu and choose "System Preferences"
3. Click on "Keyboard"
4. Choose the "Keyboard" tab and so click on the "Modifier Keys" button in the lower correct corner of the preference panel
5. Choose the PC keyboard from the "Select Keyboard" dropdown card at the summit of the Modifier keys screen to insure you lot are modifying the proper keyboard continued to the Mac



6. Click the dropdown next to "OPTION Central" and select "Command"
7. Click the dropdown next to "COMMAND Key" and select "Option"



8. Click "OK" and examination out the newly remapped keyboard keys *

Once finished yous will take a new digital layout of the Windows PC keyboard keys when used on the Mac:

• WINDOWS key becomes the ALT / OPTION key on Mac OS
• ALT key becomes the Control key on Mac OS

* Notation: Some PC keyboards likewise accept the "CNTRL" and "ALT" keys switched too, compared to a standard Mac key layout. If applicable, go ahead and switch those with the same Modifier Key play a joke on outlined in a higher place.

A elementary mode to ostend the keyboard modifier keys are switched as expected is to issue a keyboard shortcut, like a screen capture (Command Shift 3) or a Close Window command (Command + W). It should work as you'd expect based on the Mac keyboard layout.

Manifestly this isn't going to change the actual physical keyboard advent, then yous'll accept to become used to the advent of the keys proverb one affair, just doing something else. Only if you lot are mostly a impact-typer and never look at your hands when typing this shouldn't be an issue.

Essentially you are reversing the Windows PC keyboard Windows and ALT keys (which become the Command and Selection/ALT keys when connected to the Mac), which puts them in line with the default Mac and Apple keyboard layout of those buttons. Thus, the Windows PC keyboard Windows key becomes the new ALT / Pick key on the Mac, and the Windows PC keyboard ALT key becomes the new COMMAND key on the Mac, just like it would exist on an Apple keyboard.

For example, here's a Windows PC keyboard with a dissimilar modifier key layout than the Apple keyboard layout:

And hither'southward a Apple keyboard with different modifier key layout than the Windows PC keyboard:

Thus you tin encounter why switching the modifier key behavior when the PC keyboard is connected to the Mac tin can be helpful.

This trick should be particularly useful to Mac users who accept a favorite PC keyboard laying effectually they want to use, or perhaps prefer a particular Windows PC keyboard for 1 reason or some other. And yes this tip works the same regardless of the Windows PC keyboard connected to the Mac, and regardless of the Mac operating system or the Mac itself. Y'all tin can switch the modifier keys in any release and with any keyboard this way.

By the fashion if you lot're coming to the Mac from the Windows world, which is perhaps why you have a Windows PC keyboard in use on a Mac in the offset place, you'll probably appreciate learning the Home and Stop button equivalents on a Mac keyboard, what the Print Screen button equivalent is on a Mac, potentially using the Delete key as a Forward DEL on a Mac, or discovering how to use Page Up and Page Down on a Mac keyboard, and understanding what and where the Selection or ALT fundamental is on a Mac too.

So, try this out if you take a Windows keyboard you want to use with a Mac, or if you desire to endeavour an external PC keyboard on a Mac then go ahead and don't exist shy, because just swapping those two modifier keys can remedy ane of the biggest annoyances when using a Windows PC keyboard on a Mac.

If you accept any other helpful tips for using a Windows or PC keyboard on a Mac, then share them with us in the comments below!

Source: https://osxdaily.com/2018/01/31/use-windows-pc-keyboard-mac-remap-option-command-keys/

Posted by: andrewsfiltaked.blogspot.com

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