Is there a manner to make a Windows keyboard work with a Mac and macOS? The keys are completely different.
If you do not just like the keyboard that got here with your Mac, there are a myriad of options to select from. But when you think about the variety of Windows PC keyboards presently available on the market, there isn’t any comparability. Specifying a keyboard with a Mac structure barely reduces your choices (even earlier than taking into consideration the UK structure that a lot of our readers want) and also you inevitably get much less selection. You might have to pay more for what you need, or miss area of interest merchandise like ergonomic designs to scale back RSI.
And what if another person in your space or workplace has a Windows keyboard you need to borrow, otherwise you simply need to share a keyboard between Windows and macOS machines? Wouldn’t it’s enjoyable, in different phrases, should you might set up a Windows keyboard to work with a Mac?
Still, it might, and whereas we nonetheless suggest looting for a devoted Mac keyboard, it’s potential to find a good compromise. In this article, we clarify how to use a Windows keyboard with a Mac.
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How to use a Windows keyboard with Mac: the issue (and the short-term resolution)
The downside with utilizing a Windows keyboard on a Mac could be summed up in 3 letters: Cmd. The Command button on a Mac keyboard is used for the save and print features in most apps, opening a new tab or window in most web browsers, and shutting apps, alongside with many different vital features. And a Windows keyboard doesn’t have a Cmd key. It has a Windows key as an alternative.
If the world had been pleasant, the whole lot the Cmd button does could be completed with the Windows key, however, the world is just not like that. Instead, the closest equal of the Mac’s Cmd key (in actual fact, it is a near-perfect correspondence) is the Ctrl key of the Windows PC. This is a bit complicated as a result of Macs additionally have Ctrl keys, however, attempt not to fear an excessive amount of about that.
In truth, the equivalence between the Mac Cmd key and the Windows Ctrl secret is so dependable that it might be wonderful if the 2 keys had been in the identical place on the keyboard. But they aren’t, which goes to play a completely satisfied hell with your muscle reminiscence. Shortcuts and shortcuts are all about quick response occasions and that does not work you probably have to consciously assume about which key to press; even worse, you’ll have the identical issues once you return the Mac keyboard.
In different phrases, for very short-term conditions, you possibly can use a Windows keyboard with a Mac and simply press the Ctrl key as an alternative of the Cmd key. But for more than a couple of minutes of typing, you actually have to remap the keys – and the excellent news is that it takes about 25 seconds.
How to use Windows keyboard with Mac: reassign the keys
Open System Preferences in your Mac. Click Keyboard (on the second row of choices) after which Modification Keys … on the backside proper of the window. Make positive the right keyboard is chosen from the drop-down menu on the high.
Now all you’ve got to do is click on on the Option Key drop-down menu and alter it in Command. Then click on the Command Key drop-down checklist and choose Option. Click OK.
That is it! Close System Preferences, take a look at if it really works because it ought to, and get on with your life.