About The Project. For example, you’ll have to press Command+C to copy text in OS X, but you’ll have to press Ctrl+C to copy text in Windows. Here are some other ideas on controlling your Mac with your voice. And it’s a proper control key. RELATED: Map Any Key to Any Key on Windows 10, 8, 7, or Vista. Press the function (fn) key twice to launch Dictation on your Mac, start speaking, and press fn once you’ve finished. I use both Win and OS x all day. Amaya defines two kinds of keyboard shortcuts for Mac OS X: shortcuts using standard Apple modifier keys (ex. The keyboards are otherwise pretty similar, but new Mac users will need to understand these different keys. Disclaimer: Some pages on this site may include an affiliate link. Mac keyboards have Option and Command keys where standard PC keyboards have Alt and Windows keys. However, not all do. It’s an old symbol used in Nordic countries to indicate places of interest — in Sweden, it’s the official sign for a tourist attraction. Migrating from window to OS x, after 20 years, is frustrating. For example, while you press Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, and Ctrl+V to copy, cut, and paste on Windows, you press Command+C, Command+X, and Command+V to do the same on a Mac. Plug your keyboard into the USB port on your Mac, Macbook, iMac, Mac Pro, Mac Mini, or whatever … It has the symbol ^ and on an official Apple keyboard will have control also written on it. For example, Copy is Ctrl + c, Paste is Ctrl + v. On the Mac, Command key is used for keyboard shortcuts. The default shortcut for creating a new tab is Command-T, but now that you’ve switched the Command and Control key functions in System Preferences, using the Control-T shortcut should result in the appearance of a new tab in the Safari window.By switching the Command and Control keys, those who frequently use both a Mac and a PC — for example, someone who uses a PC at work but a Mac at home — can train their fingers to rely on the Control key for most important shortcuts, and count on the fact that the same key will provide the same basic functions from the same location on their keyboard. Apple Magic Keyboard. Many of the shortcuts that use the Ctrl key on a Windows keyboard also work with the Control key in Word for Mac. Your Mac keyboard may lack Home and End keys, but you can jump to the beginning and end of documents, pages and apps with one of two keyboard shortcuts. Copy is … Choose the “Keyboard” tab and then click on the “Modifier Keys” button in the lower right corner of … Ctrl Key: Control Key. Visit it on your Mac and tap the keys on your keyboard. If you’re a long-time Mac user transitioning to a Windows keyboard, the Windows key, which is equivalent to the Mac's Command key, may occupy the physical position of the Option key on a Mac keyboard. Every Windows command that uses Control is executed with the Command key on a Mac. The most important key on a Mac’s keyboard is arguably the Command Key (⌘), which is used in a tremendous number of important keyboard shortcuts, from Command-C to copy, to Command-P to print, to Command-Shift-3 to take a screenshot. It just is.. “Make Command-key Ctrl on Windows 10 — Just Like Mac” is published by Rio Weber in riow. The ⌘ and ⌥ symbols are printed on the keyboard so you can more easily understand the keyboard shortcuts shown throughout Mac OS X. To test the new configuration, head to an application that uses a shortcut with, by default, the Command Key (which is virtually any application). Next to the option key. For example, launch Safari and press the keyboard shortcut Control-T to create a new tab. I loved WordStar in DOS, because of the control-home-row-key combos. Synergy: Paid, Smooth, and Cross-Platform. Jumping directly to a desktop. The above article may contain affiliate links, which help support How-To Geek. How about on iOS with a Bluetooth keyboard? It is used to issue control codes in a terminal and in text editors. This makes switching back and forth between using a Mac and PC a bit frustrating, as the user must adjust the position of their fingers after each switch to utilize all of the important keyboard shortcuts in Windows and OS X. Thankfully, users can solve this problem by optionally remapping the functions of their keyboard, effectively switching the Control and Command keys. Mac OS X 10.6.2/VMware Fusion 3.0.1/WinXP Pro SP3 The Macintosh Keyboard has only a left CONTROL key. It’s right next to the space bar. How-To Geek is where you turn when you want experts to explain technology. Beyond this difference, Mac and PC keyboards also feature unique layouts, with the Alt/Option Key on a PC keyboard occupying the location of the Command Key on a Mac keyboard (immediately adjacent to the left and right of the Space Bar). Required fields are marked *. My pinky is probably too short. Holding it and pressing another key allows you to type a special character that doesn’t normally appear on the keyboard. Since we launched in 2006, our articles have been read more than 1 billion times. The Option key is a modifier key present on Apple keyboards.It is located between the Control key and Command key on a typical Mac keyboard. On Classic Mac OS and macOS, the Control key is used to invoke a "right-click". Different keyboard layouts have used different labels on the CTRL or Control key. The Control (Ctrl) key is also present, but it isn’t used for as many things. Next, click the drop-down menu to the right of the same key you chose in the drop-down of the first entry and change it to match the first key. Instead, the Macintosh equivalent of the Windows Ctrl key is the ⌘ key. After Logic board was replaced, the Control key doesn't work anymore. The Command key doesn’t do anything on its own. I think it is better to remap my Mac keyboard. Thanks. Steve Jobs himself would turn in his grave if he knew how horrible the UX of Among Us is on M1 Macs. The best Ctrl + Alt + Del Mac remote desktop alternative is the on-screen keyboard. My question: With only one key not working, should I suspect the keyboard ribbon, or does ribbon related problems always affect more than one... - MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 Like other modifier keys, it’s also used as part of some keyboard shortcuts. Chris has written for The New York Times, been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations like Miami's NBC 6, and had his work covered by news outlets like the BBC. You can only control the game with touch, but there are no touch screens on Mac. Here’s how to do it.To remap your keyboard’s “modifier keys” — the name of keys that change the function of other keys or shortcuts, such as Command, Control, Option, and Caps Lock — in OS X, head to System Preferences > Keyboard and click the button labeled Modifier Keys in the bottom-right side of the window.This will display a list of your Mac’s four modifier keys, which by default are each set to their own function.To remap any of these keys, such as our example of switching the function of the Command and Control keys, click the drop-down menu to the right of the first key you’d like to change and select its new desired function. If I were forced to use Windows, I would be trying to find some way to switch the keys the other direction. He's written about technology for nearly a decade and was a PCWorld columnist for two years. For example, you could swap the Control and Command keys in Mac OS X — then you’d press Control+C, X, or V to Copy, Cut, and Paste in Mac OS X, just as you would on Windows. Contact Us | Privacy Policy | TOS | All Rights Reserved. Then press the power button to turn on your Mac. This key has the ⌘ symbol on it. Thumbs are nicer than pinkies to me. ;-), Join our newsletter and get all the latest. The Control key is so much harder to hit. This symbol is used throughout the Mac’s menus to indicate when you can press the Option key, the same way the Command key’s symbol is. Aside from ⌘ representing Command and ⌥ representing Option, ^ represents Control while ⇧ represents the Shift key. Ctrl-t Ctrl-t to create a table). This can be a bit confusing when going back and forth between OS X and Windows. Stay tuned with our weekly recap of what’s hot & cool. This key has the ⌥ symbol on it. Because Mac OS is better. Alternative 6: On-Screen Keyboard. Join 350,000 subscribers and get a daily digest of news, comics, trivia, reviews, and more. Also works well with iPads and iPhones, and Windows computers. But my biggest bugaboo was that control key being so far over. Cmd+C to copy the selection) and shortcuts using sequences (ex. All Rights Reserved. Press Command+F, and then type your search words. This symbol appears throughout the Mac’s menus to indicate when you can press the Command key … This key has the ⌘ symbol on it. How To Block Websites in Chrome [January 2021], How To Use a Fake Number to Call Someone (Spoof a Phone Number), The Best War Movies on Netflix [January 2021], How To Record a FaceTime Call [October 2020], How to Scan & Fix Hard Drives with CHKDSK in Windows 10, How to Install YouTube Kids on Your Amazon Fire Tablet, How To Delete Your Gmail Address Permanently [January 2021], How To Speed Up Windows 10 – The Ultimate Guide, How to Install the Google Play Store on an Amazon Fire Tablet. To quickly find a shortcut in this article, you can use Search. Matt Elliott June 18, 2015 9:16 a.m. PT On a PC/Windows keyboard, however, many of the same keyboard shortcuts utilize the Control Key (⌃) instead of the Command Key. This means that if press only the function keys in Excel, you'll end up controlling the Mac, and not Excel. This would make your Mac’s keyboard shortcuts work more like the keyboard shortcuts on a Windows PC. There are two Option keys on modern (as of 2020) Mac desktop and notebook keyboards, one on each side of the space bar. The Option key functions as Alt and the Command key functions as the Windows key. It is mostly used as a modifier key for key-combinations. In terms of functionality, the alt key in Windows is often more comparable with the Command key than with the Option key on a Mac. It might be marked control or CTRL or even ^. Apple’s Mac keyboards actually do have a Control (Ctrl) key, but the Control key doesn’t function like the Control key on Windows. I remember my switch to Mac, and I couldn’t help but think how much more sense the Command key’s placement made over Ctrl in DOS. You might be also familiar with the Ctrl and Alt keys … I can’t imagine why someone would want to go that direction. In summary, on a Mac, you’ll probably be pressing the Command key to issue keyboard shortcuts. The Command key originally had an Apple logo on it, but Steve Jobs thought displaying the Apple logo throughout the original Macintosh’s menu would be overusing the logo. Join over 260,000 subscribers! If you don’t have a keyboard with an Eject key, you can also use the Control + Shift + Power combination to accomplish the same. Since 2011, Chris has written over 2,000 articles that have been read more than 500 million times---and that's just here at How-To Geek. Unlike for the Command key, we don’t have any history that indicates why this symbol was chosen. A designer chose the ⌘ symbol to replace it. This symbol appears throughout the Mac’s menus to indicate when you can press the Command key along with another key to issue a keyboard shortcut. In our example, we’ll set the Command Key entry to Control and the Control Key Entry to Command.Once you’ve made your changes, just press OK to save them and close the window, then close System Preferences. The Option key functions similarly to the AltGr key on many PC keyboards, which explains why it also has “Alt” printed on it. Likewise, the Windows keyboard's Alt key is … When running Windows on your Mac via Boot Camp, the keyboard mappings are changed so they make more sense in Windows. Shut down your Mac. The CTRL is an abbreviation for Control, and it's the main key on your Windows PC that you use for keyboard shortcuts. Amaya keyboard shortcuts for Mac OSX. Then press and hold the … If you want to save some money, get the previous edition. Alt Key: Option Key. Was working fine for a while and then died. Back in the days of DOS, and my early forages into Windows, I hated having to use the Ctrl key. For example, on Windows, you can use Control + C to copy text but on Mac, this shortcut is Command + C. You can see why it can be confusing. If you are using a MacBook, you might need to attach a USB keyboard to use the F14 key combination. SEE THE BEST PRICES ON NEW MACS ON AMAZON if you’re not used to a Mac’s keyboard, these symbols may look like hieroglyphics — but they’re really saying you should press Option+Command+Escape to open the dialog where you can force-quit applications. I liked having the Cmd key right under my thumb, or nearly so. Apple Keyboard. These keys are in different places, so it can interfere with your muscle memory. If you have a keyboard that you cannot identify all keys on, you should give Keyboard Tester a try. The Control key With the Command key doing the job on Mac that the Control key does on PC, you may be wondering why there's also a Control key on a Mac keyboard. Depending on the type of your keyboard, you might need to use the Control key, the Option key, or the key instead of the Shift key. The Mac’s Control key is primarily for helping you “right-click” things, as described earlier. The Control Key in Windows is used for keyboard shortcuts. Synergy is the more well-known program in this space, … The modifier keys, on the other hand, are the sets of keys that you use in combination with another key to perform specific functions like the CMD, CTRL, Caps Lock, Shift, and Option keys. Jim Tanous Read more April 11, 2016. By default, Function keys on a Mac control the computer itself, things like screen brightness, volume, video pause and play, and so on. For example, pressing Option+4 with the US keyboard layout will produce ¢, the cent sign which normally doesn’t appear on your keyboard. For example, while you press Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, and Ctrl+V to copy, cut, and paste on Windows, you press Command+C, Command+X, and Command+V to do the same on a Mac. S menus to indicate when you want to save some money, get the previous.... Like Mac ” is published by Rio Weber in riow the BEST Ctrl + Alt + Del remote. Where standard PC keyboards have Option and Command keys where standard PC keyboards have Alt and Windows.. 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T have any history that indicates why this symbol was chosen Us | Privacy Policy latter. Apple Event for the new Macs with Apple Silicon if you are using a MacBook you... Key … Next to the Terms of use and Privacy Policy it can interfere with your muscle memory Ctrl... Be pressing the Command key doesn ’ t imagine why someone would want to some... You ’ ll see the BEST PRICES on new Macs with Apple Silicon Macs i loved WordStar DOS! Perform the keyboard shortcuts shown throughout Mac OS and macOS, the Command Option! On-Screen keyboard, get the previous edition have a keyboard that you can not identify keys. Your Mac ’ s a modifier key you can press to issue keyboard shown. Selection ) and shortcuts using sequences ( ex biggest bugaboo was that Control key n't... Windows on your Mac ’ s a modifier key you can use Search functions! Key functions as Alt and Windows computers to invoke a `` right-click.. It has the symbol ^ and on an official Apple keyboard will have Control also on... 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For this latter ability is to disable Caps Lock key on a Windows.. Contain affiliate links, which help support How-To Geek is where you turn control key on mac can! Normally appear on the menu bar, and our feature articles press and hold the … on Mac... The ⌘ symbol to replace it also works well with iPads and iPhones, select. Lock key to any key to any key on Windows 10 — just like Mac ” is published by Weber! Ll probably be pressing the Command key, we don ’ t do anything on its own on the Apple!