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Remap Caps Lock and Ctrl in Windows with PowerToys

·471 words·3 mins
Windows Development PowerToys Tips Remapping-Keys
Alexey Gnetko
Author
Alexey Gnetko
Tech enthusiast. Curious about modern approaches in software engineering
Table of Contents

Intro
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Ctrl key is widely used in hot keys. Many of us hit it a dozen times per minute. And there is Caps Lock, which is less popular, but is a big and bright right at your left pinky. It depends for sure, but for most keyboard users these two keys are arguably located not in the best place.

So remapping Ctrl and Caps Lock can be a neat ergonomic optimization for day-to-day tasks. Especially if you’re a hot-key monster 😁

Another optimization here is for those of us who need two or more input languages. We can disable Caps Lock at all and map it to keyboard layout switch. Instead of two-keys combination like Ctrl + Shift or Alt + Shift, you can use just one key and do the same. So Ctrl will be a language switch and Caps Lock will have Ctrl functions.

Remapping Caps Lock and Ctrl is not a new idea. It’s recommended in some guides for VIM and Emacs.

I’ve done such a remap before (~10 years ago 😀) on my Linux machine when I was using Emacs for pet-projects and some university coding. But then I had to switch to Windows to proceed with .NET, so I’ve gave up Emacs and reset back to defaults.

Recently I’ve got a new Windows 11 laptop and now I want to make some geek upgrades. 😅 If you’re still interested, keep reading!

Remap keys with PowerToys
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PowerToys is a new fancy set of utilities to make a Windows user’s life easier. Please, see the installation guide and system requirements here.

Step-by-step guide:

  1. Open PowerToys
  2. Find the Keyboard Manager utility in the left menu
  3. Enable Keyboard Manager if needed
  4. Click on Remap a key
  5. Follow the instructions from one of the sections below

Remap Caps Lock and Ctrl
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  1. Map Caps Lock to Ctrl
  2. Map Ctrl to Caps Lock

Easy! You’ll have the configuration like on the screenshot below:

Configuration with Caps Lock and Ctrl remap

Remap Caps Lock and Ctrl and use one-key input language switch
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  1. Map Caps Lock to Ctrl
  2. Map Ctrl to Win + Space (it’s a special global keyboard layout switch combination in Windows)

Configuration with one-key input language switch

Final words
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PowerToys Keyboard Manager is a great utility that allows us to easily remap keys.

Having Ctrl instead of Caps Lock and one-key keyboard layout switch work like a charm for me.

However you should be ready that it won’t work well for you in some cases as PowerToys is still in preview and there can be limitations or issues (see PowerToys FAQ for more details).

If you would like to try it, give yourself a week. It’s a general advice for everything new as you need some time to adapt. After a week you’ll get used to a new layout and you’ll be able to answer if it’s really your thing.