The Caps Lock key is a relic of the typewriter era, originally designed for shouting in text or drafting legal contracts. In modern computing, however, it is arguably the most accidentally pressed key on the entire keyboard, leading to frustrating moments of TYPING ENTIRE SENTENCES in uppercase before noticing the error. If you find yourself hitting Caps Lock by mistake while reaching for the ‘A’ or ‘Shift’ keys, macOS allows you to completely disable the key at the system level, turning it into a harmless, dead button.
How to Disable the Caps Lock Key
You do not need any third-party software to change how your keyboard functions; Apple provides a built-in “Modifier Keys” menu specifically for this purpose.
- Click the Apple Logo () in the top-left corner of your Mac’s menu bar.
- Select System Settings… (or System Preferences… on older versions of macOS) from the drop-down menu.
- In the left-hand sidebar, scroll down and click on Keyboard.
- In the main window, look for the Keyboard Shortcuts… button and click it.
- A new overlay window will appear. In the left-hand sidebar of this new window, select Modifier Keys.
- If you use an external keyboard (like a Magic Keyboard) as well as your MacBook’s built-in keyboard, select the specific keyboard you want to modify from the “Select keyboard” drop-down menu at the top.
- Locate the Caps Lock key in the list.
- Click the drop-down menu next to it and change the action to No Action.
- Click Done.
Alternative: Remapping the Key
Instead of making the key useless, many power users prefer to remap it to something more functional.
In step 8 above, instead of choosing “No Action,” try changing the Caps Lock key to act as an additional Control, Option, or Escape key. Remapping it to ‘Escape’ is particularly popular among programmers who use Vim, as the Caps Lock key is much easier to reach with the left pinky finger than the physical Escape key in the top corner of the keyboard.