Chromebooks are pretty different from traditional laptops in a lot of ways \u2014 and not just because of their software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most obvious physical difference? Chromebooks feature keyboards with a variety of Chrome-OS-specific functions, which means they don\u2019t have standard keys like F1 or even Caps Lock. Depending on your style of working, that could be a welcome change or a massive pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you aren\u2019t thrilled with that arrangement, though, don\u2019t despair. You can actually remap a fair number of your Chromebook\u2019s keys and dramatically change how you use your device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To get started, simply head into the Keyboard section of your Chromebook\u2019s settings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Click the clock in the lower right corner of the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tap the gear-shaped icon in the panel that appears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scroll down to the Device subhead and click the \u201cKeyboard\u201d option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There, you\u2019ll see a list of keys you can customize:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Launcher key (sometimes also called the Search key)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ctrl key<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Alt key<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Escape key<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Backspace key<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Assistant key (on Pixelbooks only)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each key can be remapped to handle any of the following functions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Launcher (the Chrome OS app drawer and search prompt)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ctrl<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alt<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Caps Lock<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Escape<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Backspace<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Assistant (on devices where Google Assistant is available)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To remap any key, just click the box alongside it and select whatever function you\u2019d like it to have. You might want to change the Launcher key back to a Caps Lock, for instance. Or if you like having the Launcher key in its default role but still miss Caps Lock, you might want to assign the Caps Lock function to your Escape key or Assistant key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have any Chromebook other than the Pixelbook (which, as mentioned before, has a dedicated Google Assistant key) and want easier access to Assistant, you might consider assigning the Escape key or even the Launcher key to handle that function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s one more keyboard remapping option worth noting: Beneath that list of customizable keys, you\u2019ll see a setting called \u201cTreat top-row keys as function keys.\u201d If you activate the toggle alongside that, the specialty keys on the top row of your Chromebook\u2019s keyboard \u2014 the commands for going back, reloading a page, maximizing a window, and so on \u2014 will be transformed into standard F1-style function keys. You\u2019ll still be able to access their specialty functions in that scenario, but only if you first hold down the Launcher key and then press them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chromebooks are pretty different from traditional laptops in a lot of ways \u2014 and not just because of their software. The most obvious physical difference? Chromebooks feature keyboards with a variety of Chrome-OS-specific functions, which means they don\u2019t have standard keys like F1 or even Caps Lock. Depending on your style of working, that could … Continue reading “How to remap your Chromebook\u2019s keyboard”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[171,172],"class_list":["post-172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tips","tag-chromebook","tag-keyboard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions\/173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}