eliminate MacBook CapsLock delay

On my MacPro there is one issue (and guys from Apple think this is feature...) that annoys me very much: there is a time delay between CapsLock switching. I used to do that fast. If I go to preferences and reassign caps lock to any other button and then back it works OK then, so it is not a hardware problem.

Is there any way to fix that ?

6

10 Answers

I was running the latest firmware on an Apple 2007 Aluminum Wireless Keyboard, and MacBook Pro Keyboard, but the issue still persisted. However, oddly this fixed it:

1. Open System Preferences
2. Click Keyboard
3. Click Modifier Keys...
4. Select your keyboard from the Select keyboard: list.
5. Set the Caps Lock Key: to No Action.
6. Press OK.
7. Ensure your Caps Lock no longer works on your keyboard.
8. Click Modifier Keys... again.
9. Set the Caps Lock Key: to Caps Lock.
10. Press OK.

Now, the Caps Lock key works instantly for that keyboard. Repeat as-needed for each keyboard you own.

9

If you install Karabiner-Elements, it defaults to zeroing out macOS's obnoxious caps lock delay.

The version you need to install depends on your macOS version.

macOS 10.15.6 and above

Download and install Karabiner-Elements 13.3.0 or higher.

macOS 10.11 through 10.15.5

Download and install Karabiner-Elements 11.6.0.

(Note that Karabiner-Elements 12.0.0 - 13.1.0 re-added the Caps Lock delay, and 13.3.0 isn't available on older OS versions.)

---

This is the only solution I know of that both works on 10.12 and requires nothing more than installing & running an application without any special steps or reconfigurations.

15

Just as an FYI, I found an alternative solution in another question:

1. Go to System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Keyboard
2. Check Enable Slow Keys
3. Click Options
4. Drag the Acceptance Delay slider all the way to the left
5. Press OK

However, this fix introduces other problems, including:

• If you hold down a key to repeat it (such as delete), then the repeat delay is extremely slow
• Some keyboard shortcuts like Crtl+Shift+Tab may no longer work

Tested on macOS 10.14.4 and 10.15.7

3

If you want a simpler solution than Karabiner, I've written a very small, open source tool to fix exactly that.

5

1. Download and install the following software
   • Karabiner
   • Hammerspoon
2. Use Karabiner maps CapsLock key to F19.
3. Edit init.lua under the path ~/.hammerspoon, paste the code below.

pressedF19 = function() hs.hid.capslock.toggle()
end
hs.hotkey.bind({}, 'F19', pressedF19, nil)

Then reload the hammerspoon config for changes to take effect.

See my blog here

8

Not really sure about this, but google found this. This was one of the suggestions, but it does not seem foolproof (or even close). There are more suggestions on the page.

1. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard. Click on Modifier Keys. In the window that opens, for the Caps Lock key, select "No Action"
2. Install the "No CapsLock" script. Download at (look near bottom of page)

In addition, if you hold down the key, even for a fraction of a second, it will go on automatically.

3

On Apple's discussion boards other's report that updating your keyboard's firmware can/will eliminate this delay.

Re: Delay problem with caps-lock

Apr 8, 2008 3:52 PM

It appears that the keyboard firmware update released today fixes this issue.

Get keyboard firmware(s) from Apple.

2

Originally the answer by Martin Steven worked for me. This was when I used OSX 10.9.

After upgrading to OSX Yosemite (10.10) it stopped working. I found another, essentially the same, solution documented here

It uses updated version of the apps (with different names) that work with 10.10.

As requested - quoting the relevant sections from the link

1. Install Seil and Karabiner.
2. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Modifier Keys and change “Caps Lock” to “No Action.”
3. Using Seil, check “Change Caps Lock Key” and change the key code to 110. (Application Key)
4. Go to Karabiner, and in the search box, enter “application key to capslock.” Under For PC Users > Change PC Application Key, check off “Application Key to CapsLock.”

2

I had exactly the same problem, I could solve it by installing Karabiner-Elements and making the following modification :

• select the Simple Modifications tab
• add a new modification (Add Item)
• and put from key caps_lock to key caps_lock

1

This happened on my new MacBook Air, I contacted Apple Support and these were the instructions that were given to me and WORKED:

Go to System Preferences > click Accessibility > click Keyboard > then click Hardware > Select Enable Slow Keys > then click Options > Drag the Acceptance Delay slider to set how long you want your Mac to wait before it responds after the key is pressed.

I hope this helps :)

1

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