Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Chromebooks' Secret Caps Lock Keyboard Shortcut Revealed

For all you kill joys who want the twitter version of this post, see my public Google+ entry:  https://plus.google.com/u/1/110524638589641892271/posts/37uSn9tnukz

I'm confident the rest of you Chrome OS and chromebook afficionados still reading are aware that chromebook machines very intentionally dispense with the caps lock key (hurray!).  In its place, we find the new tab/search key, which, unsurprisingly, opens a new Chrome tab with the cursor placed in the search/address bar (also called the "omnibox"), when pressed.  The re-worked key can also be disabled, which I prefer, as I often trip over it, much to my annoyance.

On the other hand, and as bamboozled as you may feel to hear this, I sometimes actually want to use all caps.  GASP!  Yes, my friends, it's true.

When I do dabble in typing insanity (using all caps), I like to get out of it as quickly as possible and usually feel burned out, holding down the shift key for a slew of letters, words, or, (the horror!), sentences.  I.e., I like keyboard shortcuts.
So, fellow keyboard shortcut lovers, rejoice!  Why?  Thanks to my man Aaron on Jay Lee's blog, we now know there is, in fact, a quick chromebook shortcut for capslock: shift+shift (shift on the left of the keyboard + shift on the right).

Behold!  There is a keyboard shortcut for caps lock (other than the caps lock key) -- look at the top-right.
Maybe this shortcut is undocumented in the alt+shift+/ overlay (map) because Google and the Chrome team want to avoid a return to SHOUTING! in the forums.  Well, guess what, Googlers, THE SHORTCUT IS OUT!

Just remember, if you find yourself TYPING IN ALL CAPS, and, after you scratch your head why, look to the skies (the top-right corner of your chrome window) to see if something is awry -- the caps lock function may be engaged.  So, Maverick, if you want to turn it off, then disengage!  (Press left shift + right shift.)

In conclusion, you now know how to quickly activate (and deactivate) caps lock on a chromebook, and please, gentle CA readers, use this power responsibly.  Thank you.

1 comment:

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