Capslock

Make CapsLock Great Again!

Transform ⇪CapsLock into a powerful modifier ✱ Hyper that miraculously increases your work productivity!

Capslock Website / ZH Site

Chinese Documentation 中文文档

Karabiner-Elements Official Gallery

CapsLock (v3)

Powerful: Transform Capslock into a great modifier: Hyper(✱). (such as ⇧⌃⌥⌘)
Useful: Navigation, mousekey, clipboard, win/term ctrl, shortcuts, etc... Redefine the keyboard!
Speed-Up: Optimized for developers, high-frequency move stay in hot zone.
Extensible: Work with existing modifiers, which introduce 16 extra control planes.
MouseKey: Manipulate mouse cursor and wheels with keyboard
Cross-Platform: MacOS and Windows. Light-Weight and portable

Version

Capslock Mac V3: 2021.03 - now (Latest version)
Capslock Mac V2: 2017 - 2021
Capslock Mac V1: 2015 - 2017
Capslock Win: 2013 - 2015

OS Support

MacOS Supported	Win Supported
MacOS Big Sur (11.0 )	Windows 10
MacOS Catalina (10.15)	Windows 8
MacOS High Sierra (10.13)	Windows 7
MacOS Sierra (10.12)	Windows Vista
MacOS EI Capitan (10.11)	Windows XP
MacOS Yosemite (10.10) or lower (via Capslock Mac v1)	(via Capslock Win)

Quick Start

Capslock serves via Karabiner-Elements on MacOS

Download and install Karabiner Elements, following the wizard and grant required permissions.
Download capslock.json to： ~/.config/karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/ .
Or just open this link with Safari to launch karabiner and load config from URL:
```
karabiner://karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/import?url=https://vonng.com/capslock.json
```
Or check karabiner official gallery and load it there.
Launch Karabiner-Element → Tab: ComplexModification → Button: Add Rules, then enabled rulesets.

Usage

Capslock works on ANSI keyboards and similar layouts. It literally remaps every keys on the keyboard. Including 10 categories.

Control Planes are defined by combination of four extra left modifiers: ⌘⌥⌃⇧.This image shows the layout of control plane 0.

Category	Color	Description
Basic	Blue	Press `⇪` Capslock emit an `⎋` Escape. Hold it enabling the `✱` Hyper Modifier.
Navigation	Pink	Vim style navigation. Cursor move, text selection, switch desktop/window/tab, mouse move/wheel,etc...
Deletion	Brown	Maps `BNM,` to deletion operation to perform fast char/word/line deletion without hand move.
MouseKey	Keypad	Maps keypad to fully functional mouse
Window	Azure	Close app/win/tab, Switch app/win/tab/desktop, intergration with win-manager app such as Moom,Slate,Magnet
Application	Yellow	Shortcuts for launching or switching frequently used applications
Terminal	Green	Sending high-freq signals (Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-D, Ctrl-C) and vim/tmux prefix meta key via `✱`
Clipboard	Purple	Turn numkeys into 10 different text clipboard. `✱⌘`n copy and `✱`n paste.
Shifter	Orange	Turn some keys into common code symbols.
Functional	Cyan	Screenshtots. Fine-grained light/volume control. Take function keys' function back!

Basic

Key	MapsTo	Comment
`⇪` Press	`⎋` Escape	Click Capslock to emit Escape
`⇪` Hold	`✱` Hyper	Hold Capslock to enable Hyper modifier.
`✱⎋`	`⇪` Capslock	Press to switch Capslock status
`✱␣`	`⌃␣`	Switch input source, +`⌘` to emoji

Note that ✱ is implemented as combination of ALL RIGHT MODIFIERS: ⌘⌥⌃⇧.

Hold ✱ Hyper to enable hyper functionalities. We will assume and omit that in subsequent document.

Navigation

H, J, K, L, U, I, O, P are used as Navigators. Maps to ←↓↑→⇞↖↘⇟ by default. (pink area).
9 control planes has already been allocated for navigators.
Hold additional ⌘ Command for selection. (like holding ⇧shift in normal), additional ⌥ Option for word/para selection.
Hold additional ⇧ Shift for app/win/tab switching. Hold additional ⌃ Control for desktop management .
Hold additional ⌥ Option for 🖱️ mouse move. Add ⇧shift to ⏫ accelerate. (U, I, O, P maps to mouse buttons) .
⇧⌥ turns navigator to 🖲️ mouse wheel, and ⇧⌘ is the ⏫ accelerated version . HJKL for wheel, wihle UIOP for reversed wheel move.

Feature	Move	Select	WordSel	Window	Desktop	🖱️	🖱️⏫	🖲️	🖲️⏫
Key\Mod	`✱`	`⌘`	`⌘⌥`	`⇧`	`⌃`	`⌥`	`⇧⌥`	`⇧⌃`	`⇧⌘`
`H`	Left	word left	word left	prev tab	prev desk	⬅️	⬅️⏫	⬅️	⬅️⏫
`J`	Down	line down	3 line down	next app	focus	⬇️	⬇️⏫	⬇️	⬇️⏫
`K`	Up	line up	3 line up	prev app	expose all	⬆️	⬆️⏫	⬆️	⬆️⏫
`L`	Right	word right	word right	next tab	next desk	➡️	➡️⏫	➡️	➡️⏫
`U`	PgUp	prev page	prev page	zoom-	fullscreen	🖱️L	🖱️L	➡️	➡️⏫
`I`	Home	line head	end2head	prev win	hide	🖱️R	🖱️R	⬆️	⬆️⏫
`O`	End	line end	head2end	next win	hide all	🖱️B	🖱️B	⬇️	⬇️⏫
`P`	PgDn	next page	next page	zoom+	Launchpad	🖱️F	🖱️F	⬅️	⬅️⏫

Arrow Navigation

Arrows ←↓↑→ to 🖱️ mouse actions too. Hold ⌥ Option to ⏬ slow down, hold ⌘ Command to ⏫ speed up.
Hold ⇧ Shift turns to 🖲️ wheel move. Extra ⌥ Option to ⏬ slow down, extra ⌘ Command to ⏫ speed up.
↩ Return maps to left click. And additional ⌘⌥⌃⇧ turns into right click, middle click, backward, forward.

Feature	🖱️	🖱️⏬	🖱️⏫	🖲️	🖲️⏬	🖲️⏫
Key\Mod	`✱`	`⌥`	`⌘`	`⇧`	`⇧⌥`	`⇧⌘`
`←↓↑→`	speed = 1600	speed ÷ 2	speed × 2	speed = 32	speed ÷ 2	speed × 2
`↩`	🖱️L	🖱️M	🖱️R	🖱️L	🖱️B	🖱️F

Deletion

N M , . are used as Deletor keys. Right below the navigators for fast access (brown area).

Key\Mod	`✱`	`⌘`	`⌥`
`N`	del a word ahead	del till line head	del the whole line
`M`	del a char ahead	del a word ahead	move line below
`,`	del a char after	del a word after	move line above
`.`	del a word after	del till line end	del the whole line
`⌫`	del file	purge file

Mousekey

mouse key

Turn Keypad into a fully funcional 🖱️ mouse.
Numbers maps to 8 direction 🖱️ mouse move. Hold ⌥ Option to ⏬ slow down, hold ⌘ Command to ⏫ speed up.
Hold additional ⇧ Shift turns to 🖲️ wheel move. Extra ⌥ Option to ⏬ slow down, and extra ⌘ Command to ⏫ speed up.
First line maps to wheel move and 0, ., ⌤, +, - maps to five mouse buttons.

`⇭` 🖲️⬅️	`=` 🖲️⬇️	`/` 🖲️⬆️	`*` 🖲️➡️
`7`🖱️ ↖️	`8` 🖱️⬆️	`9` 🖱️↗️	`-` 🖱️B
`4`🖱️ ⬅️	`5`🖱️	`6` 🖱️➡️	`+` 🖱️F
`1`🖱️↙️	`2` 🖱️⬇️	`3` 🖱️↘️
`0` 🖱️L		`.` 🖱️M	`⌤` 🖱️R

Window Control

window control

Tab, Q, W, A, s used as window control keys. Focuing on close/switch applications / windows / tabs / desktops. (azure area)
Windows management (resize, layout) leaves to external application such as Moom, Magnet, and Slate. Bind ⌃⌥⇧⌘A manually.

Key\Mod	`✱`	`⌘`	`⌥`	`⌃`	`⇧`
`⇥`	next app	prev app	switch desktop		switch tab
`Q`	close app	close app		Lock Screen	Logout
`W`	close tab	close all win		Display Sleep	Sleep
`A`	win app	expose all	show desktop	LaunchPad
`S`	next tab	prev tab	next win	prev win

App Shortcuts

app shortcuts

E R T Y F G are used as application shortcuts. (yellow area)
Popular apps and dev tools are registed to 3 default planes: ✱/⌘/⌥. Assign these shortcuts according to your own needs.

Key\Mod	`✱`	`⌘`	`⌥`
`E`	Safari	Finder	Mail
`R`	iTerm2	Preview	Terminal
`T`	Visual Studio Code	Typora	Note
`Y`	Siri	Karabiner	Amphetamine
`F`	Alfred 4	Dash	Dictionary
`G`	Intellij IDEA	Chrome	Calender

Terminal Control

terminal control

D, Z, X, C, V, B are used as terminal control keys. Sending singals and IDE commands. (green area)

Key\Mod	`✱`	`⌘`
`D`	`⌃D` Ctrl+D (Send EOF)	Define (Force touch)
`Z`	`⌃Z` Ctrl+Z (SIGTSTP)	`F5` (VS Code Debug)
`X`	`⌃R` Ctrl+R (IDE Run)	`⌃F5` (VS Code Run)
`C`	`⌃C` Ctrl+C (SIGINT)	`⇧>F5`（VS Code Stop）
`V`	`⌃V`Ctrl+V (Vim Prefix)
`B`	`⌃B`Ctrl+B (Tmux Prefix)

Clipboard

clipboard

Number keys 1, 2, …, 9, 0 are used as (text) clipboard. Hold ⌘ to copy, and press to paste. (purple area)

Key\Mod	`✱`	`⌘`
`1`	Paste from clip 1	Copy to clip 1
`2`	Paste from clip 2	Copy to clip 2
……	……	……
`0`	Paste from clip 0	Copy to clip 10

Shifter

shifter

Trivial transformation for misc characters. (orange area)
Some special tricks for developers. Such as ;' maps to := or != (⌘)

Key\Mod	`✱`	`⌘`	`⌥`
`-`	`_`	Zoom Out
`=`	`+`	Zoom In
`[`	`(`	`{`	`<`
`]`	`)`	`}`	`>`
`;`	`!`	`:`
`'`	`=`	`=`
`/`	`⌘/`
`\`	`⌘/`

Functional

functional

Use F1,…F12 as standard functional keys, while hold ✱ Hyper to turn them back. (cyan area)
⌘Command + F1 / F2 / F3 are used as desktop switcher. Enable shortcuts in system preference first:

Preference → Keyboard → Shortcuts → MissionControl → Switch to Desktop 1/2/3
If you are using RMBP with Bar, consider changing your bar back to function keys with:

Karabiner-Elements → Function Keys → Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys

Key\Mod	`✱`	`⌘`	Comment
`	`⌃⇧⌘4`	`⇧⌘4`	Area selection screenshot(`⌘` to file)
`F1`	`display_brightness_decrement` \| `⌃1`	`⌃1`	Brightness Down / Desktop 1
`F2`	`display_brightness_increment` \| `⌃2`	`⌃2`	Brightness Up / Desktop 2
`F3`	`⌃↑` \| `⌃3`	`⌃3`	Expose All / Desktop 3
`F4`	`Launchpad`		Launchpad
`F5`	`illumination_decrement`		Keyboard Light Down
`F6`	`illumination_increment`		Keyboard Light Up
`F7`	`rewind`		Music Prev
`F8`	`play_or_pause`		Play / Pause
`F9`	`fastforward`		Music Next
`F10`	`mute`		Mute
`F11`	`volume_decrement`		Volume Down
`F12`	`volume_increment`		Volume Up
`F13`	`⌃⇧⌘3`	`⇧⌘3`	Full Screentshot (`⌘` to file)
`F14`	`⇧⌘5`	`⇧⌘6`	Screenshot menu (`⌘` touchbar snap)
`F15`	`play_or_pause`		Play / Pause
`Insert`	`⇧⌥` `display_brightness_increment`		Fine-Grained Brightness Up
Delete `⌦`	`⇧⌥` `display_brightness_decrement`		Fine-Grained Brightness Down
Home `↖`	`⇧⌥` `illumination_increment`		Fine-GrainedKeyboard Light Up
End `↘`	`⇧⌥` `illumination_decrement`		Fine-Grained Keyboard Light Down
PgUp `⇞`	`⇧⌥` `volume_increment`		Fine-Grained Volume Up
PgDn `⇟`	`⇧⌥` `volume_decrement`		Fine-Grained Volume Down

References

Symbols

Glyph	Name	Glyph	Name
`⇪`	Capslock	`✱`	Hyper
`⎋`	Escape	`␣`	Space
`⌘`	Command (Mac)	`⎇`	Alter (Win)
`⌥`	Option (Mac)	`⊞`	Win (Win)
`⌃`	Control	`⇧`	Shift
`↩`	Return	`⌤`	Enter
`←↓↑→`	Arrow Cursor	`↖↘`	Home/End
`⇥⇤`	Tab	`⌫⌦`	Delete / ForwardDelete
`⇭`	Numlock	⏫⏬	Fast / Slow
🖱️L	Mouse Left Click (Button1)	🖱️B	Mouse Backward (Button4)
🖱️R	Mouse Right Click (Button2)	🖱️F	Mouse Forward (Button5)
🖱️M	Mouse Middle Click (Button3)	🖲️	Mouse Wheel

Control Planes

control planes

Plane	Modifiers	Plane	Modifiers	Plane	Modifiers
0	`✱`	3	`✱⌘⌥`	7	`✱⌘⌥⌃`
1	`✱⌘`	5	`✱⌘⌃`	11	`✱⌘⌥⇧`
2	`✱⌥`	6	`✱⌥⌃`	13	`✱⌘⌃⇧`
4	`✱⌃`	9	`✱⌘⇧`	14	`✱⌥⌃⇧`
8	`✱⇧`	10	`✱⌥⇧`	15	`✱⌘⌥⌃⇧`
		12	`✱⌃⇧`

MacOS Installation

macos installation

Capslock serves via Karabiner-Elements on MacOS

Download and install Karabiner Elements, following the wizard and grant required permissions.

Download capslock.json to： ~/.config/karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/ . Or open this link with Safari to launch karabiner and load config from URL:

# Capslock Mac V3 (this repo)
karabiner://karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/import?url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Vonng/Capslock/master/mac_v3/capslock.json

# Capslock Official Site (v3)
karabiner://karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/import?url=https://vonng.com/capslock.json

# Karabiner-Elements Offical Script Gallery (v3)
karabiner://karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/import?url=https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/complex_modifications/json/caps_lock_enhancement.json

Launch Karabiner-Elements. Tab: ComplexModification → Button: Add Rules, then enabled rulesets.

Windows Installation

window installation

Capslock serves via AutoHotKey on Windows.

Download and install AutoHotKey. Load capslock.ahk in AutoHotKey.
You can also use pre-compiled capslock ahk binary CapsLock.exe.

FAQ

Q: Why using `✱` as the symbol for Hyper?

A: Because the ASCII code for * is exactly 42, which is the ultimate answer to life, universe, and everything. ✱ (Heavy-Asterisk) is a pretty version of *.

Q: What's new in V3?

A: The original v2 only use 1 ~ 3 control planes. While v3 uses up to 9 control planes. A large number of functions have been added to make the additional modifier ⌘⌥⌃⇧ functioning in a reasonable way.

Q: Is there any incompatible changes in V3 compare to V2 ?

A: There are three minor incompatible changes:

F13/F4 from music prev/next to screenshot;
Number keys are used as clipboard instead of shifter
⌘D now perform define(force touch) instead of opening dictionary app.

Q: Why is there no Linux OS support?

A: I'm using Linux through MacOS terminal. It actually feels much better than raw Linux 😆.

Q: Why windows version no longer maintained?

A: I haven't used Windows for a long time except for gaming.

Q: Why is there an older version in MacOS?

A: There was an older version of Karabiner that used XML config. Apple modified it's kernel architecture in MacOS Sierra (10.12) and many programs had to be overhauled. So then there was a new version of Karabiner, the Karabiner-Elements, which is still in use today.

Q: How can I customize it to my needs?

A: Just change the configuration file. Don't forget click the 'star' 🤩.

Q: Is this original?

A: I'm the first one to make a capslock overhaul schema as far as I know. The original win AHK version was wrote in 2013. The first mac version was wrote in 2015. It is the first capslock emulation schema in karabiner's gallary.

About

Author： Vonng (rh@vonng.com)

License：Apache 2.0 License

cerdemir/Capslock