Skip to main content

will mac keyboard work on pc

Whether you're using a PC or a Mac with Windows installed, the Apple keyboards should all work perfectly. The various models, such as the Magic Keyboard, either connect through Bluetooth or via a USB cable, so there shouldn't be any need for installing drivers.

Of course, there are a few keys that are not the same, so we'll look at that below.

What keys are different or missing?

For the most part the layouts for PC and Mac keyboards are identical, but there are a few key (pardon the pun) differences.

The first and most obvious is that a Mac keyboard doesn't have a Windows key. More accurately, it doesn't have a key with the Windows symbol on it, but the one marked command or cmd acts as one when you press it.

Alt and Alt GR are slightly different in that the Apple variant just has two Alt keys. To use one as Alt GR you need to hold down the control or ctrl key at the same time.

It's a similar situation for Delete and Backspace, with Macs only having a Delete button on the smaller keyboards, although this does act like a Backspace as it deletes the character to the left of the cursor. To get the Windows version of Delete, press and hold the control or ctrl key and press D or hold the fn (function) key down while pressing Delete.

You won't find a Print Scr button on a Mac keyboard, so if you want to capture what's on your display then you'll need to use the Windows Snipping Tool. To find this, open the Windows Start Menu and type snipping tool, then select it from the results that appear. For more details on how to use it, read Microsoft's Use Snipping Tool to capture screenshots guide.

The one main omission is the Menu or Applications key on Windows that allows you to launch contextual windows (basically the same as right-clicking the mouse). Mac keyboards don't have these and there's currently no shortcut combination to activate it.

There are a few other features that are absent, including InsertPage UpPage DownNumber Lock and others, but these can be achieved through the onscreen keyboard present in Windows.

To find this go to the Start Menu and navigate to Settings > Ease of Access > Keyboard and enable the toggle for Use the On-Screen Keyboard.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to Hook Up an External Hard Drive to a TV Without a Computer

Before you connect your hard drive to the TV, and especially before you spend hours loading it up with content, you'll need to make sure that it will work with your television. Check your user manual, or the manufacturer's website, to see what minimum specs you'll need to meet and then compare those to the hard drive you want to use. Many TVs will only support a hard drive of up to 2 TB, for example, so if you had a 4 TB drive you'd have to partition it into a pair of 2 TB spaces. Hard drives can also structure their data in a number of ways, so you'll need to know which file-systems your TV can support. Most TVs are fine with NTFS, which is how Windows 10 formats a disk by default. If you have a Mac or Linux computer you'll need to deliberately format your drive in NTFS, rather than the Mac's APFS or Ext4 on Linux. Your operating system's documentation can tell you how to do that. Connect Your Hard Disk to the TV Take a look at your USB connectors on th

How to share large video files on Android secure

You can preserve your privacy by instead uploading your files to a cloud storage service (like Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive) and emailing a link that restricts viewing to that specific audience. The instructions vary a bit in each service’s app, but you’ll follow these general steps: Download your chosen service’s app through the Google Play Store app.   Sign up for or sign in to the service.   Upload your video. (Usually, you’ll tap a plus-sign icon, then choose from your recent files.)   Share this new copy of your video. You’ll typically do this by long-pressing on it and pressing the Share icon, or tapping a vertical three-dot icon next to the file and choosing  Share .   Choose “Invite people” or “Send to”—while creating a link also exists as an option, that works the same as sharing through Samsung’s Gallery app or Google Photos and does not restrict access.   Fill in the email addresses of the people you wish to send the link to. In some apps, you may also need to change t