We cannot deny that Chromebooks are quite different from traditional laptops, not only in software, but also in hardware. One of the most obvious differences that we can find is with the keyboard and the specific functions of Chrome OS, which means that we will not find keys like F1 or Caps Lock. Although luckily it is possible. remap a chromebook keyboard and have the functions of these keys.
Being relatively different from a Windows laptop, it is normal that when we make the change it is quite difficult for us to adapt. Especially if we want to find file downloads, disable the touch screen, customize the taskbar or apply some other trick that could be useful to us.
But this change does not have to be so dramatic. We can remap various buttons on the keyboard to have the same functions as in the case of a Windows laptop. In the following guide we will see step by step everything we must do to achieve it.
Remap the keyboard on a Chromebook
To start we will have to go to the Keyboard section in Settings.
- We click on the clock that is in the lower right corner of the screen.
- Next, we click on the icon that has the shape of a gear.
- We will have to go down until we find the Device section and then we will click on Keyboard.
Here we are going to see a list of keys that we can change as we wish.
- Home (also called search key)
- ctrl.
- Alt.
- Exhaust.
- Recoil.
- Assistant (Pixelbooks only)
Each of the keys can be reassigned to control any of the following functions:
- Open the app drawer or search.
- Control.
- Alt.
- Caps LOCK.
- Exhaust.
- Recoil.
- Google Assistant (if available).
To be able to reassign a key, we are simply going to have to click on the box next to it and choose the function that we would like it to have. For example, we might want to change the home (or search) key to Caps Lock.
In case we have a Chromebook that doesn’t want a Pixelbook (these have a dedicated Google Assistant key) and we want easier access to Assistant, we can assign the Escape or Home key to control the feature.
We also come across one more keyboard remapping option that we would like to mention. Just below the list of customizable keys, we’re going to see a setting called Treat top row keys as function keys.
If we activate the switch next to this, the special keys on the top row of the keyboard will be transformed into standard function keys (style F1, F2, etc.) We will still be able to access the special functions, although only by holding down the keys.
