Setting up a hyper key

When Brett Terpstra wrote about how you can set up a hyper key I got really excited. So I tried it out and found out my Mac got some new super powers thanks to the way this works.

It’s a really simple concept: assign a key on the keyboard that you don’t use often, and substitute it for pressing several other keys at once.

I’m substituting the normally unused Caps Lock key for Command + Control + Option + Shift. So when by pressing down caps lock, my computer thinks I’m pressing down those four keys together. This is amazing.

Setting up a hyper key lays the groundwork for much more advanced keyboard shortcuts throughout your system.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Download and install Karabiner Elements.
2. Open it and go to the tab Complex Modifications.
3. Click Add predefined rule at the top.
4. Enable the option Change caps_lock to command+control+option+shift.
5. Voilá.

I think this little trick is so powerful. It opens up so many new possibilities for people who care about tweaking their shortcuts.