Whether you're missing a key on your keyboard or you want to improve your productivity, remapping can be extremely useful.

Remapping keys on your computer's keyboard lets you replace one key with another, allowing you to personalize your keyboard exactly how you like it. Don't like the location of a particular key? Don't worry, just change it.

But before you jump to remapping your keyboard's keys, let's first have a look at different ways in which it can be useful.

Improve Your Productivity

Here are a few situations where you might want to remap your keys, and we'll go through each of them to see how to do it best.

  • Computer gaming
  • Browser productivity
  • Launch and switch apps quickly
  • Use a foreign keyboard with ease
  • Use a better keyboard layout
  • Make use of your underused keys
  • Fix a missing key

Interested in any of these? Read on to find out how to make the most use out of them—but first, let's look at the software that makes this possible.

Key Remapping Software

Several options are available for Windows users to remap their keys. Our favorite is SharpKeys, but KeyTweak and Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator are both viable options as well.

SharpKeys

sharpkeys app menu

SharpKeys is great because it allows you to map a key by typing it. So if you want to change your Caps Lock to a Shift, you don't have to search through a long list for those terms. Just hit your Caps Lock button and then hit your Shift button, and you're done.

After you've selected the keys that you want to swap, click Write to Registry. The app will then ask you to reboot your PC for the changes to take effect. Save your other important work and hit Yes to restart your PC. On the next boot-up, your keys will have been swapped.

When you want to remove these changes, select the keys that you mapped, and click on Delete to remove the specific mapping. Click on Write to Registry again.

KeyTweak

keytweak app menu

With a different layout that may be easier for some people to understand, KeyTweak is another good option. First, click on the key you want to change. Then, find the key you want to be switched from the drop-down menu in front of Choose New Remapping. It even has two Teach Modes at the bottom to help you get started.

Click Apply to make the changes. When you want to reverse the changes, select Restore All Defaults.

Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator

microsoft keyboard layout creator

This option is nice because it comes officially from Microsoft. It's clean and easy to use, though it doesn't offer the most options since certain keys like Shift and Caps Lock cannot be remapped.

To get started, select File > Load Existing Keyboard. Next, pick a layout that you would like to customize. But before you go ahead, head to File > Save Source File As to create a backup in case something goes south.

Set the parameters from Project > Properties. Select any key and follow the instructions to replace it with some other key.

Change Keyboard Layout for Gaming

Gaming controls don't have to be so static. In fact, with some voice control and key remapping, even disabled gamers can play anything. Key remapping can be useful for everybody, though, disabled or not.

a man absorbed in playing his online games

If the in-game controller options don't allow you to customize your keys, or they don't offer certain keys as options, change them with your chosen remapping software.

For left-handed gamers, switching everything from the right side to the left side can be extremely useful. If your keyboard has a number pad on the right side, simply assign all the numbers to the left for a better gaming experience.

Improve Browser Productivity

This is one of our favorite tweaks and has enhanced our productivity. Switching between tabs is an extremely common task, but the keyboard shortcuts aren't super intuitive.

On Chrome for Windows, switching to the next tab requires Ctrl + Tab or Ctrl + PgDown, while switching to the previous tab requires Ctrl + Shift + Tab or Ctrl + PgUp.

Neither are very intuitive options since the Page Up and Page Down keys are usually far away from Ctrl, and the Ctrl + Shift + Tab function just requires too many fingers in an awkward distribution to be comfortable.

a-keyboard

The solution? Get rid of some unused keys and get a better tab-switching shortcut. A lot of keyboards have a right-click button in the lower right next to the Ctrl and Alt keys.

Mapping PgUp to the Alt key allows you to hold the Ctrl button in the bottom right and then, using the same hand, hit the Alt key to switch to your previous tab. Then, with the right-click button to the right of it, you can map that to PgDown and have a next tab button. Now, a simple two-button press moves you around tabs quickly in both directions.

The lists of Chrome keyboard shortcuts and Firefox keyboard shortcuts are extensive. Browse through them, and if you see any shortcuts that might be extremely useful but are placed awkwardly, remap some of your unused keys for them. Function keys along the top are usually good for this, or ScrLk, Insert, Home, and End keys.

Related: Keyboard Shortcuts Users Keep Hitting Mistakenly

Launch And Switch Apps Quickly

Launching your favorite apps is actually straightforward and doesn't even require remapping software. Simply create a shortcut for the application you want on your desktop, then right-click on that shortcut and select Properties. Go to the Shortcut tab, click on the field titled Shortcut Key, and press the key that you want to launch the app.

As this key will launch the app from anywhere on your computer (whether Modern or Desktop), it should be something you don't often use, like one of your function keys.

setting up shortcut key for chrome

If you want to get a bit fancier, you can even launch multiple apps using a batch file.

For switching between apps, Windows already has a variety of shortcuts—the trick is making a shortcut that is easier to use (though you won't be able to use the browser trick mentioned in the previous section).

By switching your right-click key to a Tab key, the necessary shortcut for switching between apps (both Modern and Desktop), Alt + Tab, is much easier to reach. Just use your right hand to hold Alt and tap the "right-click" key to switch rapidly between all your open apps.

Related: Top Windows Apps That You Have to Install

Use a Foreign Keyboard With Ease

If you're used to a QWERTY keyboard and try to use a keyboard from another country, you'll probably run into some trouble. If you can find a deal on an AZERTY or QWERTZ laptop, don't let that keyboard hold you back—you can just remap the keys!

a chinese keyboard

With the software solutions detailed above, just change the few keys that aren't in the correct places, and it's as if you're using your keyboard from home. Just don't change it on your non-tech savvy friend's computer and then forget about it!

Use a Better Keyboard Layout

Honestly, QWERTY isn't the best keyboard layout out there; it's just what most of us are used to. But there is a solution that can make your typing faster and reduce stress on your fingers: learn a new keyboard layout like Colemak or Dvorak.

With keyboard remapping, you can change a few keys at a time to get yourself acquainted with the new keyboard style, and once you're all in, just change all your keys. It's best to learn the new keys for memorization, but you can purchase small stickers to place over your keys to help guide you on your keyboard transition.

Make Use Of Your Underused Keys

The Caps Lock key seems to be pretty universally hated. In fact, many people are not a fan of the useless Function keys and the Ctrl and Alt on the right side of the keyboard. You probably hate or don't use some keys yourself. But don't let them go to waste. Change them into something you'll actually use.

For instance, your Caps Lock key can become any number of things: a shift key, a search button like in Chrome OS, or a backspace. Your function keys can be used to sleep or power off your computer or even as media controls.

Fix a Missing Key

Do you have a missing or broken key? Just map around it. It might take some adjustment because you'll keep reaching for where the key used to be, but it's a good temporary fix until you can get a new keyboard with functioning keys.

For example, if your backspace key is broken, you're bound to face difficulties at work. Just map it to a key right next to it and move that lesser-used key to a key you would never otherwise use, like a Function key.

Any Other Advice For Key Remapping?

These are just a few cases in which key remapping could be useful, but there are certainly more. Hopefully, you got what you came for, or at the very least, are more knowledgeable about key mapping in the Windows environment.