Talk:Caps Lock

Inventor
Douglas Kerr of Bell Labs holds US Patent 3,569,991 on a alpha-only shift lock key. Filed March 20, 1968 & assigned to his employer, Bell Labs. https://patents.google.com/patent/US3569991A/en?oq=US3569991 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.79.70.131 (talk) 15:48, 20 March 2022 (UTC)

SHOUTING ON FORUMS!
The fact that using the caps lock on Internet forums and in other electronic communications could be considered rude or as shouting by the recipients should be included here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.69.198.243 (talk) 11:17, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

yes, this should be included — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.170.86.132 (talk) 15:00, 12 October 2016 (UTC)

International caps lock day
Really? Declared by who? Someone tell me so I can punch him in the face.85.24.168.123 (talk) 22:21, 22 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Should be July 20, and that's "declared by whom?" Rsduhamel (talk) 02:35, 23 October 2009 (UTC)
 * WHAT'S WRONG WITH CAPS LOCK?

Spelling
Why is the caps lock button written as "caps lock" or sometimes "Caps Lock"? It should have spelled CAPS LOCK just as the title of this article. People do not have respect for the interplay between semantics and form nowadays... 217.77.157.57 (talk) 13:01, 28 June 2013 (UTC)

CAPS LOCK
What can you do if your caps lock key is sticking?If any ones looking at this ,tell me!


 * Clean your keyboard.


 * On some keyboards, you can safely remove the keycaps and clean out beneath them. (Check with your computer's manufacturer or vendor.) A sticky key is often due to dirt caught underneath the keycap or in the key mechanism. If you can't remove the keycaps, get a can of compressed air and blow it between the keys.


 * Or just try turning it upside down, holding it over a wastebaket, and gently shaking it.


 * (Oh -- unplug it before you do any of these things.) --FOo 07:51, 1 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Cleaning the keyboard will work for debris but not for sticky stuff like soda and other sugary stuff. If you don't eat or drink when you're at your computer, you won't get your keyboard dirty to begin with. You'll also lose weight, because eating while doing other things is one of the top 5 gut expanders. I often refuse to help people with their computers, because their keyboard is too filthy.Bostoner (talk) 05:15, 29 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Just break it off. It's pretty much useless anyways. 07:43, 18 December 2005 (UTC)
 * wHAT?? nEVER!! cAPS LOCK IS THE BEST KEY ON THE KEYBOARD pSYCHOMELODIC 21:33, 25 February 2006 (UTC)
 * YEAH CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL --Burbster 15:03, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Dammit, he beat me to it. On a side note, EVEN WITH CRUISE CONTROL YOU STILL HAVE TO STEER -- Mik 23:35, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

caps lock aint important...GET A MAC
 * Last time I worked on a Mac it had a caps lock key. --Mathew 13:39, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
 * But it takes 5 seconds to disable the Caps Lock key on a Mac.
 * System Preferences->Keyboard and Mouse->Keyboard (tab)->Modifier Keys (button)
 * An options box appears for each modifier key. Set Caps Lock to either "No Action" or "Shift" according to taste.
 * The nice thing is that you can re-enable it in 5 seconds for the rare cases when you really want it.Bostoner (talk) 05:15, 29 June 2009 (UTC)


 * That is both interesting, and notable.  Does the Mac caps lock key stay disabled, even after a cold reset?  How about a warm reset?   The main article could be improved by mentioning this little tidbit.   Dexter Nextnumber (talk) 09:17, 10 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Yes, it does. It's just another user preference. These are all stored in "plist" files in a system or user "Preferences" directory. So long as you don't reset your user settings, it should stay in effect. On a Mac, re-installing the operating system does not destroy user files or user settings.Bostoner (talk) 23:33, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

---

Caps lock day? I think this should be removed from the entry. It is only listed in a couple small blogs and appears to be more of a silly prank... Jebba 06:28, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Results 1 - 10 of about 4,420,000 for caps lock day --lesalle 20:26, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I got 150,000 after searching the full term in quotes. Still significant, but the quotes are definitely needed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ShadowPhox (talk • contribs) 20:50, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

can someone please tell me why you can't just select text and then hit Caps Lock to either capitalize or decapitalize letters the same way you'd Bold or Underline something??? how many times have you typed something not realizeing the caps lock was on and then had to delete it and retype it. it's obnoxious. come on gates.... come on jobs..... this seems so easy!


 * Your suggestion is excellent. The next time I have to pick the CEO of a global OS corporation, I will pick you.  Vim can toggle the case of the selected text with `~`, or force upper-case with `U` or lower-case with `u`.  GVim and MacVim are available for Windows and Mac OSX respectively. --175.143.9.56 (talk) 02:57, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

---

That "The caps lock is a key on a computer keyboard" is a historical coincidence- they happened to be on mechanical typewriters and ended up on computer keyboards where they hardly ever fulfilled a function. Maybe that should be mentioned. Spogelse 12:33, 10 November 2007 (UTC)


 * It fulfills that same function, with one exception, as the shift lock on a typewriter: to type upper case without having to manually hold down the shift key. The exception is, of course, that the computer caps lock only affects letters while the typewriter shift lock affects all keys. It is true that this need is perhaps less with a computer; you would use all caps on a typewriter for things like emphasis, for which you now typically use bold and/or a different font. Still, there are reasons why you might want to type all caps. As a side note, there is a tendency to reduce the abbreviation for Post Office Box from P.O. Box to PO Box, because the typical way to type that with a typewriter was to hold the shift down or engage the shift lock all the while you were typing the P.O., since on the typical typewriter keyboard the period key only produced periods no matter what the state of the shift was. Computers now have ">" as the shifted period key, so the typing behavior I described produces "P>O>". Wschart (talk) 20:11, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

funny
the last guy whO EDITED THe page has a sense of humor... REVERTED! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sick&ridiculous (talk • contribs) 00:29, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

---

"There are known groups of people whose Internet communities are based entirely around the use of the caps lock key." - shouldn't there be some citation or examples or links to such communities? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.169.20.217 (talk) 18:34, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

"shouldn't there be some citation or examples or links to such communities?"

I added one. Shouldn't there be some citation or examples or links giving evidence of the supposed 'Caps Lock Theory'? 99.130.38.50 (talk) 20:38, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Post a picture illustrating the physical design of the original caps lock mechanism (as in shift-lock)
The main article could be improved considerably if there were some discussion of the actual lever mechanism underneath the Shift Lock of the Commodore 64, or the Caps Lock of the IBM Selectric typewriter. Unlike modern PC keyboards, it behaved like the Shift-Lock or Caps Lock of 1970s and 1980s typewriters: the first time you pressed it, it went down, and entered into a latched position. It won't come up again - not even if you accidentally brush against it - until you deliberately press it a second time. Some of us consider this preferable to what passes for keyboards nowadays.

To illustrate this, somebody ought to post a picture of the latching mechanism under the caps lock (that is, shift lock) keys. 198.177.27.23 (talk) 07:47, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

"The Captin's Lock" appears bogus
With spelling mistakes and a non-verifiable reference - Tom Williams's articles appear to not include 'Yarrr ye pirates be scurvy dogs' - I'd say this section can be safely removed. alagahd (talk) 01:34, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

From my experience
One of the differences between whether or not the letters become lowercase if the Shift key is pressed happens to make it lowercase on a PC, while a Mac remains capitalized. I haven't used a Mac in 18 months, though. Mechamind90 (talk) 20:42, 17 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I can verify the behavior is as reported by Mechamind90. On a Mac, holding down the Shift key while Caps Lock is engaged produces capitalized letters. tHIS iS tO pREVENT tYPING lIKE tHIS. (Tested with Mac OS X 10.5.8 and Windows XP SP3.) Should this be documented in the article? Also: what is the behavior in UNIX/Linux? alagahd (talk) 07:41, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

This article could need some historical info.
I mean, what was the REASON this was included on computer keyboards at the end of the 1970s at all? Except for politicians and government, these things are never decided without a reason. I'd even dare assume that this key WAS useful once, with ancient terminals. But when exactly, this would interest the reader. Pity there's nothing found anywhere about these facts. -andy 212.114.254.107 (talk) 15:15, 27 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I was about to post the same comment. This article should discuss the reasoning behind the placement and inclusion of caps locks, and why there is resistance from the industry to remove or move it. Kingturtle = (talk) 23:22, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

A Better Caps Lock
My workplace requires filenames in ALL CAPS, but outgoing emails in Standard English Capitalization. I get mixed up at least two dozen times each week, and accidentally START TYPING WRONG. (backspace, backspace, backspace...) I would love to have a utility where I could select a batch of text I've already typed, and hit Shift-Caps to invert mY aCCIDENTAL cAPITALIZATION. Ctrl-Caps could make the entirety of a selection toggle between all-caps and lowercase. Alt-Caps could put a pre-defined filter, such as making the first letter of each sentence a capital, and the rest lowercase; this could be switched depending on the language of the user. I can see this being as subtle and expected a behavior of operating systems ten years hence as hover behavior has become today. However, somebody has to be the innovator; as the inventor of this idea, I hereby license it freely for use by all. Get to work, penguins! --BlueNight (talk) 02:34, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

Good idea :D

Not appropriate for a wikipedia talk page, but good idea :) Veggieburgerfish (talk) 16:33, 29 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks. As for the appropriateness, other editors on this page have made jokes or suggested pulling the key off due to their annoyance.  I've noted its utility in industry, and suggested a workable solution (with a precedent - hover behavior) on a page that will (barring its deletion) be around as long as Wikipedia thanks to the GFDL/CC.  --BlueNight (talk) 05:34, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, it turns out such a utility already exists, CAPshift by Skrommel (from 2005!) displays a short menu with these type of options when Capslock is pressed. I guess I'm not the only smart person in the room.  My ideas about Shift-Caps and Alt-Caps would still be useful variations, though. BlueNight (talk) 17:05, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Isn't the caps lock something that can prevent you using the cursor key on some computers? Or am I thinking of something else which locks computer keys? ACEOREVIVED (talk) 21:09, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

Shift + caps lock
Saw this in the article.


 * Although a shift lock key is not the same thing as a caps lock key, it is nowadays rare for a computer to have both.

Uh, really? In my experience every computer I've ever seen has both a shift key and a caps lock. Since I'm not sure where the author was coming from with this statement I'll just leave this here instead of editing it out. --121.223.137.109 (talk) 18:31, 9 June 2011 (UTC)
 * It's referring to "shift lock key", not "shift key". See image — HELL KNOWZ  ▎TALK 19:28, 9 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I see, that makes sense. Thanks for the clarification. --121.223.137.109 (talk) 05:41, 10 June 2011 (UTC)

Shape of the key
On PC keyboards, the key often comes with a funny step shape, unique on the keyboard. I am surprised the article has not addressed this.

I researched this in the past, and discovered the step was added to the key so that it was harder for a user to hit the key by accident (when hitting the 'A' or 'Shift' keys). I am sure there must be some good references for this somewhere, but I don't have time to search today. Cheers. --175.143.9.56 (talk) 03:45, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

lESS THAN USELESS!
cLUMSY TYPISTS LIKE ME OFTEN HIT THE "cAPS lOCK" KEY BY MISTAKE. tHE RESULT infuriates ME, AND i WASTE SIGNIFICANT TIME CORRECTING IT, USUALLY BY RETYPING. (tHOUGH nOTEPAD2 AND ms wORD, oUTLOOK, ETC. HAVE A "TOGGLE CASE" COMMAND, IF YOU CAN FIND IT.) Accidentally hitting the "Insert" key creates a different kind of disaster (accidental erasure by "overtyping"). tHE "cAPS lOCK" KEY AND THE "iNSERT" KEY ARE almost never useful.

After experiencing enough negative incidents caused by the near-useless "Caps Lock" and "Insert" keys, a smart typist learns to pry them off and toss them in a drawer (for optional restoration someday). (Hesitate: Laptop keys often cannot be put back.) (On the rare occasion that a removed key can briefly be useful, it can still be operated with a small object such as the back of a ballpoint pen.) If valuing function above form ("defacement") is not acceptable, an alternative might be a keyboard utility configured to ignore the near-useless keys until they are held down for 800ms (or pressed multiple times), and acknowledge them with a beep and/or screen pop-up. (Now find a "reliable source" that "noteworthably" advises either of these.) -A876 (talk) 20:45, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Competent typists have none of these problems. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.239.195.102 (talk) 20:05, 2 May 2022 (UTC)