If you are switching from a Windows PC to a Mac platform, you must have noticed some differences in the layout of some keys. There are several ways to customize the layout to your liking. We will show you some of them and at the same time advise you how to fix some mistakes, such as quotation marks.
Command and Control
If you're moving from a PC, you may not be entirely comfortable with the layout of the control keys. Especially when working with text, it can be frustrating when you have to do operations like copying and pasting text with a key that is located where you would expect Alt. I myself could not get used to the Command key, through which you execute most of the commands, located to the left of the spacebar. Fortunately, OS X allows you to swap some keys, so you can swap Command and Control.
- Open up System Preferences > Keyboard.
- At the bottom right, press the button Modifier keys.
- You can now set a different function for each modifier key. If you want to swap Command (CMD) and Control (CTRL), select a function from the menu for that key.
- Press the button OK, thereby confirming the changes.
Quotation marks
Quotation marks are a chapter unto themselves in OS X. Although Czech is also present in the system since version 10.7, Mac still ignores some Czech typographical rules. One of them is the quotation marks, both single and double. These are written with the SHIFT + Ů key, just like on Windows, however, while Microsoft's operating system makes the quotation marks correctly (""), OS X makes English quotation marks (""). Correct Czech quotation marks should be at the beginning of the quoted phrase at the bottom with beaks towards the left and at the end of the phrase at the top with beaks towards the right, i.e. type 9966. Although quotation marks can be inserted manually via keyboard shortcuts (ALT+SHIFT+N, ALT+SHIFT+H) luckily in OS X you can also set the default shape of the quotation marks.
- Open up System Preferences > Language and text.
- On card text you will find a quote option where you can choose their shape for both double and single variants. For double choose the shape 'abc' and for simple 'abc'
- However, this did not set the automatic use of this type of quotes, only their shape when replacing. Now open the text editor you are writing in.
- On the menu Editing (Edit) > Confusions (Substitutions) choose Smart quotes (Smart Quotes).
- Now typing quotes with SHIFT+ will work correctly.
Unfortunately, there are two problems here. Apps don't remember this setting and Smart Quotes need to be set up again each time it's launched. Some applications (TextEdit, InDesign) have a permanent setting in the preferences, but most of them do not. The second problem is that some applications do not have the possibility to set Substitutions at all, for example Internet browsers or IM clients. I consider this a major flaw in OS X and I just hope Apple does something about this problem. Although APIs are available for persistent settings, this should be done at the system level, not by third-party applications.
As for single quotation marks, they must be typed manually using the keyboard shortcuts ALT+N and ALT+H
Semicolon
You don't come across the semicolon that often when writing normal style, however, it is one of the most important characters in programming (it ends lines) and, of course, the popular emoticon cannot do without it ;-). In Windows, the semicolon is located to the left of the "1" key, on the Mac keyboard it is missing and must be written with the shortcut ALT+Ů, on the key where you would expect it, you will find the left or right angle bracket. This can be handy for HTML and PHP programming, however many would prefer the semicolon there.
There are two solutions here. If you're not pasting in the same location as in Windows, but want to be able to type a semicolon by pressing a single key, you can use the text replacement feature in OS X. Just use a key or character that you don't use at all and have the system replace it with a semicolon. An ideal candidate is a paragraph (§), which you type with the key to the right next to "ů". You can find instructions for creating a text shortcut <a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1932/8043/files/200721_ODSTOUPENI_BEZ_UDANI_DUVODU__EN.pdf?v=1595428404" data-gt-href-en="https://en.notsofunnyany.com/">here</a>.
Note: Keep in mind that you always need to press the space bar to call up the text shortcut, the character is not replaced immediately when you type it.
The second way is by using a paid application Keyboard Maestro, which can create system-level macros.
- Open the app and create a new macro (CMD+N)
- Name the macro and press the button New Trigger, select from the context menu Hot Key Trigger.
- To the field Type click the mouse and press the key you want to use for the semicolon, for example the one to the left of "1".
- Press the button New action and select an item from the menu on the left Insert Text double click on it.
- Type a semicolon in the text field and select an option from the context menu above it Insert Text by Typing.
- The macro will save itself and you're done. Now you can press the selected key anywhere and a semicolon will be written instead of the original character without having to press anything else.
Apostrophe
With the apostrophe (') the situation is even more complicated. There are three types of apostrophe. The ASCII apostrophe (‚), which is used in command interpreters and source codes, the inverted apostrophe (`), which you use exclusively when working with the Terminal, and finally the only correct apostrophe that belongs to Czech punctuation ('). On Windows, you can find it under the key to the right next to the paragraph while holding down the SHIFT key. In OS X, there is an inverted apostrophe in the same place, and if you want the Czech one, you have to use the keyboard shortcut ALT+J.
If you are used to the keyboard layout from Czech Windows, it will be ideal to replace the inverted apostrophe. This can be achieved as with the semicolon by system substitution or by using the Keyboard Maestro application. In the first case, just add an inverted apostrophe to "Replace" and the correct apostrophe to "behind". However, when using this solution, you will need to press the spacebar after each apostrophe to invoke the replacement.
If you prefer to create a macro in Keyboard Maestro, follow these steps:
- Open the app and create a new macro (CMD+N)
- Name the macro and press the button New Trigger, select from the context menu Hot Key Trigger.
- To the field Type click the mouse and press the key you want to use for the semicolon including holding down SHIFT.
- Press the button New action and from the menu on the left, select the Insert Text item by double-clicking on it.
- Type an apostrophe in the text field and select an option from the context menu above it Insert Text by Typing.
- Done. Now you can press the selected key anywhere and a normal apostrophe will be written instead of the original inverted apostrophe.
Do you also have a problem to solve? Do you need advice or perhaps find the right application? Do not hesitate to contact us via the form in the section Counseling, next time we will answer your question.
Do you have a solution to change the keyboard shortcut to change the window (not the application)? It stands for CMD+`. Unfortunately, on the Czech keyboard it is next to Enter, but on the American one it is above Tab, where it makes more sense...
CMD+Tab – change application
CMD+` – window change (within one application)
System preferences – Keyboard – Shortcuts – Keyboard and text entry, item select next window. Just double-click on the shortcut and then press the desired new shortcut.
Thanks, I didn't expect it to be so easy.
I solved this easily when switching to Mac :D I forgot the Win keyboard for good and I can't praise myself ;)
Please, could someone advise me if I will have a problem with the fact that when I buy a MacBook in the USA and I will not have hooks and commas on the built-in keyboard, if I will be able to write like on a Czech keyboard with diacritics?
Of course, this is a matter of the operating system, which is the same for all Apple computers, just choose the Czech keyboard.
Why is everything so complicated??? A Mac is a Mac and a Win is a Win. You don't know about any other keyboard until a month after switching, and besides, I think it's easier on a Mac and less of a headache than on a Win. And if I want to write, for example (‚), I press alt + § and write it normally, and this also applies to (;) and others. An intelligent person who looks at the keyboard and tries to use the function keys will find out where each character is and what needs to be pressed when I want to write it. Left side down squirrel … left side up (SHIFT+key) 234567 … right side down (ALT+key) @#$~^& … nothing more nothing less.
I don't see it, but the whole thing seems unnecessarily complicated to me. Then the person adjusts to the MAC where it is not adjustable and is where it was... in the...
I use CZ QWERTY on win and CZ QWERTY on MAC
I write non-Czech characters over the right alt. The characters are where they should be and I don't see any difference.
Except for the CMD. But you can get used to it easily.
The only thing I reset was the functioning of HOME and END, I just missed it.
Unfortunately, convincing someone to use QWERTY is a superhuman feat. At the same time, relearning is a matter of minutes and it is not as bad as it seems to people.
It's a shame.
Thanks to this I use Win at work and MAC at home and have no problem with it.
It also seems unnecessarily complicated to me. I just want to ask how and where did you reset the operation of the home and end keys? Thanks for advice. Karel Kubela
Since my answer with a link to your question has not yet been allowed by the moderator, put this in Google
mac-switchers-tip–remap-the-home-and-end-keys
and the first link is a how-to guide.
Don't you know why the good old and main traditional keys marked with the Apple logo (APPLE) on ADB keyboards and on the first USB keyboards from the turn of the millennium started to be called Command (CMD)? I'm having a hard time getting used to this label; You can't teach an old dog new tricks...
So I do not know. I have the quotation marks set correctly in System Preferences, as well as in Pages, but the English type still writes to me. I don't know what to do anymore - setting it up in Pages would be more than enough for me, I don't need quotation marks that often on the net.
I was bothered by the limitation of either Czech QWERTZ or English QWERTY on the Mac. I know that you can reset the sw, but when it lights up at night, it's quite annoying to press "Z" and write "Y". "Experts" from Apple told me that there is no other way, that it is a molded piece of plastic and that only the affected keys cannot be replaced. Fortunately, Google and YouTube are here to prove that it can be done - and easily. The keys can be "snapped" out of the pads with a knife, and then we can swap them out at will. It made life a lot easier.