How to Remap the fn (Function) key to ctrl (Control) on Mac

Nov 19, 2020

5 minutes

I rarely, if ever, use the function key on my Mac keyboard. Moreso, decades of computing has taught my brain to treat the bottom-left key on the keyboard as the Control key.

This short guide will show you how to make your fn (function) key as act a ctrl (control) key in macOS. This option is only available for the Macbook keyboard, not external Apple keyboards.

Mac computer

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Navigate to System Preferences > Keyboard Settings to open the Keyboard Settings pane.

Click the Modifier Keys button and select the keyboard you'd like to configure

It's possible to convert the fn key to ctrl for your external keyboard, Macbook keyboard, or both!

To remap the fn key to ctrl in macOS, change the Function (fn) Key: dropdown to ⌃ Control. Then, press OK.

To change additional keyboards, simply select the additional keyboard from the Select keyboard: dropdown and repeat this step.

You're all done!

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