The Best Mac Keyboard Settings for Fast Typing

The Mac keyboard is quick out of the box and slow in three specific places: the repeat rate, the substitutions that rewrite what you type, and the function row. Fix those and everything from editing text to navigating a list gets faster. All of these are reversible.

Key repeat: the change you feel immediately

Hold an arrow key on a stock Mac and count how long before it starts moving, then how slowly it moves. System Settings has sliders for both, and they stop well short of what the system supports:

# fast repeat, short delay before it starts
defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 2
defaults write NSGlobalDomain InitialKeyRepeat -int 15

# restore the macOS defaults
defaults delete NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat
defaults delete NSGlobalDomain InitialKeyRepeat

Lower numbers are faster. KeyRepeat -int 1 is the fastest macOS accepts and is too fast for most people; 2 is the sweet spot. Log out and back in for it to apply. If you write code or edit prose with the arrow keys, this is the highest-value keyboard change on the list.

Turn off the things that rewrite what you typed

Open System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources → Edit. Everything here is on by default and each one is wrong in some context:

• Correct spelling automatically — changes words you meant to type, including names and technical terms.
• Use smart quotes and dashes — turns straight quotes into curly ones. Harmless in prose, and it breaks code, config files and command lines.
• Capitalise words automatically and Add full stop with double-space — both surprising in a terminal or a search field.

If you would rather keep them in most apps, note that many apps have their own Edit → Substitutions menu that overrides the system setting for that app only.

Make the function row behave

By default F1 to F12 control brightness and volume, and you need the Fn key for the real function keys. If you use function keys often, flip it: System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Function Keys → Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys. The media controls still work by holding Fn.

On the same screen, Modifier Keys lets you remap Caps Lock. Two popular choices: make it Control, which puts the most-used modifier under your little finger, or set it to No Action so it can never shout at anyone again.

Reach every control with the keyboard

By default Tab in a dialog only moves between text fields, so you cannot Tab to a Cancel button. Turn on full keyboard access and Tab reaches everything: System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard navigation. The equivalent command is:

# Tab moves to every control, not just text fields
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleKeyboardUIMode -int 3

# undo
defaults delete NSGlobalDomain AppleKeyboardUIMode

Once it is on, Space presses the focused control and Return takes the default button. Dismissing dialogs without reaching for the trackpad becomes automatic within a day.

Dictation and the globe key

The key with a globe on it, bottom left on modern Macs, is configurable and mostly wasted. Open System Settings → Keyboard and set Press globe key to to whatever you use: change input source, show the emoji picker, or start dictation.

Emoji is the useful default for most people, and it works everywhere text does. The manual shortcut for the same picker is Control-Command-Space, which is worth knowing when you are on an external keyboard with no globe key.

Two more worth ten seconds

• Press and hold for accents — holding a key shows an accent picker instead of repeating the character. If you never type accents, turning it off makes held keys repeat properly in every app.
• Text replacement — System Settings → Keyboard → Text Replacements. Add your email address, your postal address and any phrase you type weekly. It syncs to your iPhone through iCloud.