Cleaning Apple Wireless Keyboard

Thanks to everyone's comments, my keys no long stick and our keyboard looks and feels brand new!

I gently pried off the 8 key from the top. It feels like it's going to snap off and break, but it won't if you only use a little pressure to lift the key up and off. I used 70% rubbing alcohol with a saturated Q-Tip, getting under the plastic piece. The alcohol dries up immediately.

Getting the key back on was a little tricky because you have to lock in the bottom first. I used a keyboard brush around each key to get out any dust or crumbs and then finished up cleaning the entire top of the keyboard with a microfiber towel and rubbing alcohol. Works and looks great! 🙂

I just had this issue of multiple keys sticking as well (someone spilled something - i still don't know what it was - on my keyboard, i didn't realise until a few days later because i was away). I found this thread but was reluctant to try the pulling the keys off and cleaning method and was a bit scared to try the pouring rubbing alcohol over the whole keyboard so i just used my spare keyboard for ages.

Anyway, I finally decided to take the leap with pouring the rubbing alcohol over the whole keyboard and pushing at all the keys to try and get it to get through under all of the keys and it has worked a treat!

I used Isopropyl Alcohol (for Aussies, i bought a bottle of Isocol brand from Priceline), unplugged my keyboard (it's not a wireless one) and over the sink poured the alcohol straight over the keys. I was really careful to drench all of the keys and areas and i pushed at all of the keys throughout the process. I probably only used 1/3 to 1/2 of the bottle in the end. I then let it sit in my dish rack upside down for 2 days, then flipped it over and let it sit for another 2 days to make sure it was completely dry and now it is perfect - i typed this whole message using it with no problems.

This has just happened to me. On Monday, I spilled coffee with milk on my keyboard.

I removed the batteries as fast as I could, and washed the keyboard thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol, pressing the keys to make sure they didn't get sticky. I was extremely careful not to let the liquid flow to the top right corner of the keyboard, which seems to be where the logical board is.

After washing, I let it dry until today, Friday, and I'm writing this post using the now fully recovered keyboard. I can confirm that every single key is working, and none of them are sticky.

If you are in a similar situation, I would recommend doing the same thing. I wouldn't use tap water, though. Distilled water or isopropyl alcohol are more appropriate choices.

Yup Alcohol 70% did the job with my coffee soaked BT keyboard..

I spilled like half a cup, and immediately removed the batteries. I also immediately washed the keyboard with alcohol..(realy soaking it) Alcohol leaves no residue.. so it washes out all the coffee and after a couple of second drying.. .everything works perfectly again.

I read all of these posts and tried prying keys from the bottom - but found them not very ready to pry off. Then I read a post from Germany which suggested prying them from the top of each key. This I did with a used Starbucks card (yet another way to recycle!) and it popped off much more simply. Then I was able to clean under each sticky key (only 2 - from orange sherbet) and now it works just fine!

Thanks for the alcohol suggestion. I spilled a bit of coffee on mine. Thankfully it was just on the bottom righ but later in the day I noticed the bottom arrow key was sticking.

After finding this article I removed the batteries, dripped a bit of alcohol into it and blew it out. I repeated it about 3 of 4 times and let it dry overnight. The key is back to normal now and I saved myself from having to remove the key.

There is an easier, non-invasive option:

Get a wet alcohol cotton swab and a business card. Poke the alcohol swab under each side of the sticky key with a corner of the business card and mover back and forth - yes it will go a bit soggy but will do the job. A credit card is probably a bit thick. In essence, anything thin and firm can be used for pushing the alcohol swab under the key. Worked a treat for me.

Very grateful for this resource here at Apple. My "return" key was sticking - Read some of the posts that were thoughfully shared and decided try the removal and alcholo fix: It worked great! I removed only the part of the key that fingers contact. Then cleaned with cotton tips and alcohol, paying special attention to the permitter where the small clearance can easily trap contaminants. Carefully cleaned the plastic scissor spring mechanism, then cleaned the key itself making sure to get under the u wire.

Thanks for both pputnam'a question and jwaltersiv's reply!!! - iMac BT keyboard came down with a sticky/crunchy sounding key problem weeks ago (a real Scooby Doo mystery... except I think it was the meddling kids this time) and I've just been dealing with it hoping it will work itself out... duh... alcohol - and I call myself a "computer" guy... never thought of using this method before... thanks again for sharing!!!!

Another tip, more suited to regular periodic cleaning (rather than I've-poured-a-ton-of-sticky-stuff scenarios), that helps in terms of avoiding excessive moisture under the keyboard and a trick from cleaning up coffee oils from the plastic hoppers on coffee grinders: buy a pack of small square pre-injection alcohol swabs like those used in hospitals when they take blood samples. (Very cheap, found this link that shows them selling 100 for $2.69!).

The advantage is that they have enough alcohol to do the job, but not so much that it rolls down the side of the keyboard.

Just used 3 to clean my entire keyboard, which was in awful shape.