how do i turn off my keyboard on my macbook pro?

Fyi, 2 reasons I'm aware of: 1) You want to clean your keyboard without having to shut down first. This obviously requires putting pressure on the keys. 2) You have a pet (i.e. cat) and don't want 25+ different actions being triggered b/c they walked on or sat on the keyboard. 🙂

Yay, I found an app that works!

Karabiner is a free app that allows you to disable your Mac's keyboard when an external keyboard is connected: https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/

It can also do a ton of other things to customize your keyboard, which I have not explored.

A big thank you to this "Cat-proofing a MacBook keyboard" article: http://www.mackungfu.org/cat-proofing-a-macbook-keyboard

This is actually quite easy, I can't believe I had to google so much to find the answer and almost paid 10 bucks for a program to do it!! http://www.mackungfu.org/cat-proofing-a-macbook-keyboard

1.

Open System Preferences, then click the Accessibility icon.

2.

Click the Mouse & Trackpad icon in the list at the left.

3.

At the top right, click the Options button alongside the Enable Mouse Keys checkbox.

4.

Put a check in Ignore Built-In Trackpad When Mouse Keys is On, and click OK.

5.

Close System Preferences, then in future when the MacBook keyboard is sat upon by a cat, tap Option (Alt) five times.

Ctl +F1 to disable Keyboard control on and off. with System Preferences Keyboard selection box checked in "Shortcuts"

see

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=433407

post 4

I have a similar issue and am thankful for your post!

.. no longer works in Yosemite.

there will be a series of high pitched clicks from your speakers when it happens.

Thank you! This with disabling my mouse allowed me to get back control of Macbook after spilling coffee ;-) It's pretty annoying when the 'screen lightness down' button is pressed constantly 😀

I tried this in Mountain Lion 10.8.5 on a Macbook Pro but it's not working.

I am so glad that I am not the only one who "wants to clean the keyboard without turning it off" since Apple strongly recommend not to turn it off unless one is not gonna use it for a few days.