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MiJoLewis Author

Level 1

4 points

How do I reassign a key to forward delete?

It ***** that Apple does not have a single delete key that will forward delete, instead you have to use the Fn key which is located on the far side of the keyboard making it a two hand operation. The delete key is mislabeled and should be called backspace, because that is what it does. There doesn't appear to be a native means to reassign any keys to perform a forward delete function. Am I missing something?

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Dec 12, 2015 8:14 AM

Top-ranking reply

MiJoLewis Author

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Dec 12, 2015 3:47 PM

The fact that I am forced to work on a windoze machine all day where I can type >70wpm on a ergonomic keyboard, YES, it does inturrupt my workflow. My degree is in Computer Electronics and my first Mac was a 9600, so the question is not as stupid as seem of you may want to make it seem. It is hard to adjust in the evening when I have been hardwired to winoze all day. There are several infrequently used F keys on the A1314 mini keyboard, so it doesn't seem to far fetched to ask if and why Apple does not allow to reassign keys.

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24 replies

Csound1

Level 9

60,033 points

Mar 13, 2016 7:03 AM in response to ReganParis

ReganParis wrote:

I am with you on this Mijo Lewis -- and Babowa, just saying "it's not a PC, get over it" is really not a helpful answer.

Then why don't you offer a solution rather than complaining that others don't.

wuuwuu

Level 1

4 points

Apr 10, 2016 8:02 AM in response to babowa

I just bought a new iMac and have been using it for two weeks now and still I have to really focus on not making the delete/backspace mistake. I do find your response rather patronizing.

A simple question: Can the keyboard "delete" key be remapped to make it a 'backspace key' and remap the 'eject' key to make it 'delete' key.

I too have to work on a PC based and now an iMac machine. I keep having to retype because of this key difference. No pun intended.

Duane

Level 10

124,277 points

Apr 10, 2016 8:07 AM in response to wuuwuu

wuuwuu wrote:

...

A simple question: Can the keyboard "delete" key be remapped to make it a 'backspace key' and remap the 'eject' key to make it 'delete' key.

...

Yes that is the default behaviour and No the eject key can't be made a forward delete key.

Duane

Level 10

124,277 points

Mar 12, 2016 5:58 PM in response to Jeff Shenk

The Apple wireless keyboards only have the single delete key.

The Apple wired keyboards have 2 delete keys. One is the normal Apple backward delete key and the other is a forward delete key.

db24401

Level 4

1,564 points

Dec 12, 2015 8:28 AM in response to MiJoLewis

babowa

Level 9

78,447 points

Mar 12, 2016 6:09 PM in response to Duane

Interesting; my keyboards used to be wired (this was some time ago) - I've never had one with a second delete key (even though I had a number pad). Is that a newish feature?

Mar 12, 2016 6:45 PM in response to babowa

No it's not a new feature on the wired keyboard.

I bought mine in 2008 as an external keyboard for my MacBook. It's still the same one available in the Apple store now.

Nov 4, 2016 12:12 PM in response to MiJoLewis

I've been using Karabiner for years to reassign keys (e.g. \) as forward delete, but now the latest update of Karabiner doesn't work with for OS X 10.12.1.

Jan 3, 2018 12:52 PM in response to MiJoLewis

A bit late to the party here but here are a few shortcuts you could try...

https://lifehacker.com/5803041/the-mac-os-x-delete-key-it-goes-both-ways

How do I reassign a key to forward delete?