Changing input source with Caps Lock key not working

se7erian wrote:

It is not Spotify. ... I too have the same problem.

Have you tried setting up a new user account and seeing if the problem persists when you are logged into that? This could help isolate the problem.

Hey, you may have found the cause of the problem.

I can use Caps Lock to switch between inputs, but often time as the day goes by the ability to switch using Caps Lock went dead. Fortunately rebooting my iMac resolves the issue every time.

Thanks to you, it makes sense that various Chrome's extensions short-cut *may* be the culprit, since that's my browser of choice. I've disabled every one of the short-cuts.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

We shall see if you're right.

This bothered me for almost a whole year. It turns out a very bad and messy design plus bugs caused the widespread frustration.

Solution is to only use the correct behaviors (hereafter quoted as below):

In input settings, I enabled switching input method by Caps-lock key. When everything works fine, here are the behaviors should be:

## Correct behaviors

Using caps-lock to switch Chinese input method and English. That means:

1 when using Chinese, press caps-lock will turn input method to English

2 when using Chinese, long press caps-lock will turn input method to Capital English, green light will be on in Apple Magic Keyboard.

3 when using English, long press caps-lock to switch to Capital English, long press caps-lock to go back

4 when using English(whether Capital or not), press caps-lock to switch to Chinese

## Incorrect behaviors

### first(very common)

1. pressing caps-lock does switch input method, but the indicator in menubar doesn't change accordingly at all.

### second(very common)

1. pressing caps-lock does not switch input method any more. But cmd+space still works. menubar indicator works as well.

### third(less common)

1. press caps-lock and cmd+space both don't work. I have to use mouse to click the menubar indicator to switch input method.

### fourth(rare)

1. press caps-lock and cmd+space both don't work. Even more, when I use cmd+space, I could see only the English input method or the Chinese input method was gray. Both were gray in cmd+space and in menubar indicator.

The original link: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/is-there-a-bug-with-language-switching-in-s ierra.2020165/#post-24054565

Thanks for reminding. This one is out there for a long time. My temporary eager intention is to let those who are frustrated by this issue and googled to find this post know this workaround and explanation of the logic behind the design. I'm not the original author of that post. And I have not had time to tested the High Sierra yet. So I haven't submitted any feedback or bug yet. Anyway, thanks for reminding.

Kenyth wrote:

My temporary eager intention is to let those who are frustrated by this issue and googled to find this post know this workaround

But I don't see any workaround. You have just described how it is supposed to work and then how it often does not work. Where is your suggestion about how to fix it when it does not work right?

Are you yourself experiencing this issue? Have you tried yourself as per what's described above?

I didn't do extensive testing and experiment. So just based on my limited experience (also please see the original linked post I posted in my first message here):

1. The workaround is to only follow the correct behaviors, i.e., use only the Caps Lock to do the switching, or plus selecting from the menu bar. For me, I disabled the shortcuts myself.

2. Or say it in another way, never use both the shortcut (cmd+space, or your customized one) and the Caps Lock to do the switching simultaneously (use one this time, use the other one next time). If you do want to use both ways, notice what's described in correct behaviors, when things are not working, press Caps Lock several times, if needed, to make things to be in one of the state in the correct behaviors so you can be sure what's the real state the system is in since the menu bar indicator is wrong and means nothing when it's not working.

Thanks for the clarification!

So your suggested fixes are

a) disable the normal keyboard shortcuts for switching keyboards and use only the caps lock shortcut

b) if caps lock doesn't seem to work right, press it several times to get into the proper state.

If you want to bring buggy behavior to the attention of Apple, you should also repost your info at

http://www.apple.com/feedback

Funny, this is exactly I am experiencing ... once I close spotify, the caps lock works a charm. I am hoping someone could point out which setting in Spotify can be tweaked to avoid this.

original bumblebee wrote:

I am hoping someone could point out which setting in Spotify can be tweaked to avoid this.

Have you ask the people who make Spotify?

Did now... we'll see if they feel like responding.

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Desktop-Linux-Windows-Web-Player/Using-caps-loc k-to-change-keyboard-layout-only-works-i…