[Jordan]

This request came from my Dad.

I've moved him over from a pc to a PowerBook and generally he is very happy. However, his fingers are quite big and he often finds that he has accidentally hit the caps lock key and doesn't realise until the end of the sentence. In Word you can do a change case to correct it but most other Apps require you to re-type it.

He had become quite frustrated.

I've been looking for a hack or something to disable this key for him and found the simplest way right inside OS X. Select System Preferences -> Keyboard & Mouse and push the Modifier Keys button that appears in the bottom left. Then simply assign the Caps Lock key to No Action and away you go!

Thanks Apple for thinking of this and making it so simple. Although it doesn't happen to me as often I too have disabled the caps lock key as I rarely use it!

Cheers,

Jordan

[olePigeon]

I don't remember if the PowerBooks have this or not, but sometimes the Capslock key on keyboards will have a flipout metal hook or ring that'll make it so you can't press the key. It may be possible to physically disable the key. I don't know if this is true or not for the PowerBook keyboard.

[pendragon]

Not sure when/with what OS this became built-in and if it is in your PB, but in current desktops...

1. Open SystemPreferences/Keyboard & Mouse
2. Select the Keyboard pane
3. Click on “Modifier Keys…” at the bottom of the window
4. Where it says Caps Lock Key, select “No Action” from the drop down menu.
5. Click OK and enjoy!

[P]

You can also use WordService to add the same functionality that Word has (change to lowercase) to all apps.