Not that it helps, but the responsibility for this is squarely on Apple. They should provide normal human-oriented UI controls instead of turning regular users into developers who have to mess with obscure system files and commands.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Caps lock icon?
- Thread starter mattopotamus
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Not that it helps, but the responsibility for this is squarely on Apple. They should provide normal human-oriented UI controls instead of turning regular users into developers who have to mess with obscure system files and commands.
Some things to try:
Add a new language/keyboard.
Create a new user.
If either of those work, at least it's a step in the right direction to working out what's going on with your current setup.
Add a new language/keyboard.
Create a new user.
If either of those work, at least it's a step in the right direction to working out what's going on with your current setup.
Same behavior, that horrendous icon is still there with no way to turn it off except for terminal commands.
One (possibly annoying) workaround if you use all caps a lot would be to type lower-case, select all the text, right-click on it and pick Transformations > Make Upper Case. I know that's probably not the solution you want, but it's there.
One good thing about Sequoia is that it no longer bugs out in apps like Arc or Ulysses if you have the cap lock indicator setting off. The caret (insertion point) now appears correctly, and in the tint color you have chosen (blue by default).
In Sonoma it either appeared white - like the old cursor - when the setting was off, or wouldn't appear in those two apps (and more) for certain textfields.
So anyone holding out because of this bug can upgrade with confidence.
In Sonoma it either appeared white - like the old cursor - when the setting was off, or wouldn't appear in those two apps (and more) for certain textfields.
So anyone holding out because of this bug can upgrade with confidence.
Happy to see someone adding to this thread. I was hoping that when I updated to Sequoia the functionality of my Caps Lock key would be restored. No such luck - it continues to be DOA.
Any suggestions welcome.
After I wrote this, for the first time in Sequoia, I opened terminal and ran this command which was supposed to restore the functionality of the Caps Lock key, i.e. I would be able to tap it, and all my text would be upper case until I tapped it a second time: sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/UIKit.plist redesigned_text_cursor -dict-add Enabled -bool YES.
This did not work; the caps lock key does not light up or function. Sorry I ever messed with this key.
Yet another edit to this post: I installed Onyx and under Parameters / Misc., I set the [Show Caps Lock Indicator] to ON, restarted my 2020 iMac/Sequoia 15.1...and the Caps Lock still does not work.
Any suggestions welcome.
After I wrote this, for the first time in Sequoia, I opened terminal and ran this command which was supposed to restore the functionality of the Caps Lock key, i.e. I would be able to tap it, and all my text would be upper case until I tapped it a second time: sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/UIKit.plist redesigned_text_cursor -dict-add Enabled -bool YES.
This did not work; the caps lock key does not light up or function. Sorry I ever messed with this key.
Yet another edit to this post: I installed Onyx and under Parameters / Misc., I set the [Show Caps Lock Indicator] to ON, restarted my 2020 iMac/Sequoia 15.1...and the Caps Lock still does not work.
Last edited:
We also already have the caps light LED on every Apple keyboard, so it seems a little overkill to me too. It's also quite self-evident when you're typing in all caps because... everything you type is in caps! The one exception to that is password fields, where I think it's a helpful heads-up.
Last edited:
I think the idea was to warn about the caps locks button being pressed BEFORE you start typing in all caps inadvertently. But even for this purpose this indicator is useless as it's not a system-wide feature: it only appears in some apps but not others.
Regardless, my caps lock button remains disabled as it's always been, exactly to prevent it from being activated accidentally.
Install Sequoia on VM using VirtualBuddy (it's free). Check if the caps lock key works with a fresh install.
If it does, you should do it on the main installation and restore the rest of the data from time machine except for any system settings.
Some mechanical keyboard people like to swap it out for other modifier keys. I just ignore it, myself!