Monday, January 23, 2017

VNC + Mac OS + Option Key = WINNING!!

I love my Macs, but sometimes through no real fault of their own, they can be a bit of a pain in the butt.

Take the Option Key. Very helpful if you're using the Finder.


Ever try using the Option Key when you're connected remotely to your Mac Desktop using VNC? It just doesn't work. VNC settings, nothing.

But I have discovered a solution. Simply turn on Sticky Keys and use the Keyboard Viewer. Now you can use your mouse to press the Option Key - not ideal, but in a pinch, it's better than nothing!

Here are the step-by-step instructions for setting this up:

1. Open up the Preferences


2. Choose Accessibility


3. Turn on Sticky Keys



4. Go back to Preferences and choose Keyboard


5. Turn on "Shoe keyboard and emoji viewers in menu bar"



6. Open up the Keyboard Viewer


7. Now whenever you need to hold down the Option Key, tap it in the Keyboard Viewer


8. If you didn't have Sticky Keys turned on, you'd have to keep it held down in the viewer, but you can just tap it the once. Tapping it again puts it into some other state. Tapping it a third time turns it off. So whenever I want Option, I double click it in the viewer. Then I do whatever it was that needed the Option Key in the first place. And then I tap it again to turn it off.

I hope you find this helpful!