Swap Z and Y on OS X
I have MacBook Air with US keyboard and I'm quite happy with this. The only thing that bugs me is the QWERTY keyboard layout. Is there any way to change it to QWERTZ? I'm not interested in changing any other key; I only want to swap those two.
Solution 1:
One option would be to save this as private.xml in KeyRemap4MacBook.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
<item>
<name>test</name>
<identifier>private.test</identifier>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::Y, KeyCode::Z</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::Z, KeyCode::Y</autogen>
</item>
</root>
You could also use Ukelele to make a new keyboard layout.
- Select the U.S. layout and choose File > New Based on Current Input Source
- Change the keys
- Save as a bundle to
/Library/Keyboard Layouts/. Keyboard layouts in the user library aren't selected by default in password dialogs. The popovers shown when holding keys don't work with normal keylayout files. - Log out and back in
- Enable the input source in System Preferences
To apply changes to a keylayout file you have to log out and back in after for example running touch /Library/Keyboard Layouts/.
If you run Setup Assistant again (sudo rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone; sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/Setup\ Assistant.app/Contents/MacOS/Setup Assistant), the keyboard layout you select will be used by default on the login window and guest accounts.
Solution 2:
Oh yes, Apple must be special and make even the most trivial tasks brutally complicated.
If you are a normal person like me who doesn't want to fiddle with such a trivial task like having a normal keyboard, you can download my prebuilt files made by Ukulele. They have been built on Sierra, but should work. I am attaching a .dmg installer here. You can check the file as you should not trust blindly strangers on the net :)
Now you'll be a happy camper.
Download from zippyshare