Hey there.

I have been using a MacBook Air M1 2020 as my personal computer for over 2 years. And I am a .Net developer. Which means I mostly use Windows for my professional life. Nowadays I am trying to use a Linux distro as my daily driver, but I still need to use Windows sometimes. Even though, I can’t use MacOS for business because companies usually do not give a MacBook for a .Net Developer.

Then, why MacOS?

2 reasons. Ridiculous battery life and building iOS apps. Yes, I am a .Net dev but I also built iOS apps as freelance and I will.

So, what?

As a software developer, I heavily use shortcuts. And, MacOS and the others have different shortcuts for common functionalities. For example, the copying is by Control + C in Windows and Linux. But in MacOS, it is Command + C. Same for V, T, N, Z, etc.
Actually, in MacOS you can customize modifier keys, which means you can swap the Control and Command keys. Here is how to do it.

Isn’t that enough?

No, not for me. I heavily use navigation keys with modifiers also. For example, in Windows, I use Control + Right Arrow and Control + Left Arrow combinations to jump over words. In MacOS I need to use Option(Alt) + Arrow Key to do the same functionality. Same for Backspace and Delete.

What is the solution?

I think there is no complete solution for this problem, but Karabiner Elements solves a lot.

Their website is here.

Karabiner Elements reads your keystrokes and manipulates in a way that you want to.

A quick example here:

{
  "description": "Option + Backspace to Control + Backspace",
  "manipulators": [
    {
      "from": {
        "key_code": "delete_or_backspace",
        "modifiers": {
          "mandatory": [
            "control"
          ]
        }
      },
      "to": [
        {
          "key_code": "delete_or_backspace",
          "modifiers": [
            "left_option"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "type": "basic"
    }
  ]
}

As you can see above, this is a sample for a Complex Modification. It is pretty straightforward. You name it with the description field, and you put your manipulation(s) into the manipulators field. I put a manipulation that changes behavior from Control + Backspace to Left Option + Backspace. This means whenever I press the Control + Backspace, it runs the functionality that is provided by Left Option + Backspace in a MacOS computer.

You can put conditions to run only in some apps or disable only in some apps. You can configure a functionality for holding down a key. And probably many more. You can read it here.

I made a lot of configuration for my daily workflow, and am making more. I will put my configuration into my GitHub account after I feel it is fluent.

Thanks for reading. I hope it is helpful.

Said