How To Make Sense Of Chromebook Keyboards

One of the key differences you will notice when you first set your eyes on a Chromebook is the keyboard. The Caps Lock key is gone; if what you have is a Pixelbook, there will be a strange-looking key wedged in between the Alt and the Ctrl; and a key at the top row with two straight lines will not be any more familiar either.

The keyboard of the Chromebook highlights the way the OS of the device is different from the macOS of Apple and Windows of Microsoft. To add to the problem of a different layout, the keyboard might not look the same on various models of Chromebook.

So to help you make sense of the brand new keyboard, here is a brief guide. Use it as a preference until you have time to get used to it, or until you can remap it in the way you feel comfortable using.

The Top Row

In the place of the usual F keys at the top row, you will see several dedicated keys, and here are their meanings from right to left:

Power on Pixelbook Go and Open the status area on Pixelbook 2017

Turn up the volume

Turn down the volume

Mute

Pause and Play

Increase the brightness

Decrease the brightness

Show Windows

Open the current page in full screen

Refresh the current page

Go back to the previous page

Escape

Other Keys

In the place of the usual Caps Lock key, between Shift and Tab, now you will have either the Search key, which opens the search box, or the Launcher key, which launches the app drawer in Chrome OS. If what you are having is a Pixelbook, the Assistant key at the bottom left of will conjure Google Assistant.