I did a silly thing last night and deliberately popped the two Command keys off my MacBook Pro’s keyboard, only to find I couldn’t get them back on. Uh oh.
You’d probably wonder why I might remove them in the first place. The answer is that the left one offended me so I plucked it out.
More precisely, for a long time now the left Command key has had a big ugly blotch on it where the paint seems to have worn off or something. It’s been bugging me for ages. A few weeks ago I accidentally dropped an Apple Extended Keyboard and a handful of keys popped off. It was incredibly simple to snap them back on again.
So last night I had a bright idea: why not swap over the Command keys on my MacBook Pro? I would just pop them both off and reattach them on the other side of the spacebar. The first part went smoothly: I slid a small ‘blade’ beneath each, twisted gently, and the key was detached.
Then I laid one key over the space it needed to fill and pressed. Nothing. Repeated attempts and explorations failed to reattach the key. I tore myself away after a while and went to bed.
Then this morning Google helped me find the two posts quoted below. Between the two of them, and with the aid of a jeweller’s screwdriver, I am now once again enjoying fully functional Command keys.
First, I removed the plastic riser-thing from the back of the key cap, and installed it on the keyboard.
[Via A Test Guy » Blog Archive » MacBook Pro - command key popped off.]
You pull up on the top edge of a letter key to snap it off (though the scissor-brackets on the function and arrow keys are sideways, so you pull on one side). Each key is attached to the bracket by two snap-clips (narrow-spaced, towards the top of the key) and two slider clips (wide-spaced, towards the bottom). The side with the snap-clips is the side that you pull up on. Once you remove the key, it is much easier to remove and replace the scissor-brackets, even with just your fingers. To put a key back on, you just snap it back on, pushing slightly in the direction of the snap-clips to ensure the slider-clips are on to begin with.
[Via Nonverblog -- The same like www.nonverbla.de in written words.]
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I’m going to have to look those articles up and find a jeweler’s screwdriver.
About a year ago, my parrot, Alex the Bird, decided to take a flight around the kitchen from the top of his cage. Unfortunately (for him), his wing feathers are clipped and he can’t fly. Instead, he crashed onto the kitchen table, which is about three feet from the cage. Unfortunately (for me), he landed on my PowerBook keyboard and his birdy claws pulled off my F4 key. (Hey, at least he didn’t leave a dropping there.) I got the key back on part way and it’s usable, but it isn’t quite right. I’ll see if I can make the repair you found.
And, for the record, that computer’s S key has a blotch similar to the one you describe. I have no idea what caused it.
Those blotches on the keys are annoying. I think the N key is developing something similar.
I’m glad Alex the bird survived his great leap.
As for the jeweller’s screwdriver: I bought a pack of 6 (different size blades) for about $6, probably at a hardware store or the kinds of places where they sell electronics components.
The screwdrivers have very small, fine blades. The ones I have also have a tiny ‘plate’ which allows you to press the screwdriver against your finger or palm and turn the shaft.
They’ve been handy on more than one occasion. I think I originally bought them somecould tighten the screws on my glasses.
Your suggestion on reinstalling a keyworked great! Thanks.
thanks! my wife went and broke the spacebar this morning off of her macbook, but with these tips fixing it was a snap….. probably saved a small fortune with this fix
It’s really good to hear a Post has been useful.
Thanks a ton, this really helped.
I have a unibody MacBook Pro and spilled some candle wax on it and had to pop some keys off to be cleaned only then to realize how tough and intricate it was to put them back on. Well its done!!!
Had to pop the little white springy things off and pit them on the laptop and then the black keys with letter just pop in!!! Yay.
I’m glad this was helpful, Xander. Candle wax, huh. That must have been messsy.
Thank You SOOOOOOOOOO Much for this info. My nephew had got on my laptop and ended up taking off my left control key…. to elaberate a bit on detail … make sure you lift the top of the holder on the keyboard for the command key with a toothpick … next you will have to get the command key and slide it on from the bottom so that the bottom is secure. Once the bottom of the key is attached (make sure it is so you won’t have to take it off again and try again) let the top of the key go down, and slowly remove the toothpick (so that you don’t unhook the bottom of it. After the toothpick is removed, you will have to press the control key down completely. This takes a little bit of force, start with one corner first, you will need to put a bit of pressure, but it worked for me.
Thanks for that Anthony, and for the extra detail about replacing keys. I’m glad this was helpful.
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