Swap () and [] keys on Windows 10

Question

I want to swap the keys for () and [] in order to have unshifted access to the more commonly used symbols. On Windows 7, I used a program called parenswi to do this, but it doesn't work on Windows 10, nor does an updated version seem to be available.

What's the best way to swap these keys on Windows 10?

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 15 '19 at 12:44

You can swap them by entering the relevant scancodes into the registry as described in this existing answer or use SharpKeys to do it for you.

SharpKeys works by presenting you with a GUI where you pick the "to" and "from" keys and it then updates the required registry values automatically for you. It works fine on Windows 10.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 15 '19 at 20:01

You may use the free key-remapping product AutoHotkey.

Here is a script for converting Shift+( to [. It can easily be modified and extended, as I'm not sure that I have not understood the question in reverse.

(::
if GetKeyState("Shift")
  Send, [
else
  Send, (
return

After installing AutoHotKey, put the above text in a .ahk file and double-click it to test. You may stop the script by right-click on the green H icon in the traybar and choosing Exit. To have it run on login, place it in the Startup group at C:\Users\USER-NAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.

Some AutoHotkey references:

Swap () and [] keys on Windows 10

2 Answers2