How to Turn On or off Shift Lock On the Touch Keyboard in Windows 11
- 19 steps
- Includes a restart or sign-out
Shift lock on the Windows 11 touch keyboard turns on when you double-tap the Shift key (the up-arrow key). Tap Shift once more to turn it off. To switch the feature itself on or off, go to Settings Time & language Typing Touch keyboard, or use the Registry Editor.
Shift lock keeps capital letters active until you tap Shift again. It works like Caps Lock on a physical keyboard. This tutorial covers the Settings app first, then the Registry Editor, which is the fallback if the toggle is missing.
These steps open the shift lock settings and turn the feature on or off:
- Press Win+I. The Settings window opens.
- Select Time & language. It is in the left-hand list.
- Tap Typing. The typing options for your device appear.
- Choose Touch keyboard. Look for the Shift lock toggle switch.💡If the Shift lock toggle isn't on your Touch keyboard page
In some Windows 11 versions the Shift lock toggle is no longer on the Touch keyboard page, so you may not see it. You can still stop a lock you started by tapping Shift once. To stop the lock from turning on by accident, you can try the Registry Editor method below, but it may not work on every build. Back up first: in Registry Editor, choose
File>Export. Then follow steps 10 to 16 carefully. If Registry Editor is blocked, your PC may be managed by an organization, so ask IT. - Switch Shift lock on or off. The change applies straight away, and you can undo it by flipping the switch back.
Windows 11 builds differ in which touch keyboard options they show. If you don’t see the toggle on your PC, use the Registry Editor method further down. It works on both Windows 11 Home and Pro.
Double-tap the Shift key (the up-arrow key) on the Windows 11 touch keyboard to turn on shift lock, and tap Shift once more to turn it off. To disable the feature entirely, go to Settings Time & language Typing Touch keyboard and switch off Shift lock.
What is Shift Lock on the Touch Keyboard?
Shift lock lets you type in all capitals on the touch keyboard without holding Shift. These steps show how to get shift lock working while you type:
- Open any text field. The touch keyboard appears.
- Tap the Shift key twice in quick succession. A small lock icon appears on the key to show shift lock is active.
- Type your text. Every letter stays uppercase.
- Tap Shift once more to turn the lock off. The lock icon disappears and you are back to lowercase.
Double-tapping the Shift key activates the lock. Every letter after that stays uppercase until another tap on the Shift key disables it.
How to Turn On or Off Shift Lock
The fast way to turn shift lock on and off is to double-tap the Shift key directly on the touch keyboard. This is also how it gets switched on by accident. Two quick taps are enough, and fast typing on a small screen makes that likely.
If you only want to stop the lock once it has started, change nothing. Tap Shift once to release it. If it keeps happening and you would rather not have the feature at all, you can turn it off by changing a system setting, as shown next.
Disable Shift Lock using Registry Editor
Registry Editor is a tool for changing advanced Windows settings. Using it to disable shift lock stops the touch keyboard from locking capitals when you tap Shift twice. You open the tool, go to a specific key, and change one value.
These steps turn shift lock off, or back on, with the Registry Editor:
- Press Win + R on your keyboard. The Run box opens.
- Type
regeditand press Enter. If Windows asks for permission, click Yes. Registry Editor opens. - Go to the key below using the left sidebar:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\TabletTip\1.7
- Look for a value named
EnableShiftLockon the right side. If you find it, skip to step 6. - Create the value if it doesn’t exist. Right-click an empty area on the right side, choose New DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it
EnableShiftLock. The new value appears in the list. - Double-click
EnableShiftLock. In the box that opens, set the value data to:- 1 to enable shift lock (this is the default)
- 0 to disable shift lock
- Click OK, then close Registry Editor.
- Restart your PC or sign out and back in. You might need to do this before the change takes effect.
To undo the change, open the same value again and set it back to 1. Then restart or sign out and back in once more.
Here is what the registry file looks like if you want to create a file to do this:
Enable Shift Lock (default)
reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\TabletTip\1.7" /v EnableShiftLock /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /fDisable Shift Lock
reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\TabletTip\1.7" /v EnableShiftLock /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /fQuick Summary
Here is a quick recap of the two methods:
- Turn shift lock on or off quickly: Double-tap the Shift key on the touch keyboard.
- Disable shift lock completely: Change the
EnableShiftLockvalue in the Registry Editor to 0. Set it back to 1 to restore the default.
Official Microsoft documentation provides additional details regarding input methods: Use the touch keyboard in Windows 11.
Frequently asked questions
How do I unlock my shift key?
Tap the Shift key once to turn off Shift Lock on the touch keyboard. On a physical keyboard, press Caps⇩ to end all-caps typing. If Shift seems stuck, press it five times in a row to turn off Sticky Keys, or open Settings and check Accessibility.
How to enable on screen keyboard?
Open Settings, select Accessibility, then choose Keyboard and switch on the On-screen keyboard toggle. Press Win+Ctrl+O to open it without Settings. The keyboard stays on screen until you close it, and you can click keys with a mouse or touchscreen.
What does Ctrl+K do in Windows?
Windows itself does not use Ctrl+K. Inside an app, it does whatever that app assigns. In Word, Outlook, and most text editors, it inserts a hyperlink. In browsers such as Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome, it puts the cursor in the address bar for searching. The shortcut is set by each program, so the result changes between apps.
Do you want to turn on Sticky Keys?
Turn on Sticky Keys if you need to press Shift, Ctrl, or Alt one key at a time instead of holding them down. Press Shift five times to get the prompt, or open Settings, select Accessibility, choose Keyboard, and switch on Sticky keys. It works in every app and can be turned off the same way.
The Shift lock toggle is missing from my Touch keyboard settings. What can I do?
Asked by a reader
In some versions of Windows 11, Microsoft has removed the Shift lock toggle from the Touch keyboard settings page, so you may not see it. You can still release a lock by tapping Shift once. To try to stop it turning on by accident, you can use the Registry Editor method in this guide, but it may not work on every version. Export a backup first. If Registry Editor is blocked, ask your IT department.
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About the Author
Richard
Tech Writer, IT Professional
Richard is a writer at Geek Rewind who turns complex IT tasks into clear, step-by-step guides. He draws on years of hands-on experience in system administration and enterprise IT operations, focusing on Windows, Linux and WordPress: the problems people actually run into, and the fixes that work. His server and WordPress guides come from systems he runs himself. Richard builds and maintains the platform behind Geek Rewind, from its Ubuntu servers and Nginx configuration to its custom WordPress plugins. Many new tutorials start with readers' questions, and he's always glad to answer them in the comments.
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