Do you often type in uppercase letters accidentally because you don’t realize that the Caps Lock key is active? Do you have trouble seeing the Caps Lock indicator on your keyboard because it’s too small or not there at all? Do you want to get visual or audible notifications every time you press the Caps Lock, Num Lock, or Scroll Lock key?
If your answer is yes to any of the above questions, then this article is for you. In this article, I will show you how to show the Caps Lock indicator on a Windows 11 screen easily and quickly. You will learn two methods to do so, namely:
- Use a lightweight and free third-party app to display the Caps Lock indicator on the taskbar and screen overlay.
- Enable the built-in feature of Windows 11 to display the Caps Lock indicator with sound and visuals.
Using any of these methods, you’ll be able to tell when Caps Lock is on or not and avoid annoying typing mistakes. This article also applies to Windows 11, so you can follow the same steps if you’re still using a previous version of Windows.
Using Third-Party Apps to Display the Caps Lock Indicator on the Screen
If you’re using a regular keyboard or computer that doesn’t have software capable of displaying notifications for Caps Lock on the screen, you can use a third-party app as an alternative to displaying the Caps Lock indicator in Windows 11. Many apps can do this, but I’m going to use an app called “CapsLock Indicator” because it’s lightweight, free, and works well on Windows 11.
CapsLock Indicator is an open-source project from GitHub that can display indicators when Caps Lock, Num Lock, or Scroll Lock is active. You can also adjust different settings and change the icons. Here are the steps to use this app to display the Caps Lock indicator on the Windows 11 screen:
- Go to the CapsLock Indicator page on GitHub.
- Click the latest “.exe” file under the “Assets” section to save the file on your computer. Tip: It’s a good idea to download the file to a new folder in a location other than the “Downloads” folder as this app doesn’t require installation.
- Double-click the file to run the application.
- Choose your preferred color scheme – Light or Dark.
- In the “Show icons for” and “Show notification when” sections, select the toggle buttons (Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll Lock) that you want to get notifications about when you turn them on or off.
- Optionally, you can enable “Start on logon” to make the application run automatically when Windows starts. This is because the Caps Lock indicator only works when the app is running in the background.
- Finish! You can now try pressing the Caps Lock key to see the overlay indicator.
In addition, you can change the position of the overlay to the center or any side of the screen through the Notifications tab in the app. You can also change the duration of the overlay before it disappears in the “Display time” section.
Other settings such as font, color, border thickness, and opacity can also be configured in the Notification tab in the app. You can close the application window. The app will still run in the background. As long as the app is running (check the corner of the taskbar overflow), you’ll see an overlay indicator when you press the Caps Lock key.
Other Interesting Articles
Enable Windows 11 Built-in Feature to Display Caps Lock Indicator with Sound and Visual
If you don’t want to install third-party apps, you can enable Windows 11’s built-in feature to display the Caps Lock indicator with sound and visuals. This feature is called “Toggle keys” and will notify you by playing a sound when you press Caps Lock, Num Lock, or Scroll Lock. In addition, you can also activate the “Hear text and descriptions read aloud” feature to get a visual notification when you press the toggle button.
Here are the steps to enable this feature in Windows 11:
- Press Win + I to open Settings.
- In the Settings window, select Accessibility in the left pane, and then select Keyboard in the right pane.
- Under the “Stick, Filter, and Toggle keys” settings, enable “Toggle keys“. It will tell Windows to notify you by playing a sound when you press Caps, Num, or Scroll lock.
- Optionally, you can also enable “Hear text and descriptions read aloud” to get a visual notification when you press the toggle button. To do so, click the link “Hear text and descriptions read aloud” under the “Toggle keys” setting.
- In the new window that opens, enable “Show text suggestions as I type” and “Show text suggestions for hardware keyboard“. This will make Windows display the text you typed on the screen, and also indicate whether Caps Lock is on or not.
After you complete these steps, you’ll hear a sound and see a visual notification every time you press the Caps Lock, Num Lock, or Scroll Lock key. A visual notification will appear at the top of the screen and will display text that you type in upper or lower case according to the Caps Lock status.
Conclusion
By using one of the two methods I have described above, you can display the Caps Lock indicator on the Windows 11 screen easily and quickly. That way, you can type more comfortably and accurately, without worrying about making annoying typing mistakes. You can also customize the Caps Lock indicator according to your preferences, whether it’s color, position, duration, or sound.
Hope this article was helpful and helped you display the Caps Lock indicator on the Windows 11 screen. If you have any questions, suggestions, or feedback, please leave a comment below. Thank you for reading this article.