For everyone who moved from Windows to Mac

Your Windows shortcuts, on your Mac.

SameKeys makes Ctrl+C copy, Win+V open your clipboard history, and your mouse wheel scroll the Windows way, so years of muscle memory keep working.

Download for Mac View the source on GitHub

Free and open source · macOS 14 or later

SameKeys’s Shortcuts page: the Windows Standard preset with 58 shortcuts in 9 groups, the choice of fn, Ctrl or both for Ctrl shortcuts, the choice of which Mac keys stand in for Win and Alt, and the Editing and Text Navigation groups, each with its own switch.

One app, not five.

On a Mac, getting your Windows habits back usually means a separate app for each: one for the keyboard, one for the mouse, one for clipboard history… Each to find, install, allow and set up. SameKeys brings them all together, set up the Windows way from the first launch. That is why I made it.

Keyboard shortcuts

Ctrl+C, Home and End, F2: 58 Windows shortcuts, ready at first launch.

Mouse and wheel

Side buttons go back and forward, fn or Ctrl + scroll zooms the page, and the wheel turns the Windows way.

Clipboard history

Win+V opens what you copied, with search and pinning.

Window snapping

Put a window on the left or right half, or fill the screen, as with Win+←.

Finder

Delete, F2, cut and paste files, and New Document in the right-click menu.

Your hands already know what to do.

A Mac does many everyday things with different keys, or not at all. SameKeys turns what you press into what the Mac expects.

58 shortcuts in all, in groups you switch on and off. Change any of them, or add your own.
On Windows	On a Mac	With SameKeys
`Ctrl`+`C` `Ctrl`+`V` `Ctrl`+`Z`	It’s `⌘` for copy, paste and undo	Copy, paste, undo, save, find…
`Home` `End`	Scrolls to the top or bottom of the page	Start and end of the line
`Ctrl`+`←` `Ctrl`+`→`	Switches desktops	Moves a word at a time
Mouse side buttons	Do nothing	Back and forward
`Ctrl`+scroll	Zooms the whole screen, or nothing	Zooms the page, with `fn` or `Ctrl`
Mouse wheel direction	Reversed, together with the trackpad	Windows direction, trackpad untouched
`Delete` `F2` `Enter` in Finder	`Enter` renames, the others do nothing	Delete, rename, open
`Alt`+`Tab` `Alt`+`F4`	It’s `⌘`+`Tab` and `⌘`+`Q`	Switch apps, quit
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Esc`	Nothing	Opens Activity Monitor
`PrtScn`	Nothing	Screenshot to the clipboard
`Win`+`←` `Win`+`→` `Win`+`↑`	Different keys: `fn`+`Ctrl`+arrows, from macOS 15	Half the screen or full, with `⌥`+arrows
`Win`+`V` clipboard history	Doesn’t exist	Built in, with `⌥V`

Thought through for the switch.

Any keyboard

Works with a PC keyboard and with a Mac keyboard. Press Ctrl as on Windows, or use fn in its place and keep Ctrl for the Mac. Your choice, or both.

Terminals left alone

In Terminal and iTerm, Ctrl+C still stops the running program. SameKeys knows where Ctrl means something else.

Yours to adjust

Switch whole groups on and off, record a different shortcut for any entry, or write your own rules, for every app or just one.

Mouse and trackpad apart

Wheel direction and zoom change for the mouse only. Trackpad gestures keep working the Mac way.

Small and quiet

Lives in the menu bar and pauses with one click. No system extension or keyboard driver to install.

In your language

English, 简体中文, 繁體中文, 日本語, 한국어, Deutsch, Français, Español, Português and Polski.

Clipboard history, like Win+V.

Press ⌥V for everything you copied recently, right where your pointer is. Pick one and it’s pasted.

Text, images and files, searchable
Pin what you paste often
Passwords from password managers are never kept
Stays on your Mac, never uploaded. Off until you turn it on.

The clipboard history panel: a search field above recent copies – a pinned note, an email line, an image, a link, a PDF file and a text snippet – each with the time it was copied.

Finder, the File Explorer way.

The keys and menus you used in File Explorer work in Finder and in every open and save dialog.

Explorer keys

Delete, F2 and Enter delete, rename and open. Backspace goes up a folder.

Cut and paste files

Ctrl+X, then Ctrl+V in another folder, moves the files there.

New in the right-click menu

Create a text, Word, Excel or PowerPoint document, copy a path, or open Terminal right there.

Type a path

⌘L opens a box to type or paste a path, like File Explorer’s address bar.

Open and save dialogs

Ctrl+G jumps to the folder open in Finder, and Ctrl+Shift+G lists recent and favorite folders.

Favorite folders

Add a folder to SameKeys’s favorites from Finder’s right-click menu, and reach it from any dialog.

Two permissions, and why.

macOS asks you to allow two things before any app may change what your keys do.

Accessibility

Lets SameKeys turn a Windows shortcut into its Mac equivalent: you press Ctrl+C, the app receives ⌘C. Without it, macOS lets no app rewrite input.

Input Monitoring

Lets SameKeys see ordinary keys, such as the C in Ctrl+C. Without it, only modifier keys, clicks and scrolling arrive.

SameKeys records no keystrokes. It looks at each key press only to decide whether it’s a shortcut to translate, then lets it go. There are no analytics, and every line of the code is public.

Get SameKeys.

Download for Mac

macOS 14 or later · free

Or with Homebrew:

brew install --cask lynnjeans/tap/keybridge

Open the disk image and double-click SameKeys: it installs itself in Applications, opens, and walks you through the two permissions.
Using Karabiner-Elements or a similar tool? Quit it while SameKeys runs, so the two don’t fight over the same keys.

Questions

How do I make Ctrl+C copy on a Mac?

macOS uses ⌘ (Command) for copy, paste and most shortcuts. Install SameKeys and it’s on: Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+S and the rest do what they did on Windows, everywhere except terminals, where Ctrl+C has to stop programs.

Why don’t Home and End work on a Mac?

On a Mac, Home and End scroll to the top and bottom of a document, and the start or end of a line is ⌘← and ⌘→. SameKeys sends those for you, and Shift+Home, Shift+End, Ctrl+Home and Ctrl+End select and jump as they did on Windows.

Does it work with an Apple keyboard?

Yes. The Control key sits where it did on your PC. If you’d rather keep Ctrl for Mac shortcuts, choose fn and press fn+C to copy instead.

Is SameKeys free?

Yes, and open source under the GNU General Public License v3. Anyone can read, build and improve the code. If it saves you some frustration, you can sponsor the project, but you never have to.

How is it different from Karabiner-Elements?

Karabiner-Elements is a powerful tool for remapping single keys and building layers. SameKeys does one job, Windows habits on a Mac, ready to use at first launch, and handles the mouse and scroll wheel too. It needs no system driver.

Does SameKeys connect to the internet?

Only to check for updates, once a day. It reads the list of versions on this website and sends nothing about you or your Mac, and a new version installs only when you choose to. Turn off “Check for updates automatically” on the About page and SameKeys never goes online.

How do I cut and paste files on a Mac?

Finder has no Cut for files: you copy with ⌘C, then move with ⌥⌘V. With SameKeys, Ctrl+X and Ctrl+V move files as they did on Windows, and the right-click menu can create new documents and open Terminal in the folder.

Can I snap windows to half the screen like Win+←?

Yes. With SameKeys, ⌥+← and ⌥+→ put the front window on the left or right half of the screen, ⌥+↑ fills the screen and ⌥+↓ minimizes. On a Mac keyboard, ⌥ sits where the Windows key is. macOS 15 and later also have fn+Ctrl+arrows built in.