Your keyboard is one of the most important computer peripherals. However, it doesn’t always work according to our expectations. There are times when you’ll encounter issues with its performance, including a glitch that forces it to type in all caps.

What Causes A Keyboard To Type In All Caps?

Your keyboard’s performance depends on three factors:

Hardware: the keyboard and its features.
System: your operating system and the drivers it uses.
Software: program settings and font styles.

These three must work together to ensure your keyboard works properly and allows you to type accurately. If one of these factors has issues, your keyboard may not work as intended and might, for example, start typing in all caps.

To determine why your keyboard is typing in all caps, we need to look into these three factors and then distill them into the exact reasons for your keyboard malfunctioning.

1. Caps Lock Is Enabled

The most common reason for a keyboard to type in all caps is the caps lock key. It’s on the left side, between the tab and left-shift keys. This key enables or disables the caps lock feature, which forces the keyboard to type in all caps.

Some keyboards have a separate backlight for the caps lock key to let you know it’s enabled. However, if you’re using a regular keyboard, it may not have this feature, so you’ll need to test it to see if it’s causing the issue.

It’s normal for a person to press the Caps Lock key accidentally, so it wouldn’t be surprising if this is causing the problem. Press it again to disable it, and start typing to see if you begin to get lowercase input.

2. Shift Key Is Jammed

The shift keys (left and right) allow you to temporarily change your keyboard’s case input or use the symbols on the number row. Holding it down while typing forces the keyboard to type in all caps and symbols. Due to the position of these keys, it’s easy for them to get jammed or stuck without the user noticing it.

Membrane keyboards usually suffer from this issue, which is more prevalent for those in use for a few years. Giving it a little push or nudge should “unstick” the shift key and will allow you to type in lowercase again.

The difference between an enabled capslock and a pressed shift key is the input you get when you press the keys on the number row. If the capslock key is enabled, the input from the number row will be the numbers on the keys. If the shift key is jammed or stuck, the input will be the symbols on those keys.

3. Font or Entry Field Forces Uppercase Input

This reason falls under the software factor that affects how your keyboard works. Some font styles don’t support lowercase, and developers designed some input fields only to display uppercase text.

There’s no way to fix this because it’s a native setting for the application that you’re using. The only thing you can do when dealing with this is replace the font you’re using.

Still, if the program or input fields require uppercase input, the font style that you’re using wouldn’t matter.

An easy way to test this is to open a text editor (notepad) and start typing. If your input is lowercase, the issue you’re experiencing is likely from the font style or settings of the input fields you’re using.

4. Uppercase Settings Is Enabled

The case setting is program-dependent, forcing your keyboard to type in whatever case you set. There are different options for this, including the following:

Sentence case: This is the default setting for almost every application. It capitalizes the first letter of each sentence.
UPPERCASE: This setting could be why your keyboard is typing in all caps. It forces all the input to change into all caps, regardless of your settings.
lowercase: When you enable lowercase, all of your keyboard input will be lowercase, even if you are holding down the shift key or have the caps lock enabled.
Title Case: This setting capitalizes the first letter of every word.

You’ll find this setting in almost every office application, and you can find its settings using the “Aa” icon. If you’re unsure whether the program is causing your keyboard to type in all caps, open a text editor and start typing.

If you can type accurately, you might have to look for this setting to change it to sentence case or lowercase in the program you’re using.

5. Filter Keys Are Enabled in MS Office Applications

Filter Keys is a Windows accessibility feature that aims to assist people who are having a hard time pressing multiple keys at the same time or in rapid succession. Unfortunately, accidentally triggering the shortcut for it can lead to changing the keyboard settings you have on your computer.

Holding the right-shift key down for 8 seconds will trigger the Filter Keys shortcut. This will ask you whether you want to enable the Filter Keys. Many people who accidentally pressed it would click “No” or “Cancel” on this notification, but doing this will force your keyboard to start typing in all caps.

This setting change will make it feel like you’re holding down the shift key. Letters will be in all caps, and the keys on the number row will produce symbol inputs. It can even result in a glitch where your keyboard types in all caps if the caps lock is disabled and lowercase when enabled.

How To Fix It

If you suspect that you or someone accidentally closed this notification, which triggered the change in the keyboard settings, simply press both shift keys (left and right) simultaneously. This will reset the settings for the Filter Keys, allowing you to type normally again.

If you notice that you’re dealing with this issue frequently, you may want to disable the Filter Key shortcut to prevent it from happening again. Here’s how you can disable it:

Press and hold the right-shift key for 8 seconds to trigger the Filter Keys shortcut.
Click the Disable this keyboard shortcut in the Ease of Access keyboard settings link.
1. Open the Windows Search box and type in Accessibility keyboard settings.
Click the Filter keys option.
Click the Keyboard shortcut for Filter keys to turn it off.

6. Keyboard Settings Mismatch

There are different keyboard settings for any operating system. Whether you’re using Windows, macOS, or Linux, you’ll have to set the settings for your computer. One reason the keyboard types in all caps is that your settings don’t match the one you’re using.

Some think keyboard settings don’t matter, but they instruct the computer on what to type based on keystrokes. A keyboard set to English (UK) will have different keystrokes than English (US), despite being both English. If you have a different language set on your computer, it may cause it to type in all caps.

How To Fix It

To fix the keyboard language mismatch, you only need to update the settings on your computer and select the language you want your system to use when you’re typing.

Determining the exact language you want to use is important because, as I mentioned, English in the UK and the US will have differences that can affect your typing capability.

Here’s how you can change the language settings for different operating systems:

For macOS: You can use this guide from Apple. Use the dropdown menu to select the version that you’re using.
For Windows 10 and 11: Here’s a guide from Microsoft. Use the tab to switch between different versions and see the instructions.
For Ubuntu and Debian-based distros: Here’s a guide from Ubuntu. If you’re using a different Linux distro, you may have to search for it on the distro’s official website.

Changing the language settings for your computer won’t fix this issue, but it will ensure that you’re not pressing the wrong keys when you’re typing.

This will help prevent accidental presses on keys that may trigger the keyboard to start typing in all caps.

7. Corrupted or Outdated Keyboard Driver

Computers need drivers to communicate with other computer peripherals, including the keyboard. If the driver you’re using is outdated or corrupted, your keyboard may not work as intended, or it may not even work at all!

That’s why keeping your operating system updated is essential, including the drivers you’re using.

How To Fix It

For Linux, some distros may not be able to auto-detect the drivers you need, so you’ll have to search for them and install them on your system manually.

For Mac, your system will automatically detect the drivers you need. If there’s a corrupted driver, the system will handle it and initiate a fresh install for your keyboard. So if you’re having issues with your keyboard while using Mac, it would be best to search for available updates.

You’ll have to check the keyboard driver for Windows to see if an update is available. If you have a corrupted keyboard driver, you’ll need to uninstall it from the system and restart your computer to allow it to create a fresh install.

8. Defective Keyboard

Whether you’re using membrane or mechanical, keyboards will start to fail at some point. Some keys will register incorrectly and may even activate keys you’re not pressing. Another reason for a keyboard to only type in all caps is because the caps lock key stopped working and kept the setting enabled.

If your keyboard already registers incorrect keystrokes, consider replacing it with a new one. However, if you’re only dealing with a faulty caps lock key, you can still use it by changing a setting within your computer.

How To Fix It

An advanced setting in Windows allows you to change the key you’re using for the caps lock feature. Instead of using the caps lock key, you can use the shift key to enable or disable the caps lock.

Here’s how you can do it:

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run program window.
Use this code to open the keyboard settings: Rundll32 Shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL input.dll,,{C07337D3-DB2C-4D0B-9A93-B722A6C106E2}. This will open the Text Services and Input Languages settings.
Go to Advanced Key Settings.
Select Press the SHIFT key to turn on Caps Lock.
Click Apply, then OK to save your settings.
Restart your computer.

After changing this option, you can turn the caps lock feature on or off, even if your caps lock key is malfunctioning. Still, if this is already happening, you might have to consider getting a new keyboard to prevent other typing issues that you may encounter.

It’s only a workaround allowing you to use your keyboard for some time before it manifests more problems.