How to make Windows key the IntelliJ IDEA Command/Meta key under Windows?

Question

I'm using IntelliJ IDEA 14 under OS X, Windows and Ubuntu for several months, found that the keymap Mac OS X 10.5+ is more suitable for me and want to keep same experience under all platforms.

OS X has five modifier keys: Shift, Caps Lock, Control, Option, and Command, while Windows/Ubuntu has only four: Shift, Caps Lock, Control and Alt. If I want to use Mac OS X 10.5 keymap under Windows/Ubuntu, then I need map a key to Command key which plays a great role.

Under Ubuntu I remapped Windows key to Meta key using xmodmap, but I could not find how to do it under Windows. I've tried key remappers such as SharpKeys, but none of them can remap keys to Command/Meta key. So is there a way to do it?

Answer 1

Here's a workaround that works partly. In IDEA do the following:

1. Help -> Edit Custom Properties...
   • In the file that opens, add this on a new line: keymap.windows.as.meta=true
2. Choose your Mac keymap under File -> Settings... -> Keymap. For example, "Mac OS X 10.5+".

If you use a Windows keyboard and you want the same layout as with your Mac keyboard you can remap

• the left Windows key to become the left Alt key and
• the left Alt to become the left Windows key, that would then be interpreted as the Mac's Command (Cmd/Meta) key.

To do so, you could install AutoHotkey and run it with the following script, by putting these two lines in a .ahk file:

LAlt::LWin LWin::LAlt 

To read more about the problem(s) with both the Windows key and this workaround see the comments of IDEA-144702.