[1141] Swich Control Key and Command Key in Macbook

Short answer: you can’t tell macOS “use Ctrl+C for copy instead of ⌘C” directly – but you can make your Ctrl key behave like Command, so pressing Ctrl+C actually sends ⌘C.

 

Here are two practical ways:

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1. Use macOS built-in “Modifier Keys” (simplest)

 

This makes Ctrl act as Command everywhere (so Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V / Ctrl+Z will work like ⌘C / ⌘V / ⌘Z).

1. Click  Apple menu → System Settings… (or System Preferences on older macOS).

2. Go to Keyboard.

3. Scroll down and click Modifier Keys….

4. In the list for your keyboard:

   • Set Control (⌃) Key → Command (⌘)

   • Optionally set Command (⌘) Key → Control (⌃) (so they swap), or leave it as is if you don’t care about the old Command key.

5. Click OK to save.

 

Now:

• Ctrl+C → copy

• Ctrl+V → paste

• Ctrl+Z → undo

 

…because the system thinks you’re pressing Command.

 

Note: this affects all apps and all shortcuts using Command, not just copy/paste/undo.

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2. Use a tool like Karabiner-Elements (more fine-grained)

 

If you want more control (for example, only change Ctrl to Command in certain apps):

1. Install Karabiner-Elements (free keyboard remapper for macOS).

2. Open Karabiner-Elements → Simple Modifications.

3. Add rules like:

   • left_control → left_command

4. Optionally use the “Complex Modifications” tab to make app-specific rules (e.g. only in Word, Chrome, etc.).

 

This way you don’t have to globally swap keys at the system level.

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If you tell me your macOS version (e.g. Sonoma / Ventura) I can write the exact menu names step-by-step for your system.