Changing keyboard settings in Gnome

• Turn on keyboard accessibility features
• Bounce keys
• Slow keys

Step 1 for Gnome versions before 2.1:

1. Click on the ' Applications ' menu and then click on ' Preferences ' or press ' Alt ' + ' F1 ' and then use the ' down ' arrow key to highlight ' Preferences ' .

Step 1 for Gnome versions 2.1 or newer:

1. Click on the ' System' menu and then click on ' Preferences ' or press ' Alt ' + ' F1' to access the application menu and then press the ' right ' arrow until ' System' menu is highlighted and then press the ' down ' arrow until ' Preferences ' is highlighted.
2. Click on or hover the mouse over 'Accessibility' and then click on ' Accessibility ' in the sub menu or use the ' right' arrow key to highlight 'Accessibility' and then the ' right ' arrow key again to bring up the third menu and with Accessibility ' highlighted on this menu press ' Enter '. See Fig 1.

Fig 1

1. This will open the ' Enable keyboard accessibility features' window, The ' Enable keyboard accessibility features' checkbox must have a tick in it for ' Bounce keys ' and ' Slow keys ' to work if it is not ticked as shown in Fig 2 then click on the checkbox or press ' Tab' to highlight the checkbox and then press the ' Spacebar' to tick the box.
2. By default you should see the ' Basic ' tab at the front as in Fig 2, if it is not click on the ' Basic ' tab or press ' Tab' until the current ' tab ( ' Filters ' or ' Mouse Keys ' is highlighted then press the left arrow key until the ' Basic ' tab is brought to the front.

Fig 2

1. You can now turn on ' Bounce keys ' or' Slow keys ' - see the following sections or follow the links at the top of the page.

' Bounce keys ' are helpful for people who find they hold a key down too long and so get a string of unwanted characters. ' Bounce keys ' introduces a delay after a key press, during which time the same key cannot be used again.

To turn on ' Bounce keys ' :

1. Make sure you have done steps 1- 4 above under ' Turn on keyboard accessibility features '.
2. Click on the ' Filters ' tab or press ' Tab' until the ' Basic ' tab is highlighted then press the ' right ' arrow until the ' Filters ' tab is brought to the front as shown in Fig 3.

Fig 3

1. Click on the the checkbox next to ' Enable Bounce Keys'. or press ' Alt ' + ' U ', to put a tick in the box.
2. Click on the slider under ' Ignore duplicate key presses within:' or press 'Alt' + 'G' and use the ' left ' and ' right ' arrow to change the amount of time you can hold down a key press.
3. Click the ' Close ' button or press 'Alt' + ' C' to to save your changes and return to the Gnome desktop.

' Slow keys ' are helpful for people who tend to accidentally press keys they don't want. With slow keys switched on a key has to be held down longer.

To turn on Slow keys:

1. Make sure you have done steps 1- 4 above under ' Turn on keyboard accessibility features '.
2. Click on the ' Filters ' tab or press ' Tab' until the ' Basic ' tab is highlighted then press the ' right ' arrow until the ' Filters ' tab is brought to the front as shown in Fig 4 .

Fig 4

1. Click on the the checkbox next to ' Enable Slow Keys'. or press ' Alt ' + 'W ', to put a tick in the box.
2. To increase the amount of time you need to press down on a key press 'Alt' + 'O', or your mouse, to select 'Only accept keys held for:'
3. Click on the slider under ' Only accept keys held for:' or press 'Alt' + 'O' and use the ' left ' and ' right ' arrow to change the amount of time you need to press down on a key.
4. Click the ' Close ' button or press 'Alt' + ' C' to to save your changes and return to the Gnome desktop.

Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies - contact your local IT support for further help.