Turn off Sticky Keys and stop it coming back

Why it happens

Sticky Keys lets you press Command, Shift, Option or Control one at a time instead of together, which helps if holding two keys at once is hard. Pressing Shift five times in a row switches it on or off, and that's easy to do by accident in a game or while typing in capitals. While it's on, a key you just pressed stays held for the next one.

How to fix it

1. Open the Apple menu, choose System Settings, then click Accessibility in the sidebar and Keyboard on the right.

2. Turn off Sticky Keys. Shortcuts go back to working the usual way, with keys held together.

   Accessibility›Keyboard›Sticky Keys

3. To stop accidental switching on, click the info button next to Sticky Keys and turn off Press the Shift key five times to toggle Sticky Keys. Then close the panel.

   Accessibility›Keyboard›Sticky Keys

Still not fixed?

1. If you have to hold each key down before a letter appears, that's a different feature called Slow Keys. Turn it off in the same Keyboard pane.

   Accessibility›Keyboard›Slow Keys

2. If a key still seems held, press Shift, Command, Option and Control once each to release them, then try again.

3. If Sticky Keys keeps turning back on by itself, restart your Mac and check that no one else using it turns it on, for example in another user account.

4. If one key behaves as if it's stuck with Sticky Keys off, test it in another app and with another keyboard. If only this keyboard does it, contact Apple Support or a repair shop, because the key may need a hardware repair.