Filter Keys: why keys ignore quick taps, and how to turn it off

Filter Keys is a Windows accessibility setting that makes the keyboard ignore quick or repeated key presses. If your keys suddenly do nothing when you tap them but type when you hold them down, it is most likely on. Holding the right Shift key for eight seconds turns it on, which is easy to do by accident in a game. To turn it off on Windows 11, open Settings, Accessibility, Keyboard and switch off Filter keys. To stop it coming back, open Filter keys there and switch off its keyboard shortcut too.

Keyboard test

With Filter Keys on, Windows counts a key only after it has been held for a set wait time. A normal quick tap ends before that, so nothing is typed; the same key held down a little longer is typed. That is why the keyboard seems dead although every key works.

How to tell it is on

Quick taps type nothing, but a key held down for a moment types.
Holding a key does not repeat it, or it repeats very slowly.
You held the right Shift key for a long time, for example to sprint or walk in a game, and Windows beeped and asked whether to turn on Filter Keys.
Your password does not go in at the sign-in screen.

1. Turn it off on Windows 11

Press the Windows key + U, or open Start, Settings, Accessibility. If the keys do not respond, click through with the mouse.
Under Interaction, select Keyboard.
Switch off Filter keys.
Select Filter keys itself to open its options, and switch off Keyboard shortcut for Filter keys. Holding the right Shift key then does nothing, in games too.

2. Windows 10 and the Control Panel

On Windows 10, open Start, Settings, Ease of Access, Keyboard. Switch off Use Filter Keys and clear Allow the shortcut key to start Filter Keys. On either version, the Control Panel route works too: Ease of Access Center, Make the keyboard easier to use, then clear Turn on Filter Keys, select Set up Filter Keys and clear Turn on Filter Keys when right SHIFT is pressed for 8 seconds.

Turn it off right now, or at the sign-in screen

Hold the right Shift key for eight seconds again: the same shortcut turns Filter Keys on and off. If you cannot type your password, select the Accessibility button (Ease of Access on Windows 10) in the lower-right corner of the sign-in screen and switch off Filter keys, or open the on-screen keyboard there and click the keys.

What its three parts do

Slow keys: a key counts only after it has been held down for a set time. This is the part that makes a keyboard seem dead.
Repeat keys: a held key repeats later and more slowly, or not at all.
Bounce keys: a second press of the same key is ignored if it comes too soon after you let go of the first.

Bounce keys is the one part worth using on purpose. On a keyboard whose key types double letters, it can hide the extra letter until you clean or replace the switch: see why a keyboard types double letters. Leave Slow keys off, and the keyboard answers every quick tap again.

3. On a Mac: Slow Keys

macOS has no Filter Keys; its nearest setting, Slow Keys, makes a key count only after a delay. Open the Apple menu, System Settings, Accessibility, Keyboard and switch off Slow Keys. Option + Command + F5 opens a panel that switches it on or off too.

Then test every key

Tap every key once on the keyboard test: with Filter Keys off, each key lights up on a quick tap. If some keys still do not respond, see keyboard keys not working. Shift, Ctrl or Alt staying held after you let go is a different setting: see how to turn off Sticky Keys.

Sources: Microsoft, Windows keyboard shortcuts for accessibility, Make your mouse, keyboard, and other input devices easier to use and the FILTERKEYS settings; Apple, Change Keyboard settings for accessibility on Mac.