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Increase the keyboard key repeat rate System
If you are also fed up by the abysmally low keyboard repeat rate in OS X (even at the highest setting in the system preferences), this is the hint for you. The preference file, where this setting is stored, is hidden, so you can't open it from the Finder. If you have the Developer Tools installed, you can just type
open ~/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist
in the terminal and change the entry to something bigger than 2 (the current max). You'll have to log out and back in to see the changes. The lines to change look like this:

<key>KeyRepeat</key>
<integer>2</integer>
[robg adds: You don't need the Dev Tools installed to view the file, of course -- you can use open -e .GlobalPreferences.plist to force it to open in TextEdit, or just throw your favorite Terminal editor at it.]
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Increase the keyboard key repeat rate | 4 comments | Create New Account
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Increase the keyboard key repeat rate
Authored by: bluehz on Oct 30, '03 06:34:10PM

Hmmm - I don;t seem to have that field in mine. Can it be added and if so - where?



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Increase the keyboard key repeat rate
Authored by: patniemeyer on Nov 01, '03 02:55:23PM

I think you've got the value backwards... Increasing it slows down the key repeat. The value 2 seems to be the minimum (fastest repeat) settable through the GUI. When I change it to 1 or 0 it does seem faster.



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Works in Panther, sort of
Authored by: readparse on Feb 04, '04 11:07:47AM

This is kind of strange. First of all, I agree with the person who posted that larger numbers SLOW the key repeat rate. So you have to go to 1 or 0. I went straight to 0 and it was flying. Way too fast. Then I went to 1 and it was still too slow. So I went back to 2, which is the fastest setting allowable through System Preferences. Get this... it seems faster than it was when set through System Preferences. I'm almost curious enough about that to do some more testing, but having to log out and back in to test every setting is a pain, and I think I'll get on with my life. But I figured I would contribute the little that I found.

Thanks for the hint. Just what I needed.



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Works in Panther, sort of
Authored by: readparse on Feb 07, '04 09:20:06PM

Well, now I don't know what to think. When I reboot with the value set to 1, it comes up slow again. Seems like the first time it reset it to 2, but the latest time it was still 1 (and slow) and when I went to System Preferences the slider was not as the fastest setting. I moved it to the fastest setting, which seemed more tolerable than before, then checked the setting and it was 2.

I just wish:
a) That they had a wider selection of settings. If anybody selects the fastest setting, it should be really fast.
b) That hacking the setting was more consistent and survived reboots



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