MBP Touch Bar Mirror Displays Keyboard Shorcut

Question

On the new macbooks with the Touch Bar, what keyboard shortcut can be used to mirror displays?

On Macbook Pros without the touchbar, the keyboard shortcut for mirroring displays was Command+F1. This doesn't seem to work on the new Macbook Pro with touchbar - you have to press the Fn key to show the F1, F2, etc. keys, and Fn+Command+F1 doesn't seem to do it.

Here are my current keyboard settings:

Answer 1

The new shortcut is Command-Dim Brightness. It even makes sense in the following way:

Assuming that you take advantage of the touch bar, and it displays the system controls instead of the function keys then the hand gesture is exactly the same as before when you would have pressed Command-F1 since the Dim Brightness button is where F1 would be:

The annoying thing is that if you have an application-aware touch bar configuration, then you have to bring up the system controls touch bar configuration first.

This is why, in some cases, the Display Menu (in the App Store) which adds a status item in your menu bar (and includes a Mirror Screen choice) is a good option.

Answer 2

Workaround found, works for me, late 2016 MBP 15":

System Preferences > Keyboard > Press Fn key to > "Show control strip"

fn + Command + "screen brightness less" (where F1 would be otherwise) = toggle mirroring

Answer 3

I have the opposite problem.. was lacking a stock option to disable this shortcut!

I've remapped Cmd,F1 to display_brightness_decrement using Karabiner Elements - no need to interfere with other shortcuts!

You can install the key mapping from here: disable_cmd_f1_screen_mirroring by following instructions here: configuration-complex-modifications.

Alternatively, to achieve this manually: you can place the following file in ~/.config/karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/disable_cmd_f1_screen_mirroring.json then activate it via Karabiner Elements:

• Navigate to Karabiner Elements > Preferences > Complex Modifications > Rules
• Add Rule
• Enable your new rule

{
    "title": "Disable Cmd+F1 Toggle Screen Mirroring",
    "rules": [
        {
            "description": "Disable Cmd+F1 Toggle Screen Mirroring Shortcut (map to display_brightness_decrement), see https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2793101",
            "manipulators": [
                {
                    "type": "basic",
                    "description": "",
                    "from": {
                        "key_code": "f1",
                        "modifiers": {
                            "mandatory": [
                                "command"
                            ]
                        }
                    },
                    "to": [
                        {
                            "key_code": "display_brightness_decrement"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Answer 4

Keyboard Settings

• Touch Bar shows: F1, F2, etc. Keys
• Press Fn key to: Show Control Strip

On MBP keyboard, this works:

fn + cmd + dim brightness

External Microsoft keyboard, TBD.

Answer 5

Check out your options at System Preferences > Keyboard, under the “Keyboard” tab. There’s a checkbox there for “Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys,” and if that’s on, the keyboard shortcut will be Function-Command-F1 instead.

Visit https://www.macobserver.com/tips/quick-tip/os-x-use-keyboard-shortcut-display-mirroring/

Answer 6

I used a combination of Karabiner and the utility at https://fabiancanas.com/open-source/mirror-displays to enable Command plus the Dim Brightness button on the Touch Bar.

Instructions:

1. Install the MirrorDisplays app in your Utilities folder
2. In System Preferences for Keyboard, choose Touch Bar shows "Expanded Control Strip" (at least in Mac OS Catalina)
3. Enable the Touch Bar in Karabiner as a separate "No product name" LED keyboard in the Devices panel.
4. Add the following to the list of complex_modifications rules in karabiner.json

{
    "description": "Cmd+DimBrightness Toggles Screen Mirroring Shortcut",
    "manipulators": [
        {
            "description": "Cmd+DimBrightness Toggles Screen Mirroring Shortcut (map to display_brightness_decrement). Requires enabling the Touch Bar as a keyboard in Karabiner. See https://github.com/pqrs-org/Karabiner-Elements/issues/1700 and https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2793101",
            "from": {
                "key_code": "f1",
                "modifiers": {
                    "mandatory": [
                        "command"
                    ]
                }
            },
            "to": [
                {
                    "shell_command": "open '/System/Applications/Utilities/MirrorDisplays.app'"
                }
            ],
            "type": "basic"
        }
    ]
}