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VIM-ify All Things with the Drop Alt Keyboard

Jan 14, 202013180 VIEWS

Vim all the things with the Drop Alt Keyboard. After writing code for the better part of five years in Vim and various code editors with Vim keybindings, I went back to a job where I spend a fair chunk of my time writing and editing in Outlook, Word and Excel. As I worked in these other apps I would often wish I had Vim navgiation keys. Microsoft applications do have navigation helpers with the CTRL + arrow keys but they require you to move your hand which, ergnomically, taxes my shoulder. While the thought about how to “Vimify” Office apps kept popping up more and more, I went down the rabbit hole of mechanical keyboards. That’s when I stumbled on to the Drop Alt Keyboard. The Alt Keyboard is a 65%, RGB backlit, mechanical keyboard that has a couple tricks up its sleeve. First, it has hot swappable switches. Given that I just discovered mechanical keyboards, I thought testing out different switches would be cool. The RGB backlit keys are cool if you’re a gamer but unicorn vomit didn’t interest me. However, the feature that did interested me was that you could program the Alt Keyboard’s QMK firmware. The Drop Configurator allows you to configure the keymapping and RGB lighting of each key. The keys are configurable by layer. You can have up to 15 layers and configure the keymapping and lighting of each key in each layer. I bought the keyboard with the intent to set up one layer that just mapped h, j, k, and l to emulate Vim navigation. After I realized how easy it was to update the firmware, I decided to program the keyboard for shortcuts I use (or forget to use) in the Microsoft applications I commonly use at work. I ended up using four layers:

Layer 0 - This is the normal keyboard layer.
Layer 1 - This is the default Alt Keyboard layer has the LED Controls and maps the number keys to function keys.
Layer 2 - The Vim layer. On this layer I mapped the Vim navigation keys to the arrow keys and ended up adding helpers for Word and Outlook.
Layer 3 - The Excel layer. Here I mapped some shortcuts that often use the mouse for and could never remember the shortcut for.

Layer 0 - Default Layer

Toggle Keys

CapsLock (Yellow) - toggles VIM layer
Fn (Orange) - holding down this key activates the Led / function keys. You need to hold down this key to use a key in Layer 1.
Right Alt (Lime) - toggles Excel layers just for the next key press. Toggles back to layer from which it was called.

Keymapping The is pretty much a default keyboard layout except for the layer toggles. Layer 1 - LED / Fn Layer

Colors

Blue - The default configuration is to have the Del, PgUp, PgDn and ]} key control music volume.
White - Active keys. The number keys are function keys on this layer. I made f4, f5, f8 and f9 lime because they have functionality in Excel.
Yellow - These keys control the default led patterns in of the keyboard. The B is red because it’s the key you need to press in order to update the firmware.

Keymapping

Left-Shift = capslock (I remapped caps lock to this layer since I don’t really use it and so I could use the caps lock to toggle into the Vim layer)
Application-key = alt + f4 (Closes a window)

Layer 2 - VIM / Word / Outlook Layer

Toggle Keys

CapsLock (Yellow) - toggles back to Default layer.
Right Alt key (Lime) - toggles Excel layer for next key press.

Colors The yellow and orange are kind of hard to distinguish in the photos.

Orange / Yellow - Navigation
Violet - Outlook shortcuts
Light Blue - Word navigation

Keymapping

Navigation

Vim

J = down arrow
K = up row
H = left arrow
L = right arrow
Y = page up
N = page down

Word Helpers

U = ctrl + page up (Beginning of paragraph)
M = ctrl + page down (End of paragraph)
W = ctrl + right arrow (Navigates to next word)
B = ctrl + left arrow (Navigates to previous word)
4$ = ctrl + home (Navigates to end of line)
0) = ctrl + end (Navigates to start of line)

I tried to figure out a way to navigate sentences but I didn’t want to write VB macros. Excel Helper

V = ctrl + shift (With the Vim navigation mappings I can expand a selection by just holding down this key instead of ctrl + shift)

Shortcuts

Outlook

1, 2, 3 = ctrl + function key (These map to custom labels I have set up to organize my emails)
Q, Z = ctrl + shift + tab (Takes you to the folders pane)
A = backspace (Archives email. I remapped they key here so I don’t have to move my right hand while navigating the inbox)
X = del (Deletes an email)
R = ctrl + r (Reply)
T = ctrl + shift + r (Reply all. Colored red for obvious reasons)
F = ctrl + f (Forward email)

Word

.> = shift + f5 (Cycle through last 4 edits)
/? = ctrl + f (Opens search dialog box)

Layer 3 - Excel Layer

Toggle Keys The Drop configurator has an option to toggle a layer for one keypress. I use this to toggle this layer from the Default layer and the Vim layer. After I press a shortcut, the keyboard reverts back to the previous layer. Colors

Violet - Formatting keys
Lime (looks like yellos in the photo) - Excel commands
Orange - Excel navigation

Keymapping

Formatting

Esc = ctrl + shift + ` (Formats number as General - 1000.00)
1! = ctrl + shift + 1 (Formats number as Number - 1,000.00)
2@ = ctrl + shift + 2 (Formats number as Time - 4:30 PM)
3# = ctrl + shift + 3 (Formats number as Date - Dec-25-86)
4$ = ctrl + shift + 4 (Formats number as Currency - $1,000.00)
5% = ctrl + shift + 5 (Formats number as Percent - 99%)
6^ = ctrl + shift + 6 (Formats number as Scientific - 2.34E+02)
F = ctrl + 1 (Opens format dialog box)

Excel Commands

V = ctrl + alt + V (Opens paste special dialog box)
R = ctrl + R (Fills cells to the right of the selected cell)
D = ctrl + D (Fills cells below the selected cell)
I = shift + f3 (Insert formula)
M = ctrl + f3 (Opens name manager)
N = ctrl + n (Create new worksheet)
- = ctrl + - (Delete row)
+ = ctrl + + (Delete column)
;: = ctrl + ‘ (Copies formula from the above cell)
'" = ctrl + shift + “ (Copies value from the above cell)
Tab = ctrl + ` (Toggles between values and formulas)

Excel Navigation

C = ctrl + space (Select column)
B = shift + space (Select row)
8* = ctrl + shift + * (Selects the current region around the active cell)
[{ = ctrl + [ (Goes to precedent cell)
]} = ctrl + ] (Goes to dependent cell)
. = ctrl + . (Jumps to the corners of a selection)
Home = ctrl + home (Goes to beginning of sheet)
-> = ctrl + end (Goes to end of sheet)

Conclusion This set up as worked out really well so far. I will probably make a couple tweaks here and there but I’ve gotten used to the layout after a full day’s use. It’s worked out so well I’m considering buying another one for home to replace my dev keyboard, an Apple Magic Keyboard. At $200 shipped, the Alt Keyboard isn’t cheap but what would you pay to finally learn all the Vim keybindings?

(Edited)

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13.1K

choiway

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Ichibrosan

Jul 26, 2023

That is some fine work you did there. But if you are using Vim, I assume you have at least a passing familiarity with Linux. In my household, we have Linux and macOS, and that's about it. We banned Windows just before Windows 7. So I have a couple of questions. I bought a Drop Shift because I have some visual disability when it comes to seeing the keyboard and some disability when it comes to typing reliably. The drop shift seems to ameliorate the typing issue. But the keyboard's constantly changing color scheme (default) leaves the backlight off sometimes, making it unreadable for me. So I determined I needed to program the lights to stay stable. I used the web programmer, came up with a profile that should do the trick, and found an MD loader for the Mac, but I couldn't get it to talk to the keyboard. So I guess question one is, Is there a Linux MD loader? If I am stuck using the Mac version, and in any case, where is the best help on how to do this process? I have spent hours fooling around with this and have gotten nowhere. Oh yea, Question Three, Why do I need a second keyboard? (A second Drop programmable KBD?), I don't understand, but I want to. Thanks, Douglas

(Edited)

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dcrisp2

May 12, 2021

This is awesome, thanks for the writeup!

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thedogbeat

May 12, 2021

What is the size of the thing?

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iHeffner

Nov 24, 2020

I hope it’s just a typo that $ is “start of line” and 0 is “end of line” because that is not the way of the vim. I do not envy the need to create this level of mapping (the horrors of having to work in Word and Excel), but kudos for the efforts.

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choiway

Nov 24, 2020

iHeffnerYou're right that's a typo. Thanks for pointing it out!

Vote

wumbostickman2000

I work at Drop!

Jul 22, 2020

Hi @choiway - thanks for the great post. I featured this in our daily email which is sent to all mechanical keyboard community subscribers!

choiway

Jul 22, 2020

wumbostickman2000cool!

lskital

Jul 21, 2020

Great post. I use VIM navigation across almost all my devices: couple of mech keybs and MacBooks with Karabiner. I haven't figure out how to do it natively on Chromebooks, which I use from time to time, when tugging a keyboard is not convenient.

Phlooke

198

May 14, 2020

Awesome, I've always wanted to do this but never wanted to FUBAR a new keeb a week after receiving it. Do you know if much of this applies to the CNTRL keyboard (the TKL version of the ALT..Not to insult your intelligence just thought I'd specify since naming keyboards after keys can mess people up lol). And what you did wouldn't be undone if unplugged right?

Vote

choiway

May 14, 2020

Phlooke @Phlooke It should work with the CTRL. You just have to use the CTRL mapping in the Drop keyboard configurator. The configurator updates the firmware so it does work after you unplug it. I've updated the firmware 100 times and haven't bricked it so I think you're safe if you follow the directions.

Phlooke

198

May 14, 2020

choiwayOkay cool, so I still need to go through all of the steps like downloading MD loader for Windows etc like in this pic after doing the online GUI configurator? (Sorry for my n00b questions. I can follow instructions very well, just making sure that's the instructions to follow)

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DrFranco

May 8, 2020

Very nice guide. Thank you very much for this.

Kevnwin

766

Vendor Services

Jan 17, 2020

Great guide! Thanks for sharing this, @choiway.

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8utl3r

Jan 16, 2020

If you ever decide the rabbit hole doesn't go deep enough and want to bore straight to the core of QMK insanity then check out gboards.ca. Germ's boards are next level. Edit: spelign

(Edited)

choiway

Jan 16, 2020

8utl3rI think you just ruined the next month of my life.

(Edited)

8utl3r

Jan 16, 2020

choiwayHa! Sorry! :P The usage of the layers is great but it starts to blow my mind once he starts using chording. I barely have to move my fingers. :D