Customizing Num Pad

Num Pad like any Accessibility Keyboard can be customized in multiple ways, some are discussed here and other options/customizations can be discovered by looking though the Num Pad ellipsis menu ellipsis icon options and in the Panel Editor application.

Since Accessibility Keyboards in macOS is a general purpose keyboard and switch input based accessibility system not all the configuration options make sense with Num Pad. For example

Num Pad Scaling

Num Pad can be scaled by clicking and dragging any corner of the window or choosing ellipsis icon > Zoom... and selecting a zoom percentage. There will typically be a range of unusual zoom percentages to select from, that's just the macOS Accessibility Keyboard system being its weird self.

Num Pad Opacity

Num Pad installs with a default opacity of 90%. UI windows with reduced opacity help make it easier to find other windows or items hidden under them. To adjust the opacity: from the Num Pad window choose ellipsis icon > Opacity... and select an opacity percentage.

Other Customizations from the Panel Editor

The options mentioned below are configured in the Panel Editor application. Panel Editor is a special application built into the Accessibility Keyboard system is is not installed in /Applications or /Applications/Utilities. As a reminder to launch the Panel Editor application (if it is not already running):

  1. Launch Num Pad (or any default Accessibility Keyboard) from Input menu input menu icon > show keyboard viewer icon Show Keyboard Viewer
  2. In the Num Pad or other Keyboard window that appears choose ellipsis menu ellipsis icon > Customize...

Changing Where Num Pad is Launched From

There are four different options for launching Accessibility Keyboards, only two of those options are useful with Num Pad: having Num Pad be the default Accessibility Keyboard or adding Num Pad to the list of Custom Panels, which a user would do if we wanted to use a different default Accessibility Keyboard than Num Pad.

Adding Num Pad to the Custom Panels List (Instead of Being the Default Keyboard)

Instead of being the Default Keyboard Num Pad can be added to the list of custom panels that are accessible from any other accessibility keyboard ellipsis icon > Custom Panels. This list is typically initially empty so adding Num Pad typically makes it the only custom panel as shown in Image 1 below.

Keyboard Custom Panels

Image 1. Launching Num Pad from the Custom Panels... menu on another Accessibility Keyboard.

To add Num Pad to the list of custom Accessibility Keyboards and remove it from being the default Accessibility Keyboard:

  1. In the Panel Editor window, if the Inspector panel is not visible on the right side click on the inspector button Inspector button
  2. If there are multiple custom Accessibility Keyboards installed make sure Num Pad is highlighed in the left hand panel
  3. (The Panel Editor main window should look similar to the example in Image 2)
  4. In the Inspector Panel select Show: > In Custom Panel List
  5. Click the red close window button to close the Panel Editor
  6. The Num Pad Keyboard is likely still open, is so close that from the Input menu input menu icon > show keyboard viewer icon Hide Keyboard Viewer
  7. Launch the default Accessibility Keyboard from Input menu input menu icon > show keyboard viewer icon Show Keyboard Viewer (it will no longer be Num Pad)
  8. The Num Pad is now accessed from ellipsis icon > Custom Panels in other keyboards
Keyboard Custom Panels

Image 2. The Panel Editor app showing "Num Pad v0.9 for Pro Tools" selected and set to Show: In Custom panel List in the inspector.

In the Inspector Panel Show: > As Toolbar and Show: > Not Shown options are not useful with Num Pad.

Showing Num Pad Only When Pro Tools has Focus

You can configure the Num Pad to only be visible on screen when Pro Tools is the application with focus. This option is set in the Panel Editor Inspector side panel Show For Applications: > Select Apps... pulldown menu.

WARNING: Setting this can easily lead to the impression that Num Pad has stopped working. If Num Pad is set to only appear when Pro Tools is running then it will only appear on the screen when Pro Tools has focus. If for example Pro Tools is running but does not have focus and Num Pad is set as the home panel and the user tries to launch the home panel from Input menu input menu icon > show keyboard viewer icon Show Keyboard Viewer then no keyboard will appear, the keyboard is actually on screen but is hidden. If the user then clicks on the Pro Tools UI so that Pro Tools now has focus the Num Pad will appear.

Additional Resources