How to reattach a Spacebar Key to the Magic Keyboard

Written By: rb
  • Comments: 32
How to reattach a Spacebar Key to the Magic Keyboard

Difficulty

Difficult

Steps

6

Time Required

15 minutes

Introduction

My recommendation is to not remove this key unless absolutely necessary.

It is much harder to reattach than other previous mac keyboards. Including the AA-powered previous gen wireless keyboard.

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    • This is a challenging procedure. The space bar is very hard to reattach. It is far more difficult than previous mac keyboards. There is the risk of permanent damage if replacement is attempted.

    • To remove the spacebar, slide a long fingernail under the front of the key and gently pry it up

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    • Identify top and bottom of the Spacebar.

    • The bottom side, (the side that will be closer to the lower edge of the keyboard), has two plastic notches on either side. These notches will grab on the lower portion of the two scissor mechanisms' small holes, as indicated.

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    • Locate the small metal hooks that hold the bracket arms and hook inward to grip the bracket arms.

    • If the metal bracket holders are bent your key may be harder or impossible to replace.

    • These should come up straight out of the keyboard and not look bent. If you've tried repeatedly to replace the key, you may want some pliers or to gently use a fingernail to straighten these out.

    I broke one of those bracket holder, now what? any fix?

    David Henao -

    In Step 4 diagram, he top bracket has been removed from the spacebar. A we are viewing it, the side of the spacebar facing up is actually the edge at the lower side of the keyboard. you can tell because the fittings that connect to the scissor mechanism are further apart. I found the lower scissor connections are the most vulnerable.

    Jerome Carolfi -

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    • Remove the lower metal bracket by prying it off carefully with your fingernail.

    • Don't worry too much about breaking anything. They snap out and back in fairly safely.

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    • Position the bottom of the key in the opening with the top tilted up and away from the keyboard.

    • You may want to take the top bracket off the key and put it into its spot in the hole first. I've done this with it on and off.

    • Apply pressure starting from the bottom and slide your fingers up toward the top of the key.

    • You should hear and feel the two lower connections to the scissors. The top bracket should naturally be in the correct space.

    • You should be able to tap the key and feel normal action from the top part of it. No matter where you tap it on the top half.

    • Do not apply excess pressure. Previous Mac Keyboards you just pushed down hard and it worked. Apply only enough to seat the key.

    You should review this step too, because it looks like you have the spacebar oriented the wrong way on the keyboard if what you are try ing to do is reattach the bottom stabilizer to the keyboard first and then snap the top one into place. Step 3 diagram clearly shows where the scissor mechanism’s connection points are, and the bottom ones are spaced further apart than the connection points for the upper connectors.

    Jerome Carolfi -

    It would be good to add instructions about the hooks in the top half of the key that need to go under the scissor mechanism. It took me a while to figure that out, and I nearly ruined the key in the process.

    Joel Young -

    So nach langem hin und her, in dem Bild funktioniert diese Anleitung nicht für das neue Magic Keyboard mit Touch ID.

    Die Einrastpinne müssen oben und nicht wie im Bild gezeigt unten sein. Dann funktioniert das auch!

    Viel Glück den nächsten ifixitlern!

    fast bridger -

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    • Carefully pry up the bottom part of the Space key at one corner, without pulling it away from the the scissor connection points.

    • Carefully slide the bracket into the space below the spacebar. Nudge the bracket in until it is in its home.

    • Gently tap the key around the bottom side of the keyboard. Do not apply excessive force as shown on previous mac keyboard spacebar repair videos.

    • You'll know you've been successful when you can press down on any of the four corners of the Space key and it will type a space.

    This part was the trickiest for me. I almost broke the pins applying to much pressure when putting the lower bracket in again. Be extra careful here, I almost didn't put it back, looks like it works without it.

    Pilar A -

    THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

    I wouldn’t have been able to repair my new MacBook Pro 16” without this guide!!

    dajuberthelot12 -

    Thank you for this guide! I needed it in order to realise that prying is all I needed to do in order to remove the key. I did eventually discover though that the key thing is to either make sure you get your “fingernail” (for me actually a piece of hard plastic) between the keycap and the bracket, i.e. above the bracket, if you want to separate the key from the brackets. Alternatively you can get the “fingernail” below the bracket and try to push it out of the holders, but apparently I never thought of or at least succeeded in that strategy.

    hikari_no_yume -

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Author

rb

Member since: 28/01/16

525 Reputation

24 comments

Great tutorial, thanks a lot!

However I found it easier to attach the metal bracket to the holding clips and just popping the key back on top of it.

Xavier Decuyper -

Same as Xavier. First both metal brackets in the keyboard in place and then gently pushing the spacebar down on them. The key got stuck in its lower position at first, but after pulling it up, it works like a charm.

Gerard L -

Thanks for saying I had to pull it up a little.

Anne Silverstein -

Thanks! I spilled beer on my Enter and Caps Lock keys—two of the most complex :(

Your advice helped me for Caps Lock.

The Enter key is different.

For an Enter key, you need to remove the butterfly hinges and attach them to the key cap first. Then add the metal bar, then slide the butterfly hinges back into place. The other edge of the hinge and the metal bar then click back into place when you press down.

This is because under the Enter key there are two hinges that are not aligned, so you can’t slide the key in — whichever way I tried, I only ever caught one hinge and not the other.

By removing them from the keyboard you can check they are properly in their slots on the key cap. You need to look carefully at how they attach to the keyboard, so you can slide them back in later.

I really don’t recommend this repair for the Enter key unless you are really, really precise and have a real eye for detail and a magnifier. Trickiest is getting a <1mm piece of nylon into a <1mm piece of plastic.

Amazing design.

ElectricFeet -

This is awesome and helped a lot — once I realized that Apple reversed the scissors on my space grey magic keyboard, so up is down and down is up. So if you are following this guide, fine the little square notches on the scissor and that side is “bottom”. In my case that was actually towards the top of the keyboard.

Joshua M -

I can get the spacebar back on but it is stuck down and I can’t get it to pop back up. Someone commented this before but I can’t get it back up without detaching the key again. Can anyone suggest how I can fix this please?

Bee -

I have the same problem, any help?

Uriel Sosa -

Just did this in maybe 10 minutes. Had kind of a mushy space key and was hoping to get it fixed. Got the key off and used some compressed air on the scissor mechanism while holding the keyboard upside down. Saw some dust fall out and once reassembling its working like new. I don’t have long fingernails so I used my drivers license carefully to get it started when removing. Thanks!

Jason W -

Could you tell me how to replace the spacebar on the new extended magic keyboard?

John Gay -

There is no metal wire rectangle on the new spacebar. There are clips that attach to the white plastic squares in the keyboard. The white plastic squares are similar to the ones in the images above but with small recesses for clips on the letter-side. There are plastic clips on the letter-side of the underside of the space bar that attach to the white plastic squares on the keyboard. Theses clips are located just under the letter-side metal bar clips, about inline with the ‘V’ and ‘M’ keys. You have to attach the letter-side metal bar to the spacebar first and position it. Hook the ends of the letter-side metal bar into the small metal hooks and centre the spacebar in its recess. Lower the bar slowly until the plastic clips are in their recesses in the white plastic squares. Slide the user-side metal bar in, and line the ends of the two bars up with each other, pull the user-side bar back towards you so it catches on the small metal hooks. Gently press the space bar until you hear some clicks.

John Gay -

Apple magic keyboard with numeric pad. Same problem here with CTRL keys (left and right) there was kind of a dust speck under the key making it stuck. So i did what i used to with all my previous apple keyboards: removed the key carefully with plastic pry and cleaned the keycap hole. Then i tried so many times to put one back without success. Everything seamed to be fine there. So i decided to remove the other to compare if there was a assemble mistake. Now i have booth down flat as if pressed. my keyboard became useless. Please HELP!

Eduardo Menezes -

I had the same problem before.. You have to first put the metal hinges in and then slide the key in an upwards motion until the top part sits a bit deeper as the rest (the upper part of the key has an angle that needs the butterfly mechanism pins to go into the angle). There is the chance that you have bent these angles, try to pry them up with a very small screwdriver.

yikes80 -

Hello, I have done the indicated steps and I managed to position the space bar correctly, but for some reason it is "loose" at both ends, and it only works if I press in the center. Apparently nothing is pushing or pulling up at the ends and you only feel pressure resistance in the center of the key ... any ideas to solve it? thanks

ale cácharo -

I had some problems, with stuck in the left and right sides of the spacebar. After few attempts of reattaching I was pasted 4 strips of scotch tape in a stack in the middle of the spacebar on the inside. And now the spacebar works like a charm.

Виктор Колб -

This guide is incorrect for 2020 magic Keyboards; you have to pry from the TOP end unlike the other keys for some idiotic reason. Pulling form the wrong end will permanently damage the aluminum clasps. Please add a caviat or change the image for 2020 keyboards. I have to deal with the consequences of your poor information now.

Grant -

I can get the spacebar back on but it is stuck down and I can’t get it to pop back up and does not works. Can anyone suggest how I can fix this please?

Terraquio -

The metal holder (the tiny hooks) should be bend in such a way that they push the metal bracket slightly upwards. If the metal bracket is hooked into the holder and has ground contact on the underside, the button will be stuck down after the cap has latched. Tried about twenty times until it worked, really annoying fiddling

e.peeling -

WOW! thank you so much!!!!

jeepeng chow -

i have one problem i managed to get the spacebar attached to the meatal bits and the meatal bits to the keyboard but its kinda wobbly and not atached to the white bits. sorry for spelling

moob453 -

Super! Genau so geht es, in Youtube Videos wird viel Quatsch gezigt. Das hier ist der einzig richtige Weg, vielen Dank für die Anleitung.

MarkusGore -

Die Metallhalterungen müssen so sitzen, dass sie die Metallspange leicht nach oben drücken. Wenn die Spange in der Halterung liegt und dabei aber auf der Unterseite Bodenkontakt hat, wird nach dem aufklicken der Kappe, die Taste angedrückt festsitzen und nicht funktionieren. Habs ungefähr zwanzig mal versucht bis es geklappt hat, echt schlimmer Fummelkram und es scheint echt auf Mikromillimeter anzukommen!

e.peeling -

Thank you for the great tutorial! Here is a little trick if you installed your space bar correctly and still have issues that it is not moving effortlessly on its very left and right edges, which can be really annoying. If you feel some resistance on those edges it might be the case that you’ve accidentally bent those metal hooks slightly upwards when you removed the space bar. You can bend them back in the correct position by pushing the space bar on both edges simultaneously and carefully with some force. At least that worked perfectly for me with the space bar now moving as effortlessly as it should. But first make 100% sure you’ve installed it correctly, otherwise you break things. Cheers!

works_perfectly -

Funktioniert wieder die leertaste

Die möchte aber nichtmehr hervor“springen“ funktioniert soweit aber

Hat jemand eine Ahnung wie ich das behebe ?

ScanderBerlin92 -

If your space bar is not registering in the edges while everything else seems fine. Try this: Put layers of Scotch tape on the underside in the middle of the keycap, where the rubberdome makes contact with the circle of the keycap. I applied about 6 layers and now the key works as before. Make sure the tape sticks well to the keycap and that it does not interfere with any metal bars, hinges or clips. Still don't understand what exactly causes this issue, but this fixed worked for me.

Pascal D -