Winmand

Mac-style keyboard shortcuts for Windows.

A tray app that remaps the Cmd shortcuts from your MacBook to their Windows equivalents — system-wide, in every app.

Download · Screenshots · How it works · FAQ

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What is Winmand?

If you use a MacBook with Windows — Boot Camp, dual-boot, or full-time — your fingers still reach for the Mac shortcuts: Cmd+C to copy, Cmd+W to close a tab, Cmd+Tab to switch windows, Option+← to jump a word.

On a MacBook keyboard the Cmd key is just the left Windows key. Winmand sits in the tray and remaps those Cmd shortcuts to their Windows equivalents in every app, so the muscle memory carries over. It runs entirely in user mode — no kernel driver, no browser extension, nothing to reboot for.

Install

1. Download Winmand.exe from the latest release.
2. Run it. The first launch shows a quick onboarding tour.
3. The ⌘ icon appears in the tray — double-click it for Settings.

It's a self-contained .NET 8 binary: nothing to install, no dependencies.

🛡 Windows SmartScreen warning — on first run, Windows may say "unknown publisher". This is normal for new releases. Click More info → Run anyway.

Screenshots

Features

Out of the box

• 48 Cmd shortcuts pre-mapped — copy, paste, save, find, new tab, close tab, undo, redo, select all, refresh, address bar, zoom, and more
• Cmd+Tab — sustained Alt+Tab window switcher, just like on macOS
• Cmd+Q — quits the active app with optional confirmation
• Cmd+Ctrl+Q — locks the screen (replaces Win+L)
• Option+arrow keys — word-by-word cursor navigation
• Cmd+Shift+3 / 4 — full-screen / area screenshots
• Cmd+1..9 — switch tabs in browsers / editors
• Cmd+0 / Cmd+= / Cmd+- — reset / zoom in / zoom out
• Cmd+Delete — sends a file to the Recycle Bin in Explorer, or deletes to the start of the line in text fields (just like macOS)

MacBook extras

• Touch Bar brightness on external monitors — the brightness keys only adjust the built-in panel under Boot Camp; Winmand mirrors them to any external monitor over DDC/CI, so the keys finally "just work"

Customizable

• Add your own rules with a visual chord recorder
• Per-app overrides — disable specific shortcuts in specific apps, with a built-in filter to find the rule fast
• App ignore list — make Winmand invisible to specific apps (useful for games where Cmd-style shortcuts could interfere with controls)
• Drag-reorder rules (order matters when triggers conflict)
• Pause/Resume from the tray menu
• Import/Export your configuration as JSON

Polish

• 10 languages — English, Русский, 简体中文, Español, Deutsch, Português, Français, 日本語, Italiano, 한국어
• Auto dark/light theme — follows your Windows theme live
• Smooth animations — macOS-Settings-style page transitions
• Autostart via Task Scheduler — no UAC prompt at login
• Built-in diagnostics — a Debug panel with monitor/DDC-CI info, the active window, a verbose key log and a one-click hook reinstall

How it works

• Low-level keyboard hook (WH_KEYBOARD_LL) intercepts every key system-wide
• The remap engine swallows Cmd-down so the Start menu doesn't pop up, then injects Ctrl+key (or whatever the rule maps to) via SendInput
• All processing is user-mode — no kernel drivers, no signing burdens, no reboots
• Configuration lives in %AppData%\Winmand\hotkeys.json (rotated backups, last 5 saves kept)
• Crash reports auto-saved to %AppData%\Winmand\crashes\
• Emergency disable: Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Esc if you ever need to bail out

What's in this repository

Winmand's source is closed. This repo hosts only:

• README.md — this file
• LICENSE.md — Winmand End-User License
• CHANGELOG.md — release history
• translations/ — language files. Pull requests welcome!
• docs/ — screenshots, asset files
• Releases — built Winmand.exe binaries

Contributing

Although the binary is closed source, two contribution paths are open:

Translations

The application supports 10 languages. To add a new one or improve an existing one, open a PR against translations/<lang>.json. See translations/README.md for the workflow.

Bug reports & feature requests

Open an issue with the relevant template. Bug reports go fastest with the log file from %AppData%\Winmand\winmand.log attached.

FAQ

Will my games work? If a game's controls conflict with Cmd-style shortcuts, add the game's executable name (without .exe) to the Apps tab — Winmand will then ignore that app entirely.

Does it work on Windows 10? Yes — the minimum is Windows 10 build 19041 (May 2020 / 20H1).

Will Cmd+Tab work in Boot Camp? Yes. Winmand translates Cmd+Tab into a sustained Alt+Tab session — the Windows window switcher stays on screen as long as you hold Cmd, exactly like macOS.

Why does it need admin? The low-level keyboard hook has to run at the same integrity level as the apps it serves, including elevated ones (Task Manager etc). Without admin, shortcuts wouldn't work inside those apps. Winmand uses Task Scheduler for autostart so you don't see a UAC prompt every login.

What about Win+L (lock screen)? Winmand swallows the bare Win key (so a stray tap doesn't open Start menu), which also swallows Win+L. Use Cmd+Ctrl+Q to lock the screen — same combo as macOS, mapped to LockWorkstation().

Is my data sent anywhere? No. Winmand is fully offline. The only network call is an optional update check against GitHub Releases (skipped if no repo is configured).

Does the trial expire? No trial, no expiry. Free forever.

Support development

Winmand is built and maintained by one person. If it makes your MacBook + Windows life better, please consider supporting:

❤ Boosty

License

Winmand binaries are distributed under the Winmand End-User License — a proprietary license that allows free personal use and binary redistribution but prohibits resale and reverse-engineering. See LICENSE.md for the full text.

Translations contributed to this repository are licensed back under the same terms.

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Made with ⌘ for MacBook users on Windows.