# Best practice for accessing new layers for a single key press

**URL:** <https://community.keyboard.io/t/best-practice-for-accessing-new-layers-for-a-single-key-press/5080>\
**Category:** Help and Getting Started\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [October 16, 2021, 10:08pm UTC](https://community.keyboard.io/t/best-practice-for-accessing-new-layers-for-a-single-key-press/5080 "2021-10-16T22:08:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tooblu](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/community.keyboard.io/tooblu/32/4023_2.png) [@tooblu](https://community.keyboard.io/u/tooblu)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 10:08pm UTC](https://community.keyboard.io/t/best-practice-for-accessing-new-layers-for-a-single-key-press/5080/1 "2021-10-16T22:08:45Z")

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On my Atreus, suppose I have characters on layer #3 and #4 that I want to be able to type. Also, I want to change the default configuration as little as possible, hopefully, not change the default behavior at all. What is the best practice for this sort of thing?

I thought something like:

- double tap Fun turns on layer #3, press a key to get the wanted character, then automatically set back to layer #0.
- double tap Shift turns on layer #4, press a key to get the wanted character, then automatically set back to layer #0.

This is all very new to me, and I’m sure this kind of thing has been solved a million times.

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**Author:** ![ewosborne](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/community.keyboard.io/ewosborne/32/1286_2.png) [@ewosborne](https://community.keyboard.io/u/ewosborne)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 1:07pm UTC](https://community.keyboard.io/t/best-practice-for-accessing-new-layers-for-a-single-key-press/5080/2 "2021-10-22T13:07:34Z")

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There are a couple ways to do this, and which one you choose depends on whether you want to chord to a new key (like Shift chords from ‘a’ to ‘A’) to switch to a new layer (like Caps Lock makes ‘a’ into ‘A’ until you undo it).

I do the former. There are a lot of knobs here and I haven’t kept up with all of them, but here’s how I do it:

- map a single key on Layer #0 to ‘OneShot #1’. Let’s say it’s the Fun key, that’s kinda what it’s for.
- map a single key on Layer #1 to the character you want to enter.

Here are my layer 0 and 1:

Layer 0

 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/uploads/keyboard/original/2X/1/1fd84471390f8cae573c1dcdd39b4c7574cce32f.jpeg)

Layer 1

 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/uploads/keyboard/original/2X/f/fd941d8a3f316a2c8a554350c2ae81044f3df994.jpeg)

So to get the number 1, I hold down the key on Layer 0 which is highlighted in red, then hit the upper-left-most key. I forget if that’s the original location for the Fun key, but it works for me.

If you look at my Layer 0, I have a key bound to OSL #2 and a key bound to Layer #4/Enter. I forget why I did it that way. I like chording Enter, it’s surprisingly smooth.

I have no idea if there’s a better way to do it. Try it a few different ways and see what you like!