How to Configure/Flash your Drop ALT, CTRL, Carina, SHIFT Keyboard in 2021!

Note: You will currently need a second keyboard to complete the last step of this process.

For the many users struggling to update their keyboard’s firmware, allow me to help you not waste as much time as I did. Out of the box, this keyboard is a great product but for customization, Drop’s out-dated documentation and limited support can have you giving up and sending the product back. After reviewing countless articles and tweets of frustrated customers I decided to share how to correctly flash any of your Drop keyboard products.

Configure your keyboard

Visit the QMK configurator and design your keyboard. This is very similar to the configurator on the Drop website, only you need to compile in a different manner.

After you’re done customizing, click the compile button on the top right. This will take a few minutes to generate a .bin file you will need to flash your keyboard.

Install Firmware

If you’re on Mac or Windows, you can download the QMK Toolbox app here. https://github.com/qmk/qmk_toolbox/releases

Click the local file dropdown and import the /.bin file you created in the previous step.

With your Drop keyboard plugged in, hold fn+b until lights go off to put keyboard in flash mode. You can also use a pin to press the small pinhole button on the back of the keyboard to enable. Once the flash mode is enabled, QMK Toolbox will let you flash the device. When the installation is complete, your LEDs will come on and you’re good to go!

Tweet me @nickthedev if you have any questions!