KeyCue: Stop Looking For Shortcuts and Start Using Them!

Posted by Greg Healy on 05/25/07 in Fun & Unique, Productivity

KeyCue One of the biggest things that I found different about switching from PC to Mac is the usefulness of keyboard shortcuts. I hardly ever used keyboard shortcuts while in Windows, but on a Mac, it just seems like second nature. Things that used to take a few clicks of the mouse now happen instantly. The only problem I have found with using keyboard shortcuts is finding the ones that I want to use. Usually when I want to find if there is a shortcut for an action I do repeatedly, I have to search through the menus, or go running for System Preferences. All of this got much quicker and easier when I found out about KeyCue.

KeyCue is an application from Ergonis that displays the keyboard shortcuts of the application that you have open. When you launch KeyCue, it doesn’t open in the dock, nor does it show anything in the Menu Bar. For those of you who are cramped for space, this is quite convenient. To invoke KeyCue, all you have to do is hold down the command key. After a second, the screen will dim and a little window will come up showing all of the available shortcuts for the active application.

KeyCue

KeyCue is quite a handy tool for learning, and remembering keyboard shortcuts. The only gripe that I had with KeyCue, is that I could not find a way to change the key that you hold to invoke KeyCue. Other than that, I had no problems with the app. KeyCue is available for â‚¬19.99 ($26.88 USD) here.

KeyCue

Ergonis Software was also kind enough to give away 1 license of KeyCue. To be entered in the draw, answer the following question in the comments: â€œHow would KeyCue be useful to you?â€

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10 Comment(s)

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Brian Waldo said on

May 25th, 2007 at 9:27 am

Great question, while the program would not help me, I am writing on behalf of my father. His memory is not one of the sharpest knives in the drawer, in fact its more like a spoon! He would use this on a daily basis, because he wants to learn and remember the apple shortcuts, but he can’t. Also, it would help me, because every single time he needs help, he calls me. My father would love this as a birthday gift.

Thanks for this chance to help my father (and me)!

Ahmad Zaki Mohamed Salleh said on

May 25th, 2007 at 10:01 am

I would of course use it to improve my productivity especially when doing design works where I’m too lazy to memorize shortcuts for multiple apps.

Zachary N said on

May 25th, 2007 at 10:10 am

Keycue would be useful because I’m always struggling to find key-combinations to quickly execute tasks. This would save so much time!

Dallas Brown said on

May 25th, 2007 at 12:02 pm

I myself am a new switcher to the Mac world. I have been a Windows user since I was a young kid and therefore had years to learn all the short-cuts. Now that I have been a Mac guy for about 2 months and I keep finding myself trying to remember the short-cuts. KeyCue would save me hours of stumbling around trying to find the key combination. I would love this program and hope you will consider me for the license. Thanks.

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Dan said on

May 25th, 2007 at 12:25 pm

KeyCue is a fantasitc little app. I am a software developer and I already find it useful in the trial mode to get to the less used options in my development environment. While in TextMate the shortcuts menu that pops up is quite daunting, but it’s so well laid out that I can quickly drill down to what I need to find.

Dean Wette said on

May 25th, 2007 at 1:21 pm

How would KeyCue be useful to me?

It would help my transition back to Mac OS after a 10 year absence. I started with a Mac Plus back in the 80s, but switched to Windows in the late 90s for professional reasons.

But I’ve had enough and bought a MBP earlier this month. Now I’m trying to get back to being a happy Mac user instead of a grouchy Windows user, but I’ve forgotten more key commands than I remember.

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Jaysen said on

May 25th, 2007 at 1:46 pm

I’m with Dean, but have also been using *nix and BSD more than windows. Although I love OS X gui (KDE is my default on Linux and Solaris) 90% of the time my mouse is untouched. I just don’t need it. My biggest fear of OSX is the “one button mouse” slowing me down, especially when you consider that I plan to have OSX with 5 VM running various OS. I plan to map all the shortcuts to be as close to once OS as possible. The OS that makes it easiest to remember the key combos wins.

Key Cue could just be the nail in that coffin.

Ben Drucker said on

May 25th, 2007 at 3:15 pm

I am trying to get my mom to use the keyboard shortcuts to quicken her workflow, and this would be much better than writing all the shortcuts down on multiple post it notes!

A. Rajaram said on

May 25th, 2007 at 6:02 pm

Key Cue would be really useful to me as I, too, am a student - one who’s learning her way around Photoshop, and desperately need to figure out shortcuts to be able to work faster! Even the littlest things seem to take me forever Also, since I’m a switcher, this would be useful in adjusting to the Mac.