Custom Keyboard Shortcuts in OS X
The one-two punch of the mouse and GUI are an intuitive duet, but sometimes you just want to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Keyboard shortcuts give you that.
While OS X offers keyboard shortcuts for most commands in the menu bar, there are a few orphaned commands worth adopting. Not a problem though, because OS X allows you to easily adopt any menu bar function and map it to a keyboard command, without the assistance of any third party software.
To access this often forgotten tool, simply navigate your way into the ‘Keyboard & Mouse’ preference pane and tab over to ‘Keyboard Shortcuts.’ When you click on the plus sign, you’ll be presented with three inputs.
First select which application you want to commandeer. You can have your new keyboard shortcut effect a certain application, or work globally across all applications. The great thing about this trick is that you can also remap existing keyboard shortcuts. Secondly, choose which menu command to map by simply typing the menu title. For example, to add a keyboard shortcut for the ‘Zoom’ command under the ‘Window’ menu, simply enter “Zoom.” Finally, decide what you want the keyboard command to be.
It’s that simple. Restart the application and marvel at your new custom keyboard command. What are some of your essential custom keyboard commands in OS X?
I’ve set up a command to un-minimize Mail and iCal from the doc. I usually leave these apps open all the time, but don’t always want them showing, of course. Since Command-M minimizes both, then I’ve set Shift-Command-M to “un-minimize”. (It’s a little trickier in Mail, by the way– you have to use the Message Viewer menu command).
I’ve been re-thinking this, actually, and wondering if I should set one of my Spaces to a “productivity” or PIM space, housing Mail, iCal, Address Book, and a GTD app. The windows could of course stay open all the time, and I would use the (ready-built) menu commands to open it.
Does this post indicate that Leopard fixes the zoom button in the Finder and Safari?
*crosses fingers*
I tried to map the Link>Add in Mail.app 3.0 in Leopard to Cmd-Ctrl-Shft-/ to no avail. Is there a away to map a menu command when it is nested on level deep like Link>Add under the Edit menu in Mail.app 3.0 in Leopard?
Ketone:
Be sure type in the menu command exactly as it appears. In your case, add the ellipsis after the “Add”
Add…
And not:
Add
The dialog is frustratingly broken. It doesn’t accept ctrl+tab or option+tab.
genius. works like a charm.
thanks so much!
Anyone know how to use this to maximize windows that have been minimized to the dock?
Also, ProTools doesn’t respond to the Hide command (Cmd+H), and the method described above doesn’t fix this either because ProTools won’t allow it to be manually assigned. Any suggestions? (I know, “switch to Logic”, right?)
[...] Custom Keyboard Shortcuts in OS X | MacApper. [...]
Is there anyway to back these things up (right now all I can think of is a screen capture) because I am in need of a reinstall and don’t really want to do it by hand…
Does anyone know if there’s a way to specify exactly which command you want to map if there are multiple nested menus which have that same name? For example, in Excel, there are at least three different menus which have “Hide” as a command. When you add a keyboard shortcut for “Hide” in System Preferences, it maps to all three, but executes only the one in the Window menu which hides the currently open document. I want it to hide just the currently selected row(s). I wouldn’t mind making one to hide the currently selected columns too, but I don’t know if it’s even possible. Anyone know? Or, do you think it’d be better to write an AppleScript script and make a shortcut for that?
Thanks.
hey guys, just got an external keyboard for the old MBP, and was wondering if any of you could tell me how to set up a couple of my F-keys to switch to next/previous spaces. it has preset commands, but with this plethora of function keys, i hate having them go to waste.
Could anyone tell me the name of the shortcut (if possible) to change the itunes window to mini player/shrink the window, like when you click the green button.
d3: “… hange the itunes window to mini player/shrink the window …”
Ctrl-Cmd-Z
d3 on February 10th, 2009 2:14 pm
Could anyone tell me the name of the shortcut (if possible) to change the itunes window to mini player/shrink the window, like when you click the green button.
on my computer, (it’s leopard), the control to minimize and maximize the window is
control+command+Z
I think one of the most neglected shortcut methods (at least in Leopard) is to turn on full keyboard access and start typing. (System Preferences > Keyboard and Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts > check Keyboard navigation)
I’ve assigned option-space to “Move focus to the menu bar” (exactly what it does in Windows with alt-space).
Then you start typing the first few letters of the menu item you want to go to, then hit Enter once you get where you want to go. It’s actually more intuitive than the Windows “Alt+random underlined letter” method that I had gotten so used to in Windows (and had sorely missed until I found this).
For example, in Safari, if I want to look up history from last Thursday, I would go to the menu bar (option-space), type “Hi” (first few letters of History), Return, then “Thu” to get to Thursday, then Return.
For me, it is a lot less trouble than remembering (or assigning) 2-3 letter shortcuts with command and option.
Sometimes those shortcuts are useful, though. If you have trouble remembering them, try KeyCue – it will show you all keyboard shortcuts in any active program.
Hi Guys, I just found a pretty nice site for a free iphone unlock / jailbreak/ iphone 3g 3gs and iphone4 jailbreak.
http://www.anysim.net
http://www.bmw-eba.de.tl