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Mac 101: Make your own keyboard shortcut

by Dave Caolo Jan 24th 2008 at 7:00AM

There are two types of Mac users: the mouse-centric, the keyboard jockeys, and those who refuse to sleep with Windows users. OK, three types.

This tip is for users like me whose knowledge of each application's set of keyboard shortcuts is prodigious. Even we get stumped occasionally when a shortcut doesn't work as expected or is simply missing. This is very easily remedied.

In the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane in System Preferences, you'll see a little "+". Click it, identify the application you're after and type the name of your target menu item. Next, simply pick a shortcut, click "Add" and you're done! You shortcut is in place and you can avoid another time consuming journey from your home keys to your mouse.

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There are two types of Mac users: the mouse-centric, the keyboard jockeys, and those who refuse to sleep with Windows users. OK, three...
 

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Karl-Franz Marquez

FYI: There is a known bug in 10.5 that causes certain keyboard shortcuts to be disabled when you enter Time Machine. Hopefully they will fix this in 10.5.2. You can read about it here:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1226231

and here:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1233881

January 24 2008 at 10:12 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
TjL

Am I the only one who finds that his system-wide OR app-specific custom keyboards simply disappear from time to time?

Not sure why it happens, but it's hugely annoying.

January 24 2008 at 9:05 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to TjL's comment
jeremydavidbrown

Yeah, I've noticed that. It is really annoying! And it happens on Tiger and Leopard i pretty sure.

January 24 2008 at 9:14 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
James Petersen

Thanks Jeremy (3). I've learned something new today.

January 24 2008 at 8:39 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to James Petersen's comment
jeremydavidbrown

No problems. I'm glad I was able to help. I only stumbled upon the function a year or so ago. There's a bunch of features many people (especially myself) are not aware of. I also only figured out what the odd black dot in the middle of the red traffic light close window button was a year or so ago too. For ages I just thought it was a bug, but then with a little experimentation found out that it represents that there is unsaved text in a document. You're probably aware of it, although if your not, then that is another thing you've learnt today. Well, as it's 12:42 am in my part of the world, I should be off.

January 24 2008 at 9:12 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
XIV

Damn Thanks Jeremy.
It was one of my main complaints about mac, the lack of this ability to tab our way to the other choises in a dialogue box. I didn't know about the black dot either.

January 24 2008 at 2:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jackson

I'm on a similar boat to Daneel. In Safari and NetNewsWire I've setup the Next Tab Previous Tab shortcuts to ctrl + ` and ctrl + shift + `. The only problem is that Firefox doesn't have a menu item for switching tabs. Does anyone know a work around for this? Or perhaps how to change Safari's shortcut to ctrl + tab?

January 24 2008 at 8:01 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Yakov Chodosh

use Firefox

January 24 2008 at 7:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Daneel

the problem with apple's keyboard shortcuts prefs pane is that it only accepts shortcuts with the cmd key somewhere in them. And probably my biggest niggle since switching from windows to a mac (and safari) is having to switch tabs using cmd+shift +}/{. Anyone know how to change it to the standard ctrl+tab ?

January 24 2008 at 7:34 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
James Petersen

Speaking of keyboard shortcuts.
I love 'em. My mouse-induced-RSI loves them too. But...
Why doesn't OS X allow you to select dialogue boxes with the keyboard?
You can hit return on a highlighted selection and some apps allow you to use the first letter of a choice, e.g. if you delete a song in iTunes, you are asked if you want to cancel, keep or move to trash. In this instance, you can hit "m" to move to trash.

Most of the rest of the OS doesn't allow this, or even moving between choices with the arrow keys as in Windows.

I find this the most inconsistent and annoying part of OS X.
There, that's off my chest now.

January 24 2008 at 7:31 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
David Jarman

...let me be the first to say 'Quicksilver Triggers!'

Ta.

January 24 2008 at 7:30 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
James Petersen

Speaking of keyboard shortcuts.
I love 'em. My mouse-induced-RSI loves them too. But...
Why doesn't OS X allow you to select dialogue boxes with the keyboard?
You can hit return on a highlighted selection and some apps allow you to use the first letter of a choice, e.g. if you delete a song in iTunes, you are asked if you want to cancel, keep or move to trash. In this instance, you can hit "m" to move to trash.

Most of the rest of the OS doesn't allow this, or even moving between choices with the arrow keys as in Windows.

I find this the most inconsistent and annoying part of OS X.
There, that's off my chest now.

January 24 2008 at 7:25 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to James Petersen's comment
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