Create Your Own Custom Mac Keyboard Shortcuts

You can create your own custom keyboard shortcuts on your Mac for any item in the Mac menu bar. By going into System Preferences you can set a shortcut using the exact name of the menu item in an app or across all apps. You can also change the shortcut assigned to a menu item.

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Video Transcript: Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Let me show you how to create custom keyboard shortcuts on your Mac. 
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So it has been awhile since I talked about custom keyboard shortcuts. On a Mac you can assign a custom keyboard shortcut to any menu item in any application. You can even change the default shortcuts used by an app.  You can create a keyboard shortcut for any item you find in a menu. The thing you need to do is note the exact name for the menu item. So, for instance, here in Safari in Bookmarks there's a menu item called Show Bookmarks. You have to look at the name and get it right exactly. Show space Bookmarks. Note it doesn't matter what the name of the menu is, in this case Bookmarks. You don't have to worry about that. Just the name of the item itself. Most menu items already have a keyboard shortcut assigned to them. But for ones that don't, like Show Bookmarks here in Safari, you can assign your own. 
To do this go to System Preferences and then go to Keyboard. Then click on Shortcuts at the top. Here you'll see a list of system keyboard shortcuts. What you want to do is go down to the last item App Shortcuts. This will list all of your custom keyboard shortcuts. To create one hit the Plus button here. Then choose which application the menu item appears in. In this case it's Safari. So choose Safari and then we'll type the exact name of the menu item. Show Bookmarks. Now when I say you have to type the menu name exactly I mean exactly! You have to even get the case of each letter exactly right. 
Then click in this field here and then type your keyboard shortcut. A keyboard shortcut should use a combination of modifier keys and then a regular key on your keyboard. The modifier keys are Command, Option, Control, and Shift. So, for instance, we can do Command Option Control and then the B key to represent this keyboard shortcut. You'll see symbols representing each one of those modifier keys here in the field. Then click Add. Now you'll see it appear here. If you ever want to edit it you can click on the shortcut field there to change the keyboard shortcut. You can also click on the name here if you've typed it wrong to make a correction.
Now if we go back to Safari and look in the Bookmarks menu we can see Show Bookmarks has that shortcut assigned. This is the first thing you want to do. You want to check to make sure you entered the menu name correctly. If you don't see this here there's no point in even trying the keyboard shortcut because you've made a mistake. So once you see it here you can give it a try. So I'm going to try it here and you can see it shows Bookmarks here on the left.
Now a few things you need to note. The first is if a menu item is disabled, grayed out, then it won't work whether you choose it in the menu or use the keyboard shortcut. It's simply not active now. So the menu item action has to be a valid action for whatever it is you're doing. Second, whenever you've got these three dots here you can use three periods or Option and the semicolon to represent that. Either one will work in System Preferences to match the menu item. 
Another thing to note is that sometimes menu items change names. For instance notice Show Bookmarks isn't there anymore. It's now Hide Bookmarks because bookmarks are shown. There's no keyboard shortcut for Hide Bookmarks. But we can add a keyboard shortcut for this very easily. I'll just add one here in Safari and I'll use exactly the same keyboard shortcut. So you see them both there. So now you can toggle them back and forth because both Hide Bookmarks and Show Bookmarks have the same keyboard shortcut. So I can just go back and forth with those.
Now you can also use the same method to change keyboard shortcuts. So here I am in Mail and under Message Reply All is Shift Command R. Let's say I want to change that. So I can go to System Preferences here. I can add a new one. This time I'm going to set the app to Mail. I'll type the exact name for the menu item. Then I'm going to set the keyboard shortcut to Shift Option Command R and Add it. Now if I go back into Mail and I look here I can see that Reply All now has a different keyboard shortcut.
If you even want to remove one you've added you simply select it and hit the Minus button.
Now sometimes you want to use a keyboard shortcut that works across all apps. Here in Safari if I want to share a page using AirDrop I can go to File, Share, AirDrop and there's no keyboard shortcut for that. Other apps have the exact same menu item. Here I am in Notes and if I go to File, Share, there's Airdrop there as well. So let's create a keyboard shortcut that will work in all apps. Here in System Preferences I can add the shortcut for Application. I'll go all the way up the list and just say All Applications. Then I'll add the name of the menu item exactly and do a keyboard shortcut. I'll do Command Option Control Shift A and I'll hit Add. Now if I go to Safari under File, Share I can see that's the shortcut for Sharing AirDrop. If I'm in Notes it's the same exact shortcut. So it's universal across all the apps that have that menu item.
This works in Mac apps and third party apps. Anything that uses the Mac menu bar. The reason this exists is because each Mac user is a little different. There may be menu items that you use all the time that other people never use. So this gives you the ability to assign custom keyboard shortcuts to the things that matter the most to you.

Comments: 13 Responses to “Create Your Own Custom Mac Keyboard Shortcuts”

Lou

5 years ago

Will this work for an app that it's a sub-folder of the main application directory. For example the app Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 is not in the main directory. The structure is Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 / Support Files / Adobe Photoshop Elements Editor.app. Love all of your tutorials. Thank you!!

Gary Rosenzweig

Lou: This has nothing to do with the location of the app. Try making a shortcut and you'll see.

Thanks Gary. I did not scroll down far enough. I had to select other, and then click on the app. After all that, PSE19 does not allow shortcuts to be added. I will try it other apps though. Thanks again.

Lou: What do you mean by "does not allow." What are you seeing? Is there an error message?

I get the message: Alert - You cannot add keyboard shortcuts for the application Adobe Photoshop Elements Editor.app.

Lou: Looking into it it seems like Adobe has intentionally disabled this. In the pro apps, like Photoshop, there is a way to customize shortcuts inside the app. You go to Edit, Keyboard Shortcuts. I'm not sure if this is in Photoshop Elements though. Try it.

lou

Unfortunately that option is not available in Photoshop Elements..... Thanks again...!!

Drew

Yet more great advice - thanks Gary. A couple things: when I made some custom shortcuts, they didn't "stick" until I closed the app and reopened it. Also, where do we find a clear, easy to check grid of default shortcuts, so we know which ones are available? I've seen many lists but most are hard to quickly scan for open selections.

Drew: Because shortcuts are related to apps, it is hard to ever find a definitive list. It depends on which apps you have and use.

Gary: Yes, apps have their own shortcuts, but there are defaults. Apple publishes a definitive list (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236) - just not very easily referenced in a simple grid format, which would be handy when looking for available key combos. The goal is to be able to quickly find available spots for custom shortcuts, for those who haven't memorized the 150+ defaults. In lieu of a simple table (rows of keys x columns of modifiers) I guess I'm on my own.

Drew: You can always use my own, but it doesn't have ALL of the shortcuts. https://macmost.com/printable-mac-keyboard-shortcut-page-for-macos-catalina.html

Bill Braun

Can you make a shortcut in Word that uses a submenu? For example under "Table Menu" there is INSERT. But then you have to choose ROW ABOVE or ROW BELOW. Is there a way to accomplish this?

Bill: It doesn't matter how deep the item is. If you set it to the exact text of the item, like "Rows Above" it should work.

Comments Closed.

Create Your Own Custom Mac Keyboard Shortcuts

Comments: 13 Responses to “Create Your Own Custom Mac Keyboard Shortcuts”

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