10.3: A quick how-to on creating new keyboard shortcuts

Oct 29, '03 10:57:00PM

Contributed by: allenwatson

The Keyboard & Mouse Preference panel now has a "Shortcuts" tab, through which the user has control of many of the system keyboard shortcuts. Not so obvious is that you are now able to assign keyboard shortcuts for specific application menu items!!

Open the panel and click the Shortcuts tab. Scroll to the bottom of the list that appears. You will see an "All Applications" item. Click the "+" button to add a new application to the list. If it is in the Applications folder, it will show up in the list that appears; if not, select "Other" and you can browse to the application you want.

You are then allowed to type in the EXACT name of the menu item you want to assign, and to type the keystroke you want for the shortcut. For instance, if you wanted to assign the keystroke F1 to Entourage's "Rules" command, you would simply type "Rules", click in the shortcut box, and type the F1 key.

When Entourage is next launched, it will have the keystroke assigned to that menu item. If the application you choose is running, you must quit and relaunch to have the keystroke take effect.

[robg adds: Though this isn't a traditional "hidden" OS X hint, it is one of the more powerful features in Panther. I've already added shortcuts to iChat (Show Chat Participants; why'd they take that one out??) and the Finder (Secure Empty Trash). If you're modifying Finder keys, you'll have to use Activity Monitor or the Terminal to force it to relaunch and read the new shortcut keys. Also, there seem to be some unlisted "illegal" keys; I was unable to create a shortcut for Secure Empty Trash that included the Delete key, for instance.]

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