Over in the Macworld forums the other day, a reader lamented the switch in functionality of Command-N between OS 9 (new folder) and OS X (new Finder window).
It's been so many years since I switched over that I'd basically completely forgotten about that change -- and I make new windows more often than new folders, so I actually prefered the switch. Nonetheless, I was pretty sure we must have run a hint on how to swap the existing shortcut keys, which became possible with the release of 10.4. But all I could find when searching was this old hint I wrote about other ways to easily create new folders. It seems I never documented the method of switching the New Finder Window and New Folder keyboard shortcuts. So I did that yesterday in this Macworld tip writeup.
In a nutshell, you can make Command-N create new folders by first assigning the New Finder Window command to another key combo, then reassigning the New Folder command to Command-N (all done in the Keyboard Shortcuts tab of the Keyboard & Mouse System Preferences panel, of course). You can then switch New Finder Window over to Shift-Command-N, if you want to. If you need more detail, I went through the process step-by-step in the above-linked writeup.
But the more interesting version of this hint is the general one -- you can use this same technique to swap any pair of existing shortcuts. For instance, I swapped Command-I and Command-Option-I -- Command-I now gives me the Inspector window, and Command-Option-I brings up the Get Info window. I use the Inspector much more often than I use the Get Info window, and it's now but a simple Command-I away. To swap any existing combos, just do this, using my swap as the sample case:
- In the Keyboard Shortcuts panel, reassign the command (Get Info) whose shortcut (Command-I) you'd like to use to something else (I used Command-Control-I).
- In the Keyboard Shortcuts panel, assign the now-vacant combo (Command-I) to the command you'd like it to activate (the Inspector).
- Relaunch the Finder to activate the first swaps.
- Back in the Keyboard Shortcuts panel, change the temporarily-assigned command (Get Info, Control-Command-I) to the now-vacated shortcut from the other command (Inspector, Command-Option-I).
- Relaunch the Finder again to activate the change.

