Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts | Adobe InDesign CS3 Bible

InDesign provides keyboard shortcuts for accessing most tools and menu commands, and for many pane options. For the most part, the keyboard shortcuts selected by Adobe either match platform standards ‚ such as z +X or Ctrl+X for Edit ‚ Cut ‚ or they're based on keyboard shortcuts in PageMaker, Photoshop, and Illustrator. Fortunately, you're not stuck with the keyboard shortcuts Adobe decided on ‚ and I say "fortunately" because a few decisions and omissions are a little odd.

QuarkXPress User ‚

You can choose to use shortcuts based on QuarkXPress 4.0 shortcuts, or you can modify a copy of the QuarkXPress set. Please note that the QuarkXPress 4.0 set is not a perfect match for every keyboard shortcut in QuarkXPress 4. I cover this topic in more depth later in this chapter.

The Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box (Edit ‚ Keyboard Shortcuts), shown in Figure 3-13, provides all the tools you need for modifying keyboard shortcuts.

Figure 3-13: The Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box lets you create new sets of keyboard shortcuts.

To customize or not to customize

The ability to customize keyboard shortcuts, letting you work the way you want, is great ‚ or is it? Maybe only if you work alone and never talk to anyone about your work or their work. Modified keyboard shortcuts can lead to confusion when discussing techniques, reading documentation, or sharing computers. While modifying keyboard shortcuts ‚ or even while considering it ‚ keep the following in mind:

You can specify keyboard shortcuts for specific fonts and faces that you use frequently, such as a shortcut for Gill Sans Bold Italic. For the font to be listed in the Commands area, you'll need to make sure it's available to InDesign when you open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box.
Don't change system-wide conventions such as the shortcuts for New, Open, Save, and Print.
Don't change common keyboard commands to harmful shortcuts ‚ for example, don't use z +F or Ctrl+F for changing leading rather than invoking Find/Change.
If you share computers in any way ‚ even just another user reaching over your shoulder to provide assistance ‚ adding keyboard shortcuts is safer than changing them. Your shortcuts will be slightly customized, but other users will be able to use your copy of InDesign without unexpected results.
If you're at a 24- hour production shop in which two or three people share computers, each person can have his or her own set of named keyboard shortcuts. But this requires each user to remember to activate his or her own set.
You can't export keyboard shortcuts to share with other users. If consistency is important, make sure everyone creates the same set.
Don't modify keyboard shortcuts for computers in public places such as training centers or photocopy centers.
QuarkXPress users coming to InDesign have to learn new software anyway, so they might benefit ‚ in the long run ‚ from learning new keyboard shortcuts as well. Even though using your old shortcuts will ease the initial transition, the frustration caused by missing or different shortcuts can be worse than learning new ones.
When you're specifying keyboard shortcuts, remember to use a modifier key or keys: z , Option, Shift, or Control on the Mac and Ctrl, Alt, or Shift on Windows. Single-letter or -number commands (which Adobe uses for selecting tools) obviously can't be used while you're editing text.

If all this makes me seem negative about customizing keyboard shortcuts, I'm really not. Just consider all the ramifications before you do any customizing.

Using and modifying default shortcuts

When you first launch InDesign, you're using the default set of shortcuts, which you can view in menus , in some tool tips, and in your documentation. (This book lists default shortcuts as well.) You cannot modify the default set, but you can create a new set based on it, then modify the shortcuts in that set.

The Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box (Edit ‚ Keyboard Shortcuts), shown in Figure 3-13, provides all the tools you need for modifying keyboard shortcuts. To use the standard keyboard shortcuts after switching to another set, choose Default from the Set pop-up menu at the top of the dialog box, then click OK.

Here's how to create a new set:

Choose Edit ‚ Keyboard Shortcuts.
Click New Set.
In the New Set dialog box, choose Default from the Based On Set pop-up menu.
Enter a different name for the set in the Name field, then click OK to create the set.
To start modifying the commands, select a menu or type of shortcut to change from the Product Area pop-up menu.

For example, you can choose File Menu, Object Editing, or Typography.
Scroll through the Commands area, and click to select a command so you can change its shortcut.

The Current Shortcuts area shows you the command's existing shortcut (if there is one).
Click in the Press New Shortcut field. You have three options at this point:
- If a keyboard shortcut exists for this command, you can click Remove to delete it and free it up for another command.
- If no keyboard shortcut exists for this command, you can press the actual modifier keys and command, then click Assign.
- If a keyboard shortcut exists for this command, but you want to override it, you can press the actual modifier keys and command, then click Assign. (The shortcut you are overriding is shown below the Assign button.)
Click Save after modifying a shortcut.

When you're finished editing keyboard shortcuts, click OK to save them.

For the shortcuts that don't show in menus, you can print a list to use as a reference. See "Viewing and printing shortcuts" later in this chapter.

Tip ‚

You might consider adding a keyboard shortcut for Layout ‚ Create Guides, such as the unused Option+Shift+G or Alt+Shift+G. Another command sorely in need of a keyboard shortcut is Type ‚ Insert Glyphs. Try the unused Option+Shift+I or Altl+Shift+I.

Using and modifying QuarkXPress shortcuts

If you're switching to InDesign from QuarkXPress ‚ and are not accustomed to using Photoshop or Illustrator ‚ the keyboard shortcuts in InDesign may seem odd. To ease the transition to InDesign, Adobe has provided a set of keyboard shortcuts based on those in QuarkXPress 4.0. I say "based on" because some QuarkXPress commands don't have equivalents and some work very differently, while other QuarkXPress shortcuts conflict with long-established Adobe shortcuts. And commands unique to InDesign still have their own keyboard shortcuts ‚ for example, you can still select tools with the single letters shown in the tool tips.

Among the shortcuts you'll miss or be confused by are the following:

Option or Alt for the Page Grabber Hand is missing (use the Navigator pane instead).
z +K or Ctrl+K for deleting selected objects is missing (you can always use the Delete key unless the Type tool is selected). (Even though InDesign's QuarkXPress 4.0 shortcut set maps the Preferences dialog box to QuarkXPress 4's z +Y or Ctrl+Y shortcut, it also retains the standard Adobe shortcut of z +K or Ctrl+K to open the Preferences dialog box.)

If you want to use the QuarkXPress set of keyboard shortcuts, choose Set for QuarkXPress 4.0 from the Set pop-up menu at the top of the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box (Edit ‚ Keyboard Shortcuts). You might want to print out the list of keyboard shortcuts and review them so you know what's available and what's different. (See "Viewing and printing shortcuts" later in this chapter.)

If you decide to use the QuarkXPress set of keyboard shortcuts, you might want to create a copy and modify some of them. For example, you can assign z +K or Ctrl+K to Clear since you're used to it deleting items (rather than leave it set to open the Preferences dialog box). You can also repair the incorrect commands, although in many cases they're assigned to other commands and must be replaced .

Viewing and printing shortcuts

After you modify keyboard shortcuts, you may need a list for reference. (In addition, reviewing the entire QuarkXPress set before you start editing it is helpful.)

Click Show Set in the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box (Edit ‚ Keyboard Shortcuts) to view a list of shortcuts for the currently selected set. The shortcuts are displayed in TextEdit (on the Macintosh) or in WordPad (in Windows). You can then print the list from that application.