Section 132. Add a Keyboard Shortcut

132. Add a Keyboard Shortcut

SEE ALSO

130 Use Sticky Keys

131 Control the Mouse Pointer Using the Keyboard

132. Add a Keyboard Shortcut

Mac OS X is well instrumented with keyboard shortcuts for most of the popular commands in most applications, and with key commands to replicate most mouse actions ( especially useful if you have difficulty using the mouse). However, you may use some application commands or actions frequently that aren't bound to any keyboard shortcuts. Fortunately, you can assign new key commands to certain menu options in any application you like. Keyboard shortcuts are controlled in a registry of key combinations you can configure from the Keyboard & Mouse Preferences pane.

1.	Open the Keyboard & Mouse Preferences Open the System Preferences application (under the Apple menu); click Keyboard & Mouse to open the Keyboard & Mouse Preferences pane. Click the Keyboard Shortcuts tab.
2.	Enable Full Keyboard Access If you want to be able to navigate the Mac OS X system using the Control key in conjunction with various function keys (F-keys), you can enable these functions one by one using the check boxes under the Keyboard Navigation heading in the list (all specific functions are enabled by default); alternatively, you can use the Turn full keyboard access on or off check box to enable or disable all the functions at once. TIP When Turn full keyboard access on or off is enabled, pressing Control+F1 enables or disables the specific keyboard navigation shortcuts that let you move the focus (the active window or control that takes your keyboard input) from one place on the screen to another. Use the radio buttons at the bottom to choose how the Tab key should allow you to navigate within windows .
3.	Add a New Keyboard Shortcut Suppose that there's a menu option in a certain application to which you want to bind a new keyboard shortcut. To do this, click the + button under the list of keyboard shortcuts to bring up the configuration sheet.
4.	Specify the Application to Control The Application menu lists all the applications currently installed on the computer. Select the application you want to control, or select All Applications to create a shortcut that applies to a common menu command that appears in lots of different applications.
5.	Specify the Menu Option to Link to a Key Combination Type the name of the menu item to which you want to bind the key combination. This name is the text of the item in the menu itself; it must be entered exactly as it appears in the menu , including the ellipsis (trailing dots), if present. Don't include the name of the menu that contains the menu item. TIP An ellipsis ( ) is actually a single character, and you can enter it by pressing Option+; (the semicolon).
6.	Enter the Key Combination Click in the Keyboard Shortcut input field and then press the key combination you want to bind to the specified menu item. The combination appears in symbolic notation in the field. You can press another combination to replace the one shown in the box. Click Add to create the new keyboard combination. Back in the Keyboard Shortcuts tab of the Keyboard and Mouse Preferences pane, the shortcut will appear under the application's name under the Application Keyboard Shortcuts heading (scroll down to the bottom of the list of shortcuts to see this heading, which contains all the shortcuts you define for your applications in a hierarchical structure). TIP To reassign a key combination, double-click the shortcut bound to it in the list; then enter the new key combination. You can also double-click the menu item text in the Description column of a custom-defined application shortcut to change the menu item bound to that key combination.
7.	Disable and Enable Individual Keyboard Shortcuts You can use the check boxes in the list to enable and disable individual key combinations. Click the check box next to an application's name to disable all key combinations assigned to that application; click the check box next to a heading (such as Application Keyboard Shortcuts or Keyboard Navigation ) to disable all the keyboard shortcuts underneath it in the hierarchy. If an application has more than one keyboard combination assigned to it, you can disable one of them, and the application's global check box will change to a symbol to signify that some of the application's keyboard shortcuts are enabled and some aren't. This symbol propagates up the hierarchy to higher levels as well. Click Restore Defaults to reset the check boxes for all the keyboard shortcuts except for the ones you've set for individual applications.