In another post recently we showed you the basics of Automator, a Mac tool for automating tasks. However, besides the basic stuff you can do with Automator, you can actually accomplish a lot more with it that might not be obvious by just following the ‘usual’ instructions.
Jun 09, 2020 You will see a fly out screen showing the option to select / type “Application”, Menu Title” and “Keyboard Shortcut”. Assume you want to create a shortcut key for “Pages” app for the menu “View Show Word Count”. This is a useful option to show word count figure down the document when typing and does not have a default shortcut. Mar 16, 2020 So, let’s learn some Mac keyboard shortcuts for Notes app to make your overall experience speedy and effortless. Shortcut to Create a New Note on Mac Shortcuts to Edit a Note on Mac.
In this entry we’ll show you how to use Automator to create keyboard shortcuts to launch applications on your Mac, which should prove very useful since most Mac apps can’t be launched by custom shortcuts.
- Apple included a fairly simple way to create custom keyboard shortcuts within System Preferences, which can easily be used to produce shortcut combinations for app functions that do not already.
- How to create a Mac desktop shortcut. Creating a Mac desktop shortcut is the same as making an alias on a Mac. Read through the steps below to create macOS keyboard shortcuts: Use Finder to locate the file that you wish to make a desktop shortcut of. Click the file or folder and make sure that it’s highlighted.
- To use a keyboard shortcut that is the same as a default Mac OS X keyboard shortcut, you must first turn off that Mac OS X keyboard shortcut. On the Apple menu, click System Preferences. Under Hardware, click Keyboard, and then click the Keyboard Shortcuts tab.
Let’ get started.
First, open Automator and choose to create a new document. From the available options (where you can choose a Workflow, Application and such), select Service.
Once you do, you will be shown the Actions library. There, search for Utilities and select it. Then, on the panel to the right, look for the Launch Application action (use the search field at the top of the window if you can’t find it) and then click on it and drag it into the rightmost panel, where you will create your workflow.
You will now notice a small panel above the action you just dragged. There you can tweak a couple of variables. Where it says Service receives, select no input. Then, to the right, select any application.
After that, head to the action you dragged in the first place and select the application you want to launch from the drop-down panel. For this example, I’ll use Clear, a really nice task management app that we have covered before.
Before closing Automator (don’t worry, we’ll create the keyboard shortcut in a moment), save the service you just created using a name that is easy to remember.
Once your newly-created service is saved, open your Mac’s Preferences and go to the Keyboard menu. There, head to the Shortcuts tab and click on Services on the left panel.
Then, on the right one look for the service you just created (Hint: In most cases, the services you create with Automator can be located under General).
Select your service and you will see an Add Shortcut button appear. Click on it to set the keyboard shortcut you want to use to launch the app.
Important Note: Make sure to use a unique one, since I found that OS X Mavericks will favor an application’s native shortcuts if they are the same as the one you created.And there you go. Up until a short while ago, I thought it was not possible to create your own shortcuts to open apps on your Mac in a simple manner. Of course, you could always use third party apps like Better Touch Tools for example, but as you can see, Automator is a very powerful tool that provides a native way to take care of this issue without having to fiddle with external software. So try it out and tell us what you think!
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Also See#automation #keyboard
Did You Know
Only 25% of people can text well without looking at their keyboards.
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In macOS, there are many ways to launch an application. You can click an icon in the Dock or the Launchpad, or type the name of the app in the Spotlight search box. However, in macOS, there is no built-in way to launch an application by pressing a keyboard shortcut.
Using the macOS Automator, you can create a custom service to launch the application of your choice, and bind a keyboard shortcut to it. When you press the keyboard shortcut, the chosen application launches automatically.
Follow the steps below to configure a keyboard shortcut to launch an application in macOS 10.15 Catalina.
![Create Keyboard App Shortcut Mac Create Keyboard App Shortcut Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126442553/434550350.jpg)
Create an Automator service
First, create an Automator service to launch your app.
- In the macOS Finder, open the Applications folder. Double-click Automator.
- If this is the first time you are running Automator, your Automator documents open in a Finder window. Click the New Document button, or double-click the New Document icon.
- Click the Quick Action document type, then click Choose.
- In the Workflow receives currentdrop-down menu, select no input.
- On the left is a list of Actions from your Actions Library. Scroll down to Launch Application. Drag this action from the list and drop it in the gray area of the window, as indicated.
Keyboard Shortcuts Mac Os
- The new action appears on the right, outlined in blue.
![Shortcut Shortcut](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126442553/245797981.png)
- In the Launch Application drop-down menu, select the application you want to launch. If your app is not listed, choose 'Other' to locate it manually. In this example, we have chosen the terminal application iTerm.
- Configuration is complete. Open the File menu and choose Save.
- Type a name for your quick action and click Save.
Close the Automator window.
Create a shortcut for the service
Follow these steps to create a keyboard shortcut for your new service.
- Open the Apple menu and choose System Preferences.
- Click Keyboard.
- Click Shortcuts. On the left, click Services. Scroll down to the service you created, and click to select it. Click Add Shortcut.
- A text box opens. Press the desired key combination for your shortcut. In this example, we've held down the Command key ⌘ and pressed the backslash key .
You can choose any combination of Command/⌘, Shift, Option/Alt, and the alphanumeric keys. If your chosen shortcut conflicts with an existing shortcut, you will be alerted.
NoteChoose a keyboard shortcut that you do not use in any other application. If you're running another application that uses the same shortcut, your custom shortcut will not work.
Keyboard Shortcuts For Macbook
- Close the System Preferences. When you press the key combination, your app launches. If your app is already running in the background when you press the shortcut, it comes to the foreground of your other applications.