When it comes to opening apps in macOS you basically have the following options: the app is in your Dock, you use Spotlight, you use Launchpad or you simply open up Finder and go to the Applications folder.
You definitely have options, but they are all slow and time consuming. It would be great if you could assing keyboard shortcuts to open apps, but macOS’ shortcut functionality is very limited.
Adding New Mac Dock Shortcuts. When you first set up a Mac, a few default apps are already in place as Dock shortcuts. These include Launchpad, Finder, and various Apple apps like FaceTime and Photos. Any software that is currently running will appear next to these icons in the Dock. Click “App Shortcuts” in the sidebar. Click the plus sign (+) to add a new shortcut. A new window containing a drop-down menu and two text fields will appear. Click the dropdown labeled “Application” and select the Application for which you want to create a shortcut (we chose “Pages”).
Luckily there’s a 3rd party solution, Thor. A free and open source app that aloows you to do exactly that – assign a keyboard shortcut to any app that’s installed on your system.
Thor is a simple app with a simple and clean UI. It has a light theme and a dark theme that changes automatically with the appearance of your macOS, a settings screen and a add apps/shortcuts screen.
This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided; every potential issue may involve several factors not detailed in the conversations captured in an electronic forum and Apple can therefore provide no guarantee as to the. From the sidebar, select App Shortcuts. Click the + button, and from the Application menu, choose TextEdit. In Menu Title, type the menu item’s name exactly — Export as PDF (the ellipsis character is required — type that with Option+;). In Keyboard Shortcut, define a shortcut for the item, such as Command+E. Searching for an app’s name in Spotlight and opening it from there is a fast shortcut, as well! But if you’d like, you can also add application shortcuts to Finder windows, which’ll give you.
Thor is self-explanatory. Just add the app, add a keyboard shortcut and as long as Thor is running ( in your menubar so it’s out of your way. And if you use dozer you’ll never see it ), you can use the assigned shortcuts to open your apps.
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To install Thor you can:
The function keys on your Mac’s keyboard are probably the least used of all. In fact, they’re so underused that by default when you press a function key it doesn’t act as a function key at all. Instead, it performs its other duty, whether that’s media playback control, brightness adjustment, or invoking Launchpad or Mission Control. To use a function key as a function key, you must hold down the fn button at the bottom left of your keyboard.
Change the behavior of function keys on your Mac
Nevertheless, function keys can be very useful if you customize them to do what you want them to do. Here’s how to create some of the best time-saving function key shortcuts for your Mac.
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Use function keys without pressing fn
First thing first, let’s make function keys functional again:
Customize function key shortcuts with preset actions
The easiest shortcut you can make is re-assigning function keys themselves to more useful actions:
If the function key you’ve chosen is already assigned to something else, you’ll see a yellow warning triangle appear next to it and the original shortcut. You will have to alter one of them to proceed.
Create function key shortcuts with custom actions
Now, to actually create shortcut combinations, do the following:
Now, whenever you’re in that app and tap the assigned function key, it will perform the specified command. For example, if you set up a shortcut to save a document as a template in Pages and assign it to the F1 key, then when you’re using Pages and press F1, the current document will be saved as a template.
If you want to go further than customizing function keys, there are several apps that can help you work faster and become even more productive.
Quick Tips: make your own shortcuts to work faster and more efficientlyExpand text with Rocket TypistMac Shortcut Keys
If you find yourself typing the same phrases over and over again in email messages or documents, Rocket Typist is your holy grail. It allows you to store organized snippets of text and recall them with custom abbreviations.
For example, instead of typing “Hello, my name is John Appleseed, I am a developer interested in…” you could just type “hmn” and Rocket Typist will fill out the rest. You could also find the pre-saved phrase in the app itself and paste it in that way.
Rocket Typist shows how minimal but productive a text expansion app can be.
Rocket Typist supports macros for things like time and date so you can be sure the current time and date will be placed in your document. And you can share snippets using AirDrop or Mail.
Search intelligently with Lacona
Lacona is a bit like a keyboard version of Siri for those of us who don’t like talking to our Mac. Press the keyboard shortcut to invoke its text input bar and type a command, such as “search Amazon for bluetooth speakers” or “schedule lunch with Carol at 1pm tomorrow,” or even “play Born to Run.” As you type, Lacona will show a list of suggestions beneath the window, and you can use the arrow keys to navigate to and select the one you want.
Get a keyboard version of Siri
Create Shortcut On Mac
Automate your search on Mac with Lacona, an app that interprets what you’re typing and does what you’re asking for. Like Siri, only with text.
List Of Mac Keyboard Shortcuts
Lacona can also perform actions like copy, move, and rename on files in the Finder and activate system events like Empty Trash and Shutdown, it can create reminders and make calls, quit, activate and relaunch apps, and so much more, all by typing in its text bar. The app can even hook into third-party services, like IFTTT, so you can control those just by typing as well.
Create custom gestures with BetterTouchTool
Apple’s built-in gestures for the Trackpad and Magic Mouse are great, as far as they go. With BetterTouchTool (BTT) though you can take them much much further. The app allows you to create completely custom gestures and assign them to actions, which can be either global or application specific.
In addition, BetterTouchTool allows you to create custom keyboard sequences to trigger actions, and has its own built-in clipboard manager and screenshot tool. So you could, for example, set up a gesture to take a screenshot and then edit it right in BetterTouchTool instead of saving it to the Desktop.
Save multiple text snippets with Paste
Paste is a clipboard manager that allows you to store multiple items for pasting later. It then categorizes each copied item and places it in its own section of the clipboard, which you can easily change. Moreover, Paste syncs your clipboard in iCloud, meaning you can access its pinboard on multiple devices.
To paste an item you’ve copied into a document, just use Paste’s keyboard shortcut to view the pinboard, find the snippet of text, image, URL, or whatever else you’ve copied, copy it and then paste it into your file.
Mac Shortcuts Keyboard
As you can see, your Mac’s keyboard can be customized in different ways. By creating shortcuts for function keys as well as combinations of other keys, you can start working much more quickly and save time. And using the apps listed above, all of which are available to download for free on Setapp, you can take your productivity to another level altogether.
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