Want to be the fastest to operate your Mac and do with the keyboard what possibly no one else has done before? Find out here how to customize (add or change) keyboard shortcuts on a Mac for any menu item you use often.
First, the Angle to Best See the Stars
The angle to see the stars best is the right one, 90°.
Straight up from the ground, any star’s light takes the shortest route through earth’s atmosphere—the atmosphere that is full of particles and perturbations that distort the view (and, perchance, make the stars twinkle).
Now, the shortest path to take any action on a Mac is, of course, straight down with your fingers onto a combination of keys that form a shortcut. You can even set up your own:
How to Customize Keyboard Shortcuts on a Mac
Time needed: 5 minutes
To create a custom keyboard shortcut for any action you can take using the menu on a Mac using macOS:
- Open System Settings (or System Preferences) on the Mac.
Here’s how: You can select System Settings… from the Apple logo menu, for example.
- Go to the Keyboard category.
- Click Keyboard Shortcuts….
macOS Monterey and earlier: Open the Shortcuts tab.
- Select App Shortcuts on the left.
- Click + under the list of current application keyboard shortcuts.
- Choose the program for which you are creating the custom Mac keyboard shortcut under Application:.
For all: Do select All Applications if you want the shortcut to work across all programs. Remember, though, that this makes it more likely that your custom shortcut combination will conflict with an existing one.
- Type the menu item exactly as you see it in the application.
Not the whole menu: Use only the item’s name; you need not include the whole menu structure.
Example: To add a command for the File | Export as PDF… menu item in Safari, typeExport as PDF…. - Press the keyboard shortcut you want to use for the command under Keyboard Shortcut.
Example: To use Command Shift P for exporting a page as PDF in Safari, press the Command, Shift and P keys at the same time while the Keyboard Shortcut field is in focus.
- Click Add.
Change it later: You can always change your custom keyboard shortcut directly in the list of current shortcuts.
Not just adding: If you add a new shortcut for a command, you change the existing (default) keyboard shortcut; see below.
How to Customize Keyboard Shortcuts on a Mac: FAQ
Will my custom keyboard shortcuts overwrite existing ones?
Yes.
If you set up a Mac keyboard shortcut for Export as PDF… in Safari that uses Command Shift P, for example, that will overwrite any existing shortcuts—even global ones—that use Command Shift P for the Print… command.
You can assign a new custom Mac keyboard shortcut for the global command, of course.
What happens if two custom keyboard shortcuts I have added to my Mac use the same key combination?
If you create keyboard shortcuts on a Mac that share a key combination, the one further up in the list in system preferences will be in effect.
Exception: Application-specific custom keyboard shortcuts will still overwrite global ones (that appear under All Applications).
How can I remove a custom Mac keyboard shortcut?
To delete a keyboard shortcut you have created on your Mac:
- Open the Keyboard Shortcuts settings in System Settings (see above).
- Highlight the custom shortcut you want to remove in the list of current shortcuts.
- Click – beneath the list.
No undo: The shortcut will be removed without further confirmation, and you cannot easily undo the deletion.
Can I create a Mac keyboard shortcut for Shortcuts Actions and Automator Quick Actions?
Yes.
After you have created an Action in Shortcuts or Quick Action in Automator, you can define a keyboard shortcut for performing it on the Keyboard preferences window’s Shortcuts tab, under Services.
Use the steps for creating a keyboard shortcut for a menu item to add the desired shortcut or define the shortcut right in Shortcuts.
Can I create an app shortcut on my Mac to launch an application with a keyboard combination?
Yes.
You can set up key combinations that launch (or bring to the front) apps on your Mac with the help of the Shortcuts app.
(How to create a custom keyboard shortcut on a Mac tested with macOS Sonoma 14.0–14.3, Ventura 13.3, Monterey 12.0, Big Sur 11.0, and Catalina 10.15; updated April 2024)