macos – How do I add, change or take away a key command (shortcut) from a menu merchandise?

You possibly can add a customized key command to nearly something that has a menu merchandise.
It would not matter the place the merchandise is within the hierarchy, except there are two gadgets with the identical title [which is rare.] You possibly can add instructions globally, to all apps which include that menu merchandise, or simply particularly to a single app – whichever you favor.

All the time be sure you’re not utilizing a reproduction command already used for one more perform, and do not attempt to use this as a one-stop resolution to ‘repair’ Mac shortcuts to any you have been used to in Home windows… that by no means ends nicely 😉

^{Illustrations all on Mojave. I’ll add variants for Ventura after I can get entry for a day. Ventura is visually completely different, however the strategies are the identical.}
Let’s use Export Bookmarks… from Safari as our primary instance, because it would not have already got a key command.

In System Desire > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts, click on the + button. If you have already got an entry for Safari, if you choose that previous to clicking + then it can pre-populate the menu for you. You then add your menu title, precisely as written, transfer to the final field & press your chosen shortcut. It is going to be added to the menu as quickly as you click on Add.

Notice that some macOS variations demand you utilize an ellipsis … if the menu merchandise has one, some don’t. It is at all times smarter so as to add one anyway. You possibly can generate an ellipsis on an English keyboard utilizing Decide ⌥ ; [opt/semicolon].
Notice that an ellipsis isn’t the identical as three stops/durations.

To interchange any key command, use the above technique & merely add your most popular new command, it can immediately be swapped on your new set off.

You can’t truly take away a key command that exists by default, however you can exchange it with a ‘rubbish’ command you’ll by no means want for the rest.

In Safari I by no means use the Studying listing, however used to motion it by accident. Not any extra…

F19 solely exists on prolonged keyboards, however including all of the modifiers plus any secret’s unlikely to generate any clashes, nor be hit by accident.

Modifier keys
You should utilize any and all modifiers in any mixture, Cmd ⌘ Decide ⌥ Ctrl ⌃ Shift ⇧ . You can’t use Shift alone, however you should utilize it together with any or all the others.
macOS doesn’t differentiate between left and proper variations of those keys [there is no AltGr like in Windows.]

Should you do have a menu merchandise that seems twice within the menus, every with a distinct objective, then you definitely do must direct your key command to the right one, utilizing this syntax
menu->submenu->merchandise
This could truly occur in equivalent to Mail, the place your Mailbox names seem on the backside of many alternative hierarchies, relying on perform. On this case, you’d use equivalent to
Message->Transfer to->Inbox->AccountName

Are you able to add only one single letter as a set off?
Sure…and no.
This one is difficult and has modified through the years. It additionally wants your set off to be ignored when you’re in textual content areas, which limits performance considerably.

When you have an prolonged keyboard, then the keys in your numpad can be used as single triggers. Utilizing our Export Bookmarks… instance – right here it’s with simply the only character 1 from the numpad used as our set off.

Numpad keys are completely different from these above qwerty. The Mac is aware of which is which & handles then as separate entities – nevertheless you can’t inform by wanting on the menu or preferences which is which. You simply must know that is what you set it to.

In case you are on any macOS earlier than Ventura, you can too add a single key command by coming into it as
Fn letter/quantity
It will then simply register as that single key. As an example, Fn A offers simply A as right here…

All issues thought of, although, I would not advocate utilizing single keys as triggers – there’s simply an excessive amount of room for error.

For our odd exception – the Preview Signature that does not have a menu title to motion – let me refer you to user3439894‘s wonderful reply on Preview – add Signature by key command. Discover Menu title That is fairly advanced, and much an excessive amount of so as to add right here, nevertheless it does work very nicely.

Belongings you can not add key instructions to
Contextual menus – these on proper click on.
If there is no such thing as a corresponding merchandise in an precise menu, this can’t be accomplished.

‘Sensible’ menu gadgets – those who do exist within the common menu, however change relying on context. The one possibility for this might be so as to add the identical command to each single attainable variation of that menu’s wording. As typically that would come with the file or merchandise presently chosen, take into account this someplace on a scale of ‘unlikely’ to ‘inconceivable’, relying on complexity.

There are strategies by which the skilled hacker can change menu gadgets by manually modifying the related .plist file for an app, however I take into account {that a} bridge too far for this explicit QA.
If you wish to examine for your self, Safari’s .plist file is at ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist. It solely shows non-default key instructions.

<dict>
    <key>Export Bookmarks…</key>
    <string>@~$e</string>
</dict>

If anybody finds any outliers, odd circumstances, or issues that seem to plain ‘not work as meant’, please submit a brand new query & hyperlink again to this one for reference.