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Use keyboard shortcut sets



Tool tips provide an instantaneous reference for shortcuts. InDesign also provides a shortcut editor in which you can view and generate a list of all shortcuts, and edit or create your own shortcuts. The shortcut editor includes all the commands that accept shortcuts, but some of these commands are undefined in the Default shortcut set.

You can also associate keyboard shortcuts with paragraph or character styles (see Add paragraph and character styles) or scripts.

For a video on using keyboard shortcuts, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0066.

Change the active shortcut set

  1. Choose Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.
  2. Select a shortcut set in the Set menu. For example, select Shortcuts for QuarkXPress® 4.0.
  3. Click OK.

View shortcuts

  1. Choose Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.
  2. For Set, select a shortcut set.
  3. For Product Area, select the area containing the commands you want to view.
  4. From Commands, select a command. The shortcut is displayed in the Current Shortcut section.

Generate a list of shortcuts for printing

  1. Choose Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.
  2. For Set, select a shortcut set.
  3. Click Show Set.

A text file opens with all current and undefined shortcuts for that set.

Create a new shortcut set

  1. Choose Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.
  2. Click New Set.
  3. Type a name for the new set, select a shortcut set in the Based On Set menu, and click OK.

Create or redefine a shortcut

  1. Choose Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.
  2. For Set, select a shortcut set or click New Set to create a new shortcut set.
    Note: Do not edit the Default or the QuarkXPress shortcut sets. Instead, create a new set based on one of these sets, and then edit the new set.
  3. For Product Area, select the area containing the command you want to define or redefine.
  4. In the Commands list, select the command that you want to define or redefine.
  5. In the New Shortcut box, press the keys for your new keyboard shortcut. If the key sequence is currently being used for another command, InDesign displays that command under Current Shortcuts. You can choose to change the original shortcut also, or try another shortcut.
    Note: Do not assign single-key shortcuts to menu commands, because they interfere with the typing of text. If an insertion point is active when you type a single-key shortcut, InDesign actives the keyboard shortcut instead of inserting the character in the text.
  6. In the Context list, select the context in which you want the keyboard shortcut to function. The context ensures that the shortcut performs the way you intended. For example, you can assign Ctrl+G to merge table cells (Table context) and Ctrl+G to insert special characters (Text context).
    Note: Assign shortcuts in the Default context when you want them to function regardless of the current state of the document. Shortcuts you assign in other contexts, such as Table or Text, override shortcuts assigned in the Default context.
  7. Do one of the following:

    • Click Assign to create a new shortcut where none currently exists.

    • Click Assign to add another shortcut to a command. Menu commands can have multiple keyboard shortcuts.

  8. Click OK to close the dialog box, or click Save to keep the dialog box open while you enter more shortcuts.

Copying keyboard shortcut sets

Keyboard shortcut sets (*.indk) are saved in two locations. The application preset shortcuts appear in the Presets folder in the main application folder. The shortcut sets you create appear in the Shortcut Sets folder in the following locations:

Windows XP
Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Adobe\InDesign\[version]\[language]InDesign Shortcut Sets

Windows Vista
Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\[Version]\[Language]\InDesign Shortcut Sets

Mac OS
Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/Adobe InDesign/[version]/[language]/InDesign Shortcut Sets

If you created a keyboard shortcut set on one computer and want to use it on a different computer, copy the *.indk file to the same location on the other computer.

You can want to move a keyboard set from the custom location to the application folder. Doing so makes the custom shortcuts available to all the users sharing a computer. However, make sure that you do not have two sets with the same name, one in each place. Make sure that the application keyboard sets and the custom sets have different names.