I’m trying to change a keyboard shortcut but it’s not taking.
The particulars:
I’d like to redefine Apply Last Highlight Color from the default Ctrl-Shift-H to Ctrl-Alt-Shift-Z.
The shortcut dialog appears to accept it, but when I try to execute it, all I get is a capital Z.
At first I thought it was because it’s using 3 modifier keys, which I don’t (think I) see any of among the defaults.
To test that, I tried changing it to Ctrl-Alt-z and was surprised to find that that didn’t take either.
Then I tried Alt-Shift-z and that worked as expected.
Then I tried, just to test, Ctrl-Alt-Shift-F10 and that worked as expected (so it’s def not the 3 modifiers chord.)
But then I tried Ctrl-Alt-Shift-5 and all I got was a 5.
So I’m not sure what to make of this.
Ctrl+Alt doesn’t usually work in a shortcut combo because Windows reads it as AltGr and treats it as such. Occasionally you can find or force a combo to work, but it’s easiest to avoid it.
That aside, you can use as many modifiers as you want and can create shortcut sequences, such as Ctrl+H,Ctrl+H: hold down the Ctrl key and then double-tap the H key to toggle highlighter. (You can also press and release Ctrl+H, then press it again, as it’s written, but most of the time keeping the Ctrl key depressed through the whole shortcut works fine. It’s generated this way to distinguish it from a following key press that should not have the Ctrl key included, so Ctrl+H,H is different, meaning that you press and hold Ctrl and press H once, then release both keys and press H again.) It may seem unusual at first, but once you start getting creative with it, it opens up a lot of options.
Thank you for the reply and the explanation. This is the first I’ve ever heard of AltGr. hmm…
I’m used to using Ctrl and Alt, sometimes with and sometimes without the Shift key, to customize the keyboard in MS Word, and also in Reaper, a DAW software that I use (which has by far the most extensive keyboard/toolbar/menu customization system I’ve ever seen.) Also as regular Windows desktop shortcuts (e.g., Ctrl+Alt+Shift-f launches Firefox.)
Although I’ve long been familiar with shortcuts in the Ctrl+Shift,x format, I believe Scrivener is the first place I’ve seen them in the Ctrl+Shift+x, Ctrl+Shift+y format. I like them!