Welcome2Mac: How to Create New Keyboard Shortcuts

Welcome2Mac is The MacTipper Blog's weekly tip where all the people new to Apple's latest operating system can get Mac tips to help them better use Mac OS X.

In this week's Welcome2Mac we are going to create a keyboard shortcut for Safari's "Reopen All Windows From Last Session" menu item. This is a reasonably simple process that I mention all the time but I don't think I've written down how to do it in one full tip.

Step 1: Open System Preferences. (In case you didn't know this already, you can open System Preferences by going to the Apple menu and selecting "System Preferences…".

Step 2: Go to the Keyboard and Mouse preferences.



Step 3: Click on "Keyboard Shortcuts" section.



Step 4: Here you can edit a bunch of predefined shortcuts (screenshots, Exposé, Spotlight, etc.) or create your own.

Step 5: To begin creating a shortcut, click on the + button in the lower-left corner.



Step 6: In the window that appears, set the application to the app you desire. If it's a common menu item, e.g. "Fonts…", then set it to All Applications.



Step 7: For the menu title, enter in the title of the menu item exactly as it appears. If the menu item contains an elipsis, use Option-Semicolon.



Step 8: Select the "Keyboard Shortcut" item and hit the keyboard shortcut you desire. Some, such as Cmd-Tab, are off limits.



Step 9: Finally, click on the "Add" button and your keyboard shortcut should be created. Your keyboard shortcut should immediately become active.