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[w0jc1k-blog]

How to Make Custom Mac Keyboard Shortcuts (in Two[-ish] Easy Steps)

Sometimes it's just too strenuous to move your hands from the keyboard to the mouse or trackpad. If you often feel the same way and wish there was a better way, look no further! Start making your own custom Mac keyboard shortcuts today!

Example of a Custom Mac Keyboard Shortcut

Below I'll lay out a simple example of what's possible when creating custom Mac keyboard shortcuts. In this example, I'll demonstrate how to create a custom keyboard shortcut that will print out the current date in a custom format.

Step 1: Create an Action

Open the Automator application (included by default on MacOS).

Click the "New Document" button on the Automator dialog window.

Choose "Quick Action" when prompted to "Choose a type for your document:" by Automator.

Set "Workflow receives: {{ INPUT }} in {{ APPLICATION }}" to "no input" and "any application".

Check the box for "Output replaces selected text".

Add the "Run Shell Script" action from the sidebar menu under "Library > Utilities > Run Shell Script".

Select "/bin/bash" under "Shell:" in the "Run Shell Script" action.

Type the command "date '+%Y-%m-%d'" in the textbox in the "Run Shell Script" action.

Save the Quick Action document with a custom filename.

Step 2: Create a Trigger

Go to "System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services > General".

Check the box next to the new Quick Action with the custom name.

Select the Quick Action and click "Add Shortcut" next to its name.

Record a custom keyboard shortcut using the active keyboard.

Step 3: Profit!

You should now be able to use your new custom keyboard shortcut from within any application. Go ahead and test it out! Using this example, you should be able to insert today's date in any editable text area within any application.

Disclaimer

When recording a keyboard shortcut, try to pick a relatively unique key combination that will not conflict with other common keyboard shortcuts used by other applications.

[w0jc1k-blog]

Web Dev Tidbits

After working as a professional web developer for a few years now, I’d love to try and share some of the specific knowledge that I’ve gathered in that time and continue to gather.

I likely won't be posting anything very extensive here, given the nature of my work. But, with that being said, I'd like to share whatever little tidbits of knowledge that I can, as part of my ethos as an open-source web developer.

In terms of what I'll likely write about here, my current job focuses primarily on Drupal (i.e., PHP development), but I've also been focused on learning modern Javascript frameworks like React.js and Vue.js in my spare time. For example, I just recently rebuilt my personal site using Gatsby.js. Beyond that, I'll try to share whatever generic web development-related knowledge that I can as well.

Thanks for reading!