Style Shortcuts

[RonJeffries]

OK, I give up. I have two questions:

First, how do I assign (initially or edit) keyboard shortcuts for styles (Header 1 etc)?

Second, how could I have possibly ever found that out? Help didn't.

[KB]

The easy way:

- When you first define (or redefine a style), choose the shortcut. Opt-Cmd-1 to Opt-Cmd-9 can be selected.
- To change an existing shortcut, open the Styles Panel (Format > Style > Show Styles Panel), Ctrl-click or right-click on the style whose shortcut you want to change, and use the "Change Keyboard Shortcut" submenu of the contextual menu.

If you don't want to use one of the preset numbers, you will need to use macOS's built-in ability to customise keyboard shortcuts:

1. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts.

2. Select "App Shortcuts" on the left.

3. Click +".

4. Select Scrivener as the application.

5. Type the name of the menu item exactly as it appears in Scrivener (e.g. "Emphasis").

6. Type the shortcut and hit "Add".

One caveat: if the shortcut already exists in the app (for instance Cmd-I) then the first menu item from left-to-right/top-to-bottom that uses the shortcut will be invoked. Therefore, if you want to use a shortcut that is already in use, you must also assign a different shortcut to the menu item that currently uses the shortcut you want to use.

All the best,
Keith

[RonJeffries]

control click why didn't i THINK of that

i did try right click but i guess my touchpad thought i was clicking ...

thanks!

[JoRo]

Second, how could I have possibly ever found that out? Help didn't.

Section 15.6.3 of the manual is ripe with style-management loveliness.

Styles.pdf

(228.11 KiB) Downloaded 77 times

[RonJeffries]

And it's not MUCH longer than War and Peace.

I have found no useful way to search those 878 pages to find what one wants. I did read thru that section tonight, and the information is certainly there. The trick is finding it.

I have no useful solution, mind you, although possibly having shortcuts show up in Help would be an idea ...

[Shunyata]

I followed your advice and ran into a prob. You see, I'm trying to add a keyboard shortcut to a character style. All of the presets are taken so I need to add a custom style to the 'default presets list'. I'm just not sure what the name of the menu item is exactly.

Would it be Style/"name of style"?

Please do adivse!

The easy way:

- When you first define (or redefine a style), choose the shortcut. Opt-Cmd-1 to Opt-Cmd-9 can be selected.
- To change an existing shortcut, open the Styles Panel (Format > Style > Show Styles Panel), Ctrl-click or right-click on the style whose shortcut you want to change, and use the "Change Keyboard Shortcut" submenu of the contextual menu.

If you don't want to use one of the preset numbers, you will need to use macOS's built-in ability to customise keyboard shortcuts:

1. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts.

2. Select "App Shortcuts" on the left.

3. Click +".

4. Select Scrivener as the application.

5. Type the name of the menu item exactly as it appears in Scrivener (e.g. "Emphasis").

6. Type the shortcut and hit "Add".

One caveat: if the shortcut already exists in the app (for instance Cmd-I) then the first menu item from left-to-right/top-to-bottom that uses the shortcut will be invoked. Therefore, if you want to use a shortcut that is already in use, you must also assign a different shortcut to the menu item that currently uses the shortcut you want to use.

All the best,
Keith

[JoRo]

I followed your advice and ran into a prob. You see, I'm trying to add a keyboard shortcut to a character style. All of the presets are taken so I need to add a custom style to the 'default presets list'. I'm just not sure what the name of the menu item is exactly.

Would it be Style/"name of style"?

The name of the style alone works. In the screenshots...

1. A style called "Blue" in Scrivener (a unique name that doesn't have any conflicts in Scrivener)

2. "Blue" given a unique shortcut in System Preferences

Scrivener Blue.jpg (97.98 KiB) Viewed 2096 times

Sys Prefs Blue.jpg (204.29 KiB) Viewed 2096 times

[JoRo]

And it's not MUCH longer than War and Peace.

Am I the only person pathetic enough to have read the manual from cover to cover? More than once?

CMD F to search — and searching for phrases "wrapped in speech marks" can speed things up (if the user can think of a suitable phrase to base the search on) — but, yes, a more powerful help system (as available in apps such as Pages) would be nice to have.

Gosh, too many parentheses (me thinks).

[RonJeffries]

I have given it quite the reading but I do have other things to do, and of course much of it is not applicable to any given thing. Plus it's a lot to take in. So one remembers it's in there but can't find it again.

I've found Find to be nearly useless in Preview, since it seems not to do phrases but all component words. Adobe Reader might be a bit better but I have purged all Adobe stuff from my computer for reasons of pique. Maybe I should get it back.

What's a good searching approach to something large, say Moby Dick?