On a mac Is there a way to remap to create a new document from a list of choices rather then just the program focused on
June 21, 2010 3:16 PM Subscribe
Is there a way on a Mac to remap command n so that rather then create a new document inside the program Im focused in, I can choose from a preselected list to create a new document?
On my Mac: I have no idea why, but for weeks now, I keep typing to create a new document for one program from inside a completely different program. Example: while in Google Chrome, I want to create a new outline in OmniOutliner. My brain wants to keystroke from within Google Chrome and then select the application. Is there any way to do this?
Quicksilver would be a partial solution. The autofill works well. But you can't map it to. And I don't know if you could map it to always create a new document rather then simply launch the program. I don't need it as a switcher.
Also, a long time ago I had a prefpane that allowed me to change system keystrokes so that I could actually remap but I can't remember what it was.
Are there strategies to use these programs that would accomplish what I want. Are there other programs that would be better suited?
Thank you
On my Mac: I have no idea why, but for weeks now, I keep typing to create a new document for one program from inside a completely different program. Example: while in Google Chrome, I want to create a new outline in OmniOutliner. My brain wants to keystroke
Quicksilver would be a partial solution. The autofill works well. But you can't map it to
Also, a long time ago I had a prefpane that allowed me to change system keystrokes so that I could actually remap
Are there strategies to use these programs that would accomplish what I want. Are there other programs that would be better suited?
Thank you
Response by poster: In other words using the keystroke command n for creating a new document inside one program, you are given a predetermined list of applications to choose from to create a new document
posted by frodoxiii at 3:21 PM on June 21, 2010
posted by frodoxiii at 3:21 PM on June 21, 2010
I don't know if you can do that (back in my day, I used to hack menus with ResEdit, but that was on a program by program basis).
You might want to try Quicksilver, which is fantastic and can do this (I think).
posted by Admiral Haddock at 3:40 PM on June 21, 2010
You might want to try Quicksilver, which is fantastic and can do this (I think).
posted by Admiral Haddock at 3:40 PM on June 21, 2010
Actually, you can remap keyboard commands from the Keyboard preference panel now. But that's not really going to help you, because you need new functionality--there's nothing in OS X that lets you create a new document in a target app. And I'm not aware of an app that does that.
It would be pretty easy to create individual applescripts that would create a new document in a specific app (and invoking this with a keystroke would also be easy); making it so you had a selectable list would be a little more trouble.
Quicksilver is great, but in order to use it in this way, you'd still need to write an Applescript that you could use as an action (and even then, I'm not sure it would work), so that you'd type [target app] tab [your custom script that creates a new document]. The script would need to be passed the name of the app by Quicksilver and use that as a parameter. Perhaps someone on the Quicksilver mailing list could help with that.
posted by adamrice at 4:01 PM on June 21, 2010
It would be pretty easy to create individual applescripts that would create a new document in a specific app (and invoking this with a keystroke would also be easy); making it so you had a selectable list would be a little more trouble.
Quicksilver is great, but in order to use it in this way, you'd still need to write an Applescript that you could use as an action (and even then, I'm not sure it would work), so that you'd type [target app] tab [your custom script that creates a new document]. The script would need to be passed the name of the app by Quicksilver and use that as a parameter. Perhaps someone on the Quicksilver mailing list could help with that.
posted by adamrice at 4:01 PM on June 21, 2010
Might want to check out QuicKeys, iKey, or Keyboard Maestro, which are keyboard-shortcut/macro-creation tools, perhaps in combination with a launcher like Quicksilver or LaunchBar to provide the application "list", and build a sequence that eventually brings you to the new doc you want. But requiring that the trigger be command+n only seems like a tall order, considering that's such a basic, system-wide command for something else, and one you might be sorry to no longer have doing its default thing…
posted by dpcoffin at 12:58 PM on June 22, 2010
posted by dpcoffin at 12:58 PM on June 22, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by frodoxiii at 3:18 PM on June 21, 2010