Keyboard Short-Cut Customisation

[rmsimon]

One feature / bug that constantly interferes with my working with Roots Magic, is some of the keyboard bindings baked into RM9. The one I clash with every time I type anything, is the “Ctrl-Shift-Left / Right Arrow” combo, which in every Windows application allows you highlight text to the beginning or End of each word. I’m using that keyboard short-cut now as I type this post to edit and correct my typing. It is so baked into my muscle memory I struggle not to use it when editing text.

The RootsMagic text editors will allow Shift+L/R Arrow keys, to highlight text letter by letter, and it will allow Ctrl+L/R Arrow keys to navigate word by word. But not the combination of the two to highlight text word by word.

Instead, RM 9 responds to the Ctrl+Shift+L/R Arrow as the actions “History Back” and “History Forward” which leaves the edit box mid typing, and navigates away to a previously item, or gives the error message “You have reached the beginning of the history list”.

It would be great to have control of the Keyboard Short-Cuts that Roots Magic is using, especially when they clash with commonly used operating system short-cuts.

I appreciate you can see many of the key-bindings in the “Command Palette”. You can also see many actions that do not have short-cut keys. It would be great to be able add your own short-cuts to your favourite “commands” and especially to be able to change them if you would prefer.

There are many media “editing” applications (Photoshop, Lightroom, Davinci Resolve, etc) that feature advanced ways of visualising and / or customising keyboard short-cuts as examples of what this feature could be like. See the screen shot from Adobe Photoshop as an example of this feature in action.

Most of these applications offer the ability to save and load combinations of short-cut keys or provide standard sets to mimic the keyboard short-cuts of another application to assist when working with similar software products.

Here’s to hoping this might make it onto a dev to-do list…

[KimberlyGreen]

@rmsimon

Here’s to hoping this might make it onto a dev to-do list…

Same as the Feature Request I put in as well. Maybe if enough people put in the same request, then it might be considered. Giving you a “like”!!

Command Palette - ability to modify?

There’s a standard Windows keystroke combination (shift + ctrl + left) that selects a full word at a time. (Useful for quick text selections). Currently, it seems that combination is mapped in the Command Palette to “Back”, which I find unhelpful / degrades my user experience. [image] Is it possible to edit the Command Palette commands? (I’ve looked in the app settings and Wiki, without finding a way.) If there isn’t a way, then please consider this a Feature request. A user shouldn’t lose …

[mapleleaf]

On Dec. 6, 2020, when testing RM8, I gave feedback:
I typed a last name, comma then first name in the index search bar. I wanted to Shift + Ctrl + left arrow to highlight the first name so I could type a different first name. Instead, the entire entry (last name, first name) was highlighted. However, Shift + Ctrl + right arrow works correctly.

On Jul 13, 2021, RM8 community preview feedback, I sent this: Shift + Ctrl + left arrow does not work. “You have reached the beginning of the history list” error pops up.

On March 5, 2023, RM9, I sent feedback: Shift + Ctrl + arrow (to select text) is a must have for me. It does not work in RM9 64 bit, Windows 10

An option to add our own keyboard shortcuts would be great.

[emkaysmith]

The recalcitrance of the designers about extremely standardized Windows keyboard shortcuts has been driving me crazy since the introduction of RM8. Frankly, it seems more than a little arrogant to ignore a quarter-century history of Windows apps of all kids, ALL of which use the same shortcuts. I spend a lot of time at the keyboard, and my fingers know all the shortcuts well – until I fire up RM, and then I remind myself that it does things differently. Just because.