Shortcut Keys

[Trevor Lawrence]

I posted this in the private group and got some answers including one to not
bother and use a program called AutoHotkey.

This may be the best way to go, but in case anyone has any other
ideas.................


----- Original Message -----

 

[Guest]

Trevor,

Do you mean "Ctrl + Alt + Up"?

I suspect that something is happening, just not what you expected. It's
possible that something else is using that combination, and prevents your
hotkey setting from doing what you want. For example, on my PC, the "Ctl +
Alt + Up" hot key is hijacked by the Intel graphics accelerator software to
switch the screen to "up". Whereas, the "Ctl + Alt + Down" hot key rotates
the screen 180 degrees. If I use these key combinations on folder shortcuts,
they won[t wori unless I disable hotkeys in the Intel Graphics Media
Accelerator software in the taskbar.

One way to check whether this is the case with your setup is to try the "Ctl
+ Alt + Down" hot key and see what happens. If nothing happens, then maybe
something else is overriding the hotkeys.

Regards,

Patrick

 

[Trevor Lawrence]

Trevor,

Do you mean "Ctrl + Alt + Up"?

I suspect that something is happening, just not what you expected. It's
possible that something else is using that combination, and prevents your
hotkey setting from doing what you want. For example, on my PC, the "Ctl +
Alt + Up" hot key is hijacked by the Intel graphics accelerator software
to
switch the screen to "up". Whereas, the "Ctl + Alt + Down" hot key rotates
the screen 180 degrees. If I use these key combinations on folder
shortcuts,
they won[t wori unless I disable hotkeys in the Intel Graphics Media
Accelerator software in the taskbar.

One way to check whether this is the case with your setup is to try the
"Ctl
+ Alt + Down" hot key and see what happens. If nothing happens, then maybe
something else is overriding the hotkeys.

No, the shortcut key is Ctrl + Alt + U. And nothing happens if I use it.

If I try Ctrl + Alt + Up, nothing happens.

But Ctrl + Alt + Down inverts the screen - verrry interesting !!

Then, Ctrl + Alt + Up returns the screen to the right way up

I am not sure what graphic software (or hardware) is used. The PC is an HP
Compaq

Just for interest I added 2 other shortcut keys
Ctrl + Alt + W for Wordpad
Ctrl + Alt + O for MS Word

Neither does anything.

 

[Guest]

Trevor,

You mentioned the following:

I have a shortcut on folder C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My
Documents\Utilities

I just realised that maybe you are using a shortcut that is somewhere other
than on the desktop. In that case, the "Shortcut key" won't work by
definition. i.e. The "Shortcut key" only works when the "Shorcut key" is
assigned to a shortcut that is located on the desktop or somewhere in the
Start menu.

Where is your shortcut located?

Regards,

Patrick

Trevor,

Do you mean "Ctrl + Alt + Up"?

I suspect that something is happening, just not what you expected. It's
possible that something else is using that combination, and prevents your
hotkey setting from doing what you want. For example, on my PC, the "Ctl +
Alt + Up" hot key is hijacked by the Intel graphics accelerator software
to
switch the screen to "up". Whereas, the "Ctl + Alt + Down" hot key rotates
the screen 180 degrees. If I use these key combinations on folder
shortcuts,
they won[t wori unless I disable hotkeys in the Intel Graphics Media
Accelerator software in the taskbar.

One way to check whether this is the case with your setup is to try the
"Ctl
+ Alt + Down" hot key and see what happens. If nothing happens, then maybe
something else is overriding the hotkeys.

No, the shortcut key is Ctrl + Alt + U. And nothing happens if I use it.

If I try Ctrl + Alt + Up, nothing happens.

But Ctrl + Alt + Down inverts the screen - verrry interesting !!

Then, Ctrl + Alt + Up returns the screen to the right way up

I am not sure what graphic software (or hardware) is used. The PC is an HP
Compaq

Just for interest I added 2 other shortcut keys
Ctrl + Alt + W for Wordpad
Ctrl + Alt + O for MS Word

Neither does anything.
--
Trevor Lawrence
Canberra
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage
MVP Web Site http://trevorl.mvps.org

 

[Trevor Lawrence]

Thanks for the reply

Trevor,

You mentioned the following:


I just realised that maybe you are using a shortcut that is somewhere
other
than on the desktop. In that case, the "Shortcut key" won't work by
definition. i.e. The "Shortcut key" only works when the "Shorcut key" is
assigned to a shortcut that is located on the desktop or somewhere in the
Start menu.

Where is your shortcut located?

Where?
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Utilities

I have read posts to the effect that shortcuts need to be on the desktop, so
what I have done is this

1. Copy the shortcut from C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My
Documents\Utilities to the desktop
2. Click on the shortcut icon on the desktop.
Result: Program opens
3. Ctrl + Alt + U.
Result: Nothing

Just for fun (well, not really) I also copied the shortcut to:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

I then pressed Ctrl + Alt + U.
Result: Nothing
(I am sure that with the shortcut here, the program will open on startup -
the others there all do.)

 

[Guest]

Trevor,

OK, great. I think you're getting close to a resolution. So, the main reason
you weren't getting any response to your shortcut key combo is that the
shortcut was not on the desktop. The next issue is that just copying the
shortcut to the desktop won't setup the Shortcut key for that copy of the
shortcut.

The next thing to do is to try redefining the "Shortcut key" for the
shortcut on the desktop to, say, "Ctrl + Alt + Z". Click the Apply button
then try that new key combo. It may take a couple of seconds to bring up the
folder, but that's normal.

Let us know how you go.

Regards,

Patrick

 

[Trevor Lawrence]

Trevor,

OK, great. I think you're getting close to a resolution. So, the main
reason
you weren't getting any response to your shortcut key combo is that the
shortcut was not on the desktop.

I am a bit mystified - clicking the shortcut icon always worked

The next issue is that just copying the shortcut to the desktop
won't setup the Shortcut key for that copy of the shortcut.

The next thing to do is to try redefining the "Shortcut key" for the
shortcut on the desktop to, say, "Ctrl + Alt + Z". Click the Apply button
then try that new key combo. It may take a couple of seconds to bring up
the
folder, but that's normal.

OK
I changed the shortcut key on the desktop shortcut to Ctrl + Alt + Z and
clicked on Apply
I clicked on Ctrl + Alt + Z and it opened the program
Then,
I changed the shortcut key on the desktop shortcut to Ctrl + Alt + U and
clicked on Apply
I clicked on Ctrl + Alt + U and it opened the program

It is annoying that this ONLY works on the desktop. Maybe I knew that at
some stage, but then forgot. I would rather have a separate folder for
shortcuts, so maybe I either
1. Have to put up with clutter on the desktop
OR
2. Not bother with shortcut keys

Thanks for the help

 

[Guest]

Trevor,

I'm glad I could help you get it working.

As for reducing clutter, you can create a folder on the desktop, and place
your shortcuts there. That is, if you right-click on the desktop and choose
New -> Folder, this will create a new folder on the desktop that you can
rename to, say, "Shortcuts". You can then drop your shortcuts onto this
folder icon, and then configure the "Shortcut key" for each shortcut in this
folder.

Regards,

Patrick

 

[Trevor Lawrence]

Trevor,

I'm glad I could help you get it working.

As for reducing clutter, you can create a folder on the desktop, and place
your shortcuts there. That is, if you right-click on the desktop and
choose
New -> Folder, this will create a new folder on the desktop that you can
rename to, say, "Shortcuts". You can then drop your shortcuts onto this
folder icon, and then configure the "Shortcut key" for each shortcut in
this
folder.

Yes, I was hoping that I could create a folder of shortcuts with shortcut
keys set,.and then activate them by using the shortcut key from anywhere.

I have a set of shortcuts in a folder named Utilities. Adding a shortcut key
to an icon in here does NOT work.

But when I set up a new folder named Shortcuts, adding a shortcut key to an
icon in here DOES work.

That is, assume that
The program that I want to open is UltraEdit
The icon name is UltraEdit
The shortcut key set in the shortcut is Ctrl + Alt + U

When the shortcut icon is "Desktop/UltraEdit", Ctrl + Alt + U opens
UltraEdit
When the shortcut icon is "Desktop/Utilities/UltraEdit", Ctrl + Alt + U does
NOT open UltraEdit
BUT
When the shortcut icon is "Desktop/Shortcuts//UltraEdit", Ctrl + Alt + U
DOES open UltraEdit

I can't explain why!!

So, my only reaction is "If it works, use it"

 

[Guest]

Trevor,

Sorry for the confusion. The name of the folder containing your shortcuts
doesn't matter, so long as it is on the Desktop. i.e. You can certainly store
your shortcuts in a desktop folder named Utilities.

When the shortcut icon is "Desktop/Utilities/UltraEdit", Ctrl + Alt + U does
NOT open UltraEdit

So, this should work OK, provided you have redefined the "Shortcut key" for
each shortcut, and not just copied the shortcut from somewhere else.
Actually, I recommend removing and re-creating the shortcuts in the
Desktop/Utilities folder to avoid any conflicts from having assigned these
shortcuts before elsewhere.

Regards,

Patrick

 

[Trevor Lawrence]

Trevor,

Sorry for the confusion. The name of the folder containing your shortcuts
doesn't matter, so long as it is on the Desktop. i.e. You can certainly
store
your shortcuts in a desktop folder named Utilities.


So, this should work OK, provided you have redefined the "Shortcut key"
for
each shortcut, and not just copied the shortcut from somewhere else.
Actually, I recommend removing and re-creating the shortcuts in the
Desktop/Utilities folder to avoid any conflicts from having assigned these
shortcuts before elsewhere.

Ahh, of course

My Utilities folder was in fact
"C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Utilities"
NOT
"Desktop\Utilities"

I moved it and recreated the shortcut key and all works fine now. All I have
to do now is set some others, e.g.
Word
Wordpad
Notepad

And it's a good idea to redo them all.

I used to have this working OK on my old PC but after it blew up and I got a
new one, I didn't set this up correctly.

Many thanks once again

 

[apistomaster]

I just discovered something I think is sort of similar on my Dell
Inspiron E1505 when I went to defrag it.
Defrag was missiing from the program-> accessories-> list.
I had to dig and dig to find the defrag. Moved it to desktop so I
would remember to do it once in awhile. Some how or someone at my mom
and pop repair shop may have displaced it. At one point I needlessly
bought defrag software since removed. Maybe it displaced defrag?
Disc clean up and the other options were still properly listed.
I am not that knowledgeable so apologies if this seems irrelevant. I
keep learning more by following this news groups' topics.