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leopechansky
leopechansky
January 26, 2021

Customizable shortcuts

  • January 26, 2021
  • 203 replies
  • 51011 views

The main source of inspiration for this idea was to match the keyboard shortcuts themselves to different keyboard layouts. Right now, users who don’t use US keyboards have to memorize the location of the keys, rather than to use the actual character location to be able to use the shortcuts. Those involving this region are primarily the case:

image

ABNT2 layout (Brazil).

And here’s an example of confusing shortcuts:

image

Although this problem could be solved by just rebinding the shortcuts to the actual character and not the location on the keyboard, I’ve noticed there are some other issues concerning key bindings.

On this forum post, a member of the community asked for help on backing one layer level with a different shortcut from what Figma has right now. This makes the user adapt their workflow to the tool, and not the other way around — and that hinders efficiency. It would be nice if the tool itself provided some sort of customization on this regard.

Although being a workaround, Mac users can customize keyboard shortcuts by application, but it is a bit limited. It’s also not a possibility for Windows users.

I think this could be a game-changer, as i’ve seen people who refused to migrate from other tools to Figma because they couldn’t customize shortcuts. It would also give the user more control over the tool and their workflow.

What do you guys think about it?

    203 replies

    Show previous replies
    mehmet_ucar
    April 4, 2023

    Is this a question or a tutorial 😀 😀

    THE-MZ
    THE-MZ
    New Member
    April 5, 2023

    For Windows users, this is a game changer I just discovered!

    atnsoft.com
    Ron_Frank
    Ron_Frank
    Active Member
    April 13, 2023

    I have successfully customized shortcuts for over a dozen different applications on the Mac using the built in System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts. I have used this feature for many, many years. Figma is the first app that does not acknowledge these customized shortcuts. I am new to Figma but have used the Mac forever. What is Figma’s rationale for not supporting this otherwise universal feature?

    To be clear, I am attempting this using the Figma Application (not a browser).

    Ron_Frank
    Ron_Frank
    Active Member
    April 14, 2023

    The fact that you can’t use the Mac’s built-in keyboard shortcut customizations is incomprehensible to me (System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts). There is zero excuse, IMAO.

      Maty
      Maty
      Active Member
      April 26, 2023

      I use Auto Hotkey, and i made shitloads of custom shortcuts that automatically type in the commands in Figma’s built in search command tool.

      That fact that there is STILL no way to modify shortcuts is absolutely infuriating

        Notahiana
        April 28, 2023

        While browsing for the shortcuts for the AZERTY french keyboard, I have crossed some weird unaccuracies for some of them. In some indications , they tell me to use “|”, “`”, “@” keys. But these keys are weird to reach and use when on a french AZERTY keyboard layout; to use them, we have to hit “AltGr” first. And somehow, Figma doesn’t understand my actions.
        I may be a lone case, in which case I apologize for this useless topic. But if I am not, I would like suggest to set the default use / AltGr-less use of these aforementioned keys instead:
        | becomes -,
        ` becomes è,
        @ becomes à.

        And for future shortcuts, here are the keys which may produce the same confusion:
        ~ becomes é,
        # becomes ",
        { becomes ',
        [ becomes (,
        ] becomes ),
        } becomes =.

        Adeyinka_Anees
        Adeyinka_Anees
        May 18, 2023

        Can we have keyboard shortcuts for boolean groups?

        Recently i created an icon library in Figma and found it stressful to use boolean groups by going the top to use it as i had as much as 1000+ icons i tried to apply them on.

        Btw you can check out the icon library here

          Ivan_Reyna
          Ivan_Reyna
          May 23, 2023

          you’re not alone. ctrl+q is a global mac command, but not common on windows. i think it’s annoying because it is too close to ctrl+A

            Michael_Hinnant
            Michael_Hinnant
            New Member
            July 24, 2023

            So this has been highlighted as an important enhancement for user productivity for 2.5 years, are we to assume customizable keyboard shortcuts will never be implemented?

            It is such a core feature to enhance productivity that it’s ridiculous that it’s missing from what an industry-leading design production tool.

              Ron_Frank
              Ron_Frank
              Active Member
              July 24, 2023

              Step 1. Write an actual application instead of a browser app.
              Step 2. Publish it.

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