ActivePresenter provides many default hotkeys to help you work with the app more effectively. Besides, it also allows you to customize hotkeys by assigning a key or a combination of keys to specific commands. Let’s learn how to do that in this article.
The hotkey customization can be done in the Preferences dialog of the ActivePresenter menu. To open this dialog:
1. Click the ActivePresenter button and then select Preferences.
2. Then, open the Hotkeys tab in the Preferences dialog that pops up.
In this dialog:
- Commands (1): Contain all the commands and items that you can assign hotkeys to or remove shortcuts from.
Commands and items are displayed in the tree view in which each branch can have a number of sub commands and items. You can click the node of each branch to access those sub commands.
For example, click the Home branch to expand sub items such as Paste, Record, Import, etc. Click on each sub item to select it and then assign a hotkey to or remove a hotkey from it as you wish.
- Current hotkey (2): Display the hotkey that is currently assigned to the command you select in the Commands section (1).
- New hotkey (3): Show the new key or combination of keys that your press to assign to the selected command.
- Currently assigned to (4): Display the command that is currently using the key or combination of keys entered in the New hotkey box (3).
Customize Hotkeys
You can either use those default hotkeys or take the following steps to customize them:
Step 1: In the Commands section (1), select the command that you want to assign a hotkey.
You will see a hotkey that is currently assigned to the selected command in the Current hotkey section (2).
Step 2: Click the New hotkey box (3) and then press a key or a combination of keys that you want to assign to the command.
Step 3: Look at the Currently assigned to (4) to see if the combination of keys is already assigned to a command or item. If the combination is already used, press a different combination.
Step 4: Click the Add button (5) to assign the new hotkey. Then, click Apply to submit the changes.
You can restore the default settings by clicking the Restore Defaults button.
Note: When assigning hotkeys, you can reassign a key or combination of keys. However, when you do that, you cannot longer use the key or combination of keys for its original purpose.
For example, if you select the Save command in the tree view, and then press CTRL+A in the New hotkey box. The combination of CTRL and A is automatically captured and displayed. In fact, ActivePresenter detects that this hotkey is currently used by the Select All command. In this case, you have two options:
- Try another hotkey.
- Press the Add button to reassign the CTRL+A hotkey to the Save command. By doing that, this hotkey will no longer be assigned to the Select All command.
Remove Hotkeys
If you don’t want to use hotkeys, you can simply complete actions in normal ways. For example, instead of pressing CTRL+C to copy objects, you can right-click them and then select Copy.
However, if you want to remove hotkeys, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Select the command that you want to remove a hotkey.
Step 2: Click the Remove button.
Step 3: Click Apply to submit changes.
Customize Hotkeys for Recording Projects
When it comes to recording video demos or software simulations, ActivePresenter provides some default hotkeys to make the recording become simpler and quicker. In addition, ActivePresenter also allows you to customize those hotkeys. So, you can assign your familiar hotkeys to usually used commands to work with the app better.
To do that:
Step 1: In the Start Page of the application, click Record Video or Record Software Simulation depending on your need. I’ll go with Record Video as a demo.
Step 2: In the Record Video Project dialog that pops up, click the Settings icon (6) and then click Recording Settings… (7).
Step 3: Open the Hotkeys tab in the pop-up dialog.
In this dialog:
- Select Use Hotkeys to enable options below.
- Click the command box to and press a key or a combination of keys to assign a new hotkey to it.
- Click Save to apply changes.
If you need to go back to original values, click Restore Defaults.
That’s how to customize hotkeys in ActivePresenter 7. Hope that it helps.