Bicycle For Your Mind
KeyCue Helps You Master Keyboard Commands
KeyCue icon
Product: KeyCue - find, remember, and learn menu shortcuts
Price: €19.99
"How do you learn keyboard commands?" is a question I often get asked. I have found the best answer to that question. KeyCue. It is an application from Ergonis. Has been around for a long while, but this is the first time I have taken a deep dive on it.
I used to make a table of all the keyboard commands in an application I was interested in. The act of making that table helped me to remember the commands and the resultant table also was a reference sheet which I went back to when I needed to nudge my memory. KeyCue is significantly less work.
KeyCue Application Shortcuts
Hold down the ⌘ key (this is customizable) and you will get a table with the application keyboard commands. You have the ability to search this table, and it makes the process of learning and remembering keyboard commands easy.
KeyCue shows you the following:
- Application keyboard commands
- System keyboard commands
- Keyboard commands from macro utilities like Keyboard Maestro, QuicKeys and yKey.
- Emojis
- A table of frequently used URLs.
- Files contained in a selected folder.
- A table with Typinator 2 items in a specified set. Typinator 2 is a text expansion utility from Ergonis the developers of KeyCue.
- A table with recent and/or favorite PopChar X characters. PopChar X is an utility from Ergonis which lets you locate characters contained in a font.
The Application keyboard commands and the System Keyboard commands are useful. You have the ability to turn off common ones, like Copy (⌘C) or Paste (⌘V).
Keyboard Maestro in iA Writer
KeyCue has been around for a while, and that explains the support for macro utilities like QuicKeys and yKey. I use Keyboard Maestro, and support for it is welcome.
Emojis
Emoji support is fantastic. I used to use Rocket for the same feature and now KeyCue does the job.
A table of frequently used URL's and Files contained in a selected folder are features which don't make any sense to me. If you do find use out of this, have at it. Doesn't do anything for me.
The link with Typinator and PopChar X is well thought out and the integration makes an argument for consumers to use the full set of Ergonis applications. I use a mix of Alfred and Keyboard Maestro for text completion and I am not doing anything which requires the use of specialized characters from the fonts. So those products are not for me. However, if you use those products or have a need for them, the integration between the utilities provided is a good feature to have and makes KeyCue more capable.
Customization
KeyCue Settings
KeyCue gives you the ability to set up any shortcuts you want to display any feature you want in the program. You have the ability to specify the length of time you hold on to the keys for the KeyCue panel to trigger. I have set mine for 2 seconds.
I have setup KeyCue the following way:
Fn+⌃: Menu shortcuts and system-wide shortcuts
Fn+⌥: Keyboard Maestro hotkeys
Fn+⌘: Emoji table
Fn+⇧⌃: KeyCue Settings
I use the Fn key because it is a key which doesn't get used much on my iMac and the assigned keyboard commands made sense to me.
The setup is well designed and you can customize to your heart's desire.
Learning Mode
KeyCue works well with most applications but if the application doesn't comply with Apple's guidelines you can make KeyCue learn the keyboard commands supported by the application and it will still be useful.
KeyCue Extras
In addition, KeyCue provides resources to learn the keyboard commands for some applications like the Adobe products and some others on their web site and you can download the KeyCue shortcut extras from here.
Miscellany
KeyCue supports themes you can download from here.
KeyCue ships with a pdf manual. I love programs which take the trouble of documenting the product features and gives the users the ability to learn how to use the product. I was thrilled to see the KeyCue manual.
Conclusion
This is a well-designed mature product which does a great job of teaching you keyboard commands. I am surprised that I hadn't adopted this earlier. My way worked but this is better.
KeyCue is recommended heartily.
A review copy was provided by the developer.
macosxguru at the gmail thingie
keyboard commands macOS KeyCue