Assigning a Shortcut Key to a Desktop Shortcut
In an effort to keep your hands on the keyboard as much as possible, you may find it convenient to assign shortcut keys to items on your desktop. The process is similar to assigning a shortcut key to any other item. Follow these steps:
- Make sure the icon for the desktop item is visible on the screen.
- Right-click the item. (Make sure the item you are right-clicking is a shortcut item.) Windows displays a Context menu.
- Select Properties from the Context menu. Windows displays the Shortcut Properties dialog box for the item.
- Make sure the Shortcut tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1. Assigning a shortcut key to a desktop item.
- Click once in the Shortcut Key box.
- Press a letter or number key. Whatever key you press (such as the letter P) is automatically appended to the modifiers Ctrl+Alt to form the shortcut key.
- Click OK.
Now when I want to invoke my program, I can either double-click on the desktop shortcut's icon or I can just press Ctrl+Alt+P and up it comes. If I want to remove the shortcut key, I repeat the above steps, but in step 6 I press the Delete key.
Author Bio
Barry Dysert
Barry has been a computer professional for over 35 years, working in different positions such as technical team leader, project manager, and software developer. He is currently a software engineer with an emphasis on developing custom applications under Microsoft Windows. When not working with Windows or writing Tips, Barry is an amateur writer. His first non-fiction book is titled "A Chronological Commentary of Revelation." Learn more about Barry...
Removing Spyware with Windows Defender
Despite your best efforts, it's possible that your system might still get afflicted with spyware. If that happens, you ...
Discover More
Creating an Auto Playlist
Auto Playlists are a nice feature of Windows Media Player. Once set up, as more media gets added to your library the auto ...
Discover More
Using the ChkDsk Utility
The ChkDsk utility is a nice feature of Windows that lets you keep tabs on the health of your disk drives. This tip tells ...
Discover More
Changing Shortcut Properties
Want to change how a shortcut behaves when you double-click it? Just display the Properties dialog box for the shortcut ...
Discover More
Search the Web Using the Run Dialog Box
The Run dialog box allows you to quickly run or start a program using quick keystrokes. The Run dialog box can also help ...
Discover More
Deleting Shortcuts
Windows allows you to easily create any number of shortcuts you desire. If you want to get rid of those shortcuts at some ...
Discover More
This tip (11721) applies to Windows 7, 8, and 10.
Comments