List of user defined keyboard shortcuts

[StuartR]

It is easy to add a keyboard shortcut that will start a program, by setting it in the properties of a shortcut to the program.

How can I get a list of all user defined keyboard shortcuts?

[HansV]

There are some utilities that do this, but I can't find a satisfactory one.
A free utility that looked promising works in 32-bit Windows only (Ethervane ActiveHotkeys).
Another one triggered my antivirus the moment I tried to visit the website...

[StuartR]

That's about the same kind of luck that I had.

[Dave Davison]

Trying to fathom out how to assign a keyboard hotkey combination for some symbols (characters) like a "tick" or a "bullet" I gave up in frustration but then did a search and the following freeby popped up but I declined it till searching through the threads dealing with W7 and so far this one caught my eye so has anyone any comments to make about it before I try it? Regards dave.

[HansV]

That's a different kind of hotkey than discussed earlier in this thread, but AutoHotkey is a popular utility - there are several Loungers using it.

[Dave Davison]

.................thanks Hans might just give it a try.....Regards dave.

[Jay Freedman]

I've been using AutoHotkey for several years, and it works very well. There's a lot more to it than just automatic replacements, but that's the only part I've used.

My only criticism is that occasionally it seems to lose its "grip" and stop replacing. Then I have to right-click its tray icon and click "Reload this script" to make it start working again. It doesn't happen often enough to make it worth trying to track down the reason for the stop.

[Dave Davison]

Thanks............with assigning shortcut keys being so simple in XP I have never thought of looking for an alternative and what mystifies me is why the brains at Microsoft dumped such a handy app. Will certainly try AutoHotkey as it will enable me to use Symbols with less hassle. I have glanced briefly through the first 10 of the 21 pages of the W7 thread and picked up a few tips but there are many issues that still bug me about W7 some of which I suspect I will never warm to. Like the "Drawing" toolbar from which it was dead easy to click an "Arrow" tab, increase it's width and change colour etc. with the greatest of ease. However it seems now to have been made - like many other features - less simple or accessible. Then there is the issue of the "Address Book" a copy of which I kept on my desktop for easy access / editing. {Seems they have thought it unnecessary too!)
Were it not for the many benefits of using the internet, XP offered me everything I needed & would served me adequate forever but because of the devious characters who seem to delight in trashing innocent peoples' computers with viruses and malware I, -like millions of others I suppose- have had to incur the cost of upgrading not to mention grapple with (what I contend) are the multitude compexities of W7.

[HansV]

You're now confusing Windows and Office, I think.

[Dave Davison]

.................you may well be right Hans but all I know is, such confusion -and frustration - has only surfaced since W7 reluctantly invaded my life. Seems I am not alone either as the computer shop owner told me many moons ago that customers were returning their computers to have W7 taken off and XP reinstalled. For what reasons I don't know but I suspect they are similar to mine. Many years ago the maxim was stressed to me: - "If it aint brike, don't try to fix it", but of course since the birth of W98 (which incidentally the shop owner's brother still uses in his tanning shop next door) MONEY has -and still will be - the only reason Microsoft obligates millions of customers to swel their coffers by introducing new OS. Of course there is the option to choose another system but there are not many alternatives. Cheers Dave.

[Leif]

.... MONEY has -and still will be - the only reason Microsoft obligates millions of customers to swel their coffers by introducing new OS.

Not exclusively the money made by Microsoft. There is also the money made by multiple hackers, scammers and virus writers, etc. against which newer operating systems offer far superior protection. Nobody is forcing you to upgrade, the choice is of course yours, but I would rather pass my money over to Microsoft...

[HansV]

Windows XP did/does not have a built-in way to assign keyboard shortcuts to symbols, and neither does Windows 7.

If you want an easy way to enter characters with accents such as é or ü, you can set the keyboard layout to United States-International. This layout was available in Windows XP, and it is still available in Windows 7. If you activate it, characters such as ' and " act as 'dead keys' - they can be combined with the next character. So pressing ' then e will result in é, and " followed by u will result in ü.
you set the keyboard layout by clicking Start > Control Panel > Region and Language > Keyboards and Languages tab > Change Keyboards...

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Microsoft Word (not a Windows component, but a separate application) lets you assign custom keyboard shortcuts to any character. For example in Word 2010, activate the Insert tab of the ribbon, and click Symbol > More Symbols...

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In the Symbol dialog, select a symbol. You'll see the currently assigned keyboard shortcut(s), if any, at the bottom of the dialog, and you can assign a custom keyboard shortcut by clicking Shortcut Key...

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This is for Microsoft Word only; it has nothing to do with Windows XP or Windows 7.

Finally, there are third-party utilities such as AutoHotkey that let you assign keyboard shortcuts to characters globally throughout Windows. Such utilities were/are not part of Windows XP or Windows 7, but can be downloaded and installed separately.