This macOS App Makes It Easy to See (and Use) Your Keyboard Shortcuts
Using keyboard shortcuts is much faster than clicking through menus, but only after you learn them. This is the hardest part.
You can check out the app’s documentation or explore the menu bar, but if you’re on a Mac you can also just install KeyClu. This free app displays an overlay with all the keyboard shortcuts in the currently open Mac app, which is very useful for anyone trying to become a more keyboard-savvy computer user.
To get started, install the app. Next, you’ll need to choose a trigger key (basically one of the modifier keys on your keyboard). By default, you press the key twice and hold the second press to trigger the overlay, but you can optionally configure the app to just press the key and hold it if you prefer. I chose to press and hold Command.
After that, you will be asked to enable permissions so that KeyClu can access your apps’ keyboard shortcuts. Then you can start using the app. I tend to ignore the app until I wonder if there is a keyboard shortcut for a particular function. I fire up the app, go through the list of keyboard shortcuts, and see what’s available. When I let go of the trigger key, the window disappears.
This default floating window is useful, but you may want a window listing shortcuts to stay open even when you release the shutter button. This is where the persistent panel comes in. This window, which you can trigger using the menu bar, remains open and always displays a list of keyboard shortcuts for the currently active application. You can add a separate keyboard shortcut for this window in Settings, if you wish.
What do you think of it so far?
Credit: Justin Pot
If you dig into KeyClu’s settings, you can configure the layout of the pop-up and sticky panels, changing the size of the windows, the number of columns the shortcuts are sorted into, and the display the panels appear on.
Credit: Justin Pot
It’s simple software, but it’s completely free and can help you use your computer better. And if you read Lifehacker, that’s probably something you want. Speaking of keyboard shortcuts: here are some keyboard shortcuts you should know. You can also check out our guide to creating your own macOS keyboard shortcuts.
