Summary

Have you ever wished you could change various shortcuts and edit keyboard buttons? You can – with Microsoft PowerToys.

Microsoft PowerToys is a set of utilities for customising Windows. The particular PowerToy at your disposal, to solve all your keyboard woes and qualms, is called Keyboard Shortcut Manager!

Keyboard Shortcut Manager allows you to customise your experience by remapping keys or by creating new shortcuts to make the user experience more suitable to your needs.

For more information on Microsoft PowerToys – take a look at this Microsoft article.

First things, first – how to install Microsoft PowerToys on your device?

1. Open the Microsoft Store application on your device.

2. Type Microsoft PowerToys in the search box, as shown below.

3. Then simply click Install.

What can you expect from the Keyboard Shortcut Manager PowerToy?

Keyboard Shortcut Manager is a great tool to give you control over keyboard shortcuts. Let’s take a look at some of the functionality you can make use of.

Remapping keys in Keyboard Shortcut Manager

Keyboard Shortcut Manager can be used to remap keys; something that will be very much welcomed by power users, developers and people switching from macOS or Linux to Windows.

Follow the steps below to remap your keys:

1. Launch PowerToys settings.

2. Navigate to the Keyboard Manager menu.

3. Select Remap a key.

4. Once the remap a key settings has launched, select the + button to add a new remap.

NOTE: When first launched, no predefined mappings will be displayed.

5.  A new remap row will appear and you can now select the input key whose output you want to change in the Physical Key column. In the Mapped to column you’ll need to specify the new outcome you want to happen.

For example, pressing the E key will map to the space bar key and it’s functionality, as illustrated in the image below.

6. If you wish to add additional remaps, simply click on the + symbol and perform the above steps again.

6. Once completed, click OK.

Remapping a shortcut in Keyboard Shortcut Manager

Another key advantage of the Keyboard Shortcut Manager is that it allows you to tweak Operating System level shortcuts to suit your needs and way of working.

For example, it is possible to change the shortcut to access the Run dialog – from Windows + R to Windows + Z.

It is also possible to disable OS-level shortcuts you don’t use, to avoid activating them by accident.

To achieve this, follow the steps below:

1. Launch PowerToys settings.

2. Navigate to the Keyboard Manager menu.

3. Select Remap a shortcut.

4. To select a keyboard shortcut to remap, use the drop-down menu under select Physical Shortcut to specify the original shortcut in use. Then underneath Mapped to, select the shortcut you want to replace it with.

For example you can change the standard shortcut Ctrl A (for selecting all text/documents) to be the shortcut Alt A.

5. There is also the option to specify which application you’d like this shortcut to be applied to by filling in Target App field.

NOTE: If you want your remapped shortcut to be applied across all applications, simply leave the Target App field blank.

6. As above, if you wish to add additional remaps, simply click on the + symbol and perform the above steps again.

7. Once completed, click OK.

Additional Information

NOTE: The Keyboard Shortcut Manager feature is located within Microsoft’s PowerToy app, which can be downloaded via the Microsoft Store.

This feature is available for both Windows 10 & 11.

Further Information

If you have any questions about this or need assistance, then please contact the GCC Group Support Team on 0345 260 1151 or servicedesk@gccgroup.co.uk

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