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<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//KDE//DTD DocBook XML V4.2-Based Variant V1.1//EN"
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<!ENTITY % addindex "IGNORE">
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<!ENTITY % English "INCLUDE" > <!-- change language only here -->
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<article lang="&language;">
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<title>Shortcuts</title>
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<author>&Mike.McBride; &Mike.McBride.mail;</author>
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<author>&Jost.Schenck; &Jost.Schenck.mail;</author>
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<!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
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<date>2010-09-15</date>
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<releaseinfo>&kde; 4.5</releaseinfo>
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<keyword>KDE</keyword>
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<keyword>KControl</keyword>
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<keyword>key bindings</keyword>
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<keyword>bindings</keyword>
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<keyword>shortcuts</keyword>
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<sect1 id="key-bindings">
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<title>Shortcuts</title>
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<sect2 id="key-bindings-intro">
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<para>While most of the functionality offered by &kde; can be accessed
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using a simple <quote>point and click</quote> interface, many people
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prefer using the keyboard for some tasks. Pressing something like
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<keycombo action="simul"> &Ctrl;<keycap>F</keycap></keycombo> is often
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just faster than moving your hands off the keyboard to the mouse,
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opening the <guimenu>Edit</guimenu> menu and selecting
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<guimenuitem>Find</guimenuitem>.</para>
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<para> As different people have different preferences about keyboard
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shortcuts, &kde; offers full customization of <quote>key
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bindings.</quote> A key binding or shortcut is a combination of an
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action with a key or a combination of keys.</para>
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<sect2 id="custom-shortcuts">
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<title>Custom Shortcuts</title>
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<sect2 id="key-bindings-use-globapp">
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<title>Standard Shortcuts and Global Shortcuts</title>
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<para>Standard shortcuts and Global shortcuts work just the same.
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Actually, in a certain way standard or application shortcuts are
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<quote>global</quote> as well. The only
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<listitem><para><quote>Standard keyboard shortcuts</quote> refer to actions
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that are often available in applications, such as Save, Print, Copy
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&etc;</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><quote>Global keyboard shortcuts</quote> are shortcuts for
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actions that make sense even when no application is opened. These
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shortcuts usually refer to actions like switching desktops, manipulating
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windows &etc;</para></listitem>
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<para>Please note, that the application shortcuts configured here are
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<emphasis>only</emphasis> the standard actions often found in
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applications. Most applications will define their own actions as well,
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for which you have to customize key bindings using the application's
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key bindings dialog.</para>
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<sect3 id="key-bindings-standard">
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<title><guilabel>Standard Keyboard Shortcuts</guilabel> tab</title>
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<para>At the top of this dialog you see an input box, where you can
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search interactively for shortcut names (⪚ Copy) or combination of keys
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(⪚ <quote><userinput>Ctrl+C</userinput></quote>) by typing them literally here.</para>
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<para>Below the search box you can see a list of key bindings, &ie; associations between actions
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(⪚ Copy) shown in the <guilabel>Actions</guilabel> column and keys or combination of keys
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(⪚ <keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>C</keycap> </keycombo>) shown in the
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<guilabel>Shortcut</guilabel> or <guilabel>Alternate</guilabel> column.
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<!-- Global column is empty what's that???-->
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<sect3 id="key-bindings-global">
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<title><guilabel>Global Keyboard Shortcuts</guilabel> tab</title>
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<para>At the top of this page is a drop down box which allows you
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to select a <guilabel>KDE component</guilabel> like KWin, Plasma Desktop &etc;
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The defined shortcuts for the selected component are displayed in the
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<guilabel>Action</guilabel> and <guilabel>Global</guilabel> column in the list view.
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Click the <guilabel>File</guilabel> drop down box at the right to import/export a
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Scheme, set all shortcuts to none and remove a component.</para>
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<para>This page has the same search box as the <guilabel>Standard Keyboard
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Shortcuts</guilabel> tab.</para>
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<sect3 id="key-bindings-use-confkeys">
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<title>Configuring Key Bindings</title>
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<para>Configuring key bindings is pretty easy. In the middle of
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these &systemsettings; modules you will find a list of available
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actions. If there's a key binding configured for that action you will
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find it in the columns right to it. Just select the action you want to
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<para>After you have selected an action in the list you will notice that
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this item is highlighted and you see two additional check boxes below
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this item in the list view. There you can configure a
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combination of keys or maybe no key binding at all for the selected
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Default</guilabel>: the selected action
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will be associated with &kde;'s default value. This is a good choice
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for most actions, as &kde; comes with reasonable key bindings we have
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thought about. </para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Custom</guilabel>: if this option is
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enabled, you can create a key combination for the selected
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action. Click on the button labeled either <guibutton>None</guibutton>
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or labeled with the previously selected custom shortcut. Now the button label
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changes to <guibutton>Input</guibutton>. Then press any modifier key
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(&ie; &Shift;, &Ctrl;, or &Alt;) and then normal key or a function key (⪚ <keycap>F11</keycap>)
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you want to assign to this key combination.</para>
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<para>Clicking on the <guilabel>Alternate</guilabel> column of a row in the list
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allows to edit the second shortcut for the action.</para></listitem>
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<sect3 id="key-bindings-use-confschemes">
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<title>Configuring Schemes</title>
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<para>A key binding scheme is a set of key bindings that you can
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select by name. &kde; comes with several pre-defined key binding
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schemes. In addition to these bundled schemes, you will always see a scheme named
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<guilabel>Current scheme</guilabel> that represents the set of key
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bindings you are using right now (&ie; not the current settings you
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are playing with, but what you've been using up to now). </para>
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<para>When you are playing with the key bindings for the first time
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you don't have to be afraid of changing the default bindings: &kde;
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won't let you overwrite the defaults, so you can always switch back to
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the factory presets. By choosing <guilabel>Current scheme</guilabel>
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you can return to the set of key bindings you've been using up to
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now. However, be careful not to select a scheme when you've made
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changes to the key bindings you don't want to lose.</para>
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<para>When you are satisfied with a set of key bindings you've
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created, you may want to save them to a scheme of your own, so that
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you can still experiment with the bindings and always return to a
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certain scheme. You can always do this by clicking on the
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<guibutton>Add</guibutton> button. You will be prompted for a name
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and then the new scheme will appear in the key schemes listbox. You
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can remove your own schemes again by selecting a scheme and clicking
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the <guibutton>Remove</guibutton> button. Click the <guibutton>Save
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changes</guibutton> button to save any changes you have made to the
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currently selected scheme. Note that you can not remove or save
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changes to <guilabel>KDE default</guilabel> or to <guilabel>Current
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scheme</guilabel>.</para>
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<important><para>If you want to save your changes while a read-only
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scheme is selected, you always have to add a new scheme first! If you
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select one of your own schemes because you want to save the changes to
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that one, the control module will switch to the key bindings of that
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scheme, discarding your changes.</para></important>
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<title>Modifier Keys</title>
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<para>Different keyboards offer different sets of modifier keys. A
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&Mac; keyboard, for example, does not have a &Ctrl; key, and instead
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has an <keycap>Option</keycap> key. Here you can see what the
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available modifier keys for the current keyboard are.</para>
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<para>If you enable <guilabel>Macintosh keyboard</guilabel> the list
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of modifiers will change.</para>
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<para>If you have enabled the &Mac; keyboard, you can further enable
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<guilabel>MacOS-style modifier usage</guilabel>, to make &kde; behave
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more like &MacOS;.</para>
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<para>Finally, you can change what a keypress sends to the &X-Server;
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in the <guilabel>X Modifier Mapping</guilabel> section. A common
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example is to reconfigure the <keycap>Caps Lock</keycap> key, which is
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rarely used, to be another &Ctrl; key. This is especially nice if you
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are a touch typist, as <keycap>Caps Lock</keycap> is much easier to
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reach than either of the &Ctrl; keys on a standard keyboard.</para>