Keyboard shortcuts

A shortcut is a key to press and something for it to do. Sidekick has a built-in set, and every key in it can be changed, given a second key, or limited to one program. You can also attach a key to anything the menu does. All of it is set in Settings → Keyboard shortcuts…; nothing needs an ini file.

The built-in shortcuts

Does	Default key
Open the palette (search everything)	Ctrl+Alt+Space
Translate the selection (QuickTrans)	Ctrl+Alt+T
Open the window (clipboard + menu)	` (backtick)
Classic popup menu	Ctrl + ` (backtick)
Clipboard history	Ctrl+Alt+C
Library Editor	none
Google the selection	Ctrl+/
Search the desktop (dtSearch)	Ctrl+Shift+D
Confirm segment (presses Ctrl+Enter)	Numpad Enter, in memoQ and Trados Studio only
Reload Sidekick	Ctrl+R

Confirm segment is there because memoQ and Trados both confirm with Ctrl+Enter, which is two hands. Numpad Enter is one. It is limited to those two programs, so Numpad Enter keeps its normal meaning everywhere else.

Changing a key

Select a row, press Change key…, and press the combination you want. Sidekick refuses a combination Windows will not accept rather than saving one that silently does nothing. Turn off frees a key; Reset to default puts it back.

Add another key… keeps the keys a shortcut has and adds one more. If the existing keys are limited to particular programs, you are asked whether the new one should be too – usually the point, since a global key that presses Ctrl+Enter would send half-written emails.

Double-tap keys

A key can be a quick double tap of Ctrl, Shift or Alt. In the “Press a shortcut” dialog, tap the modifier twice within about half a second and it is recorded as, for example, “Ctrl twice”. The modifier keeps working normally: Ctrl+C followed by a tap does not count, and a triple tap fires once.

Tapping Ctrl twice to confirm a segment in memoQ or Trados is the obvious use: select Confirm segment, press Add another key…, tap Ctrl twice, answer Yes to limit it to the same programs, save.

Your own shortcuts

New shortcut… attaches a key to something of your own. Give it a name, choose what it does, and press the key:

Kind	Does
Press keys	sends a key combination – ^{Enter} is Ctrl+Enter
Type text	types the text, for a character or phrase you use constantly
Surround the selection	wraps the selection, e.g. in <b> and </b>
Search the web for the selection	opens a URL with {q} replaced by the selection
Open a web page	a bookmark on a key
Run a program	launches a file or folder
Run a built-in action	any of the actions the menu uses, such as a case conversion

The Does column of the list says what each shortcut will do, in words, so a list of forty keys stays readable.

In settings.ini

The same bindings are stored under [Hotkeys] in settings.ini, in AutoHotkey notation: ^ is Ctrl, ! Alt, + Shift, # Win. Several keys are separated by |, a key is limited to a program with @, and a double tap is DoubleCtrl, DoubleShift or DoubleAlt:

ConfirmSegment=NumpadEnter@ahk_exe memoQ.exe|DoubleCtrl@ahk_exe memoQ.exe

You never need to write this yourself; the window does it. It is here for anyone who keeps their settings in version control.