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Run an action from the keyboard

An action can have several triggers. This page adds a hotkey to the Open Notepad action from Make a gesture do something, so both the gesture and the keys run it. Any other action works the same way.

Add the hotkey​

Input.ObserverSimpleAdvanced
AUTOMATION
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SETUP
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Actions
Open Notepad
Actions
App group
Global
Triggers
+ Gesture
+ Hotkey
+ Text expansion
GESTUREDown, then right
HOTKEYCtrl+Shift+Alt+N
Key combination
Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N
  1. Open Actions. Choose the action's app group in App group, or All, and select the action in the list ①.
  2. In Triggers, click + Hotkey ②. A new HOTKEY trigger opens under the others.
  3. Click the Key combination box ③. It reads Press a key combo…. Press the keys together, for example Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N. While the box is waiting, it catches every key, even ones Windows would act on, such as Win+E. Press Escape to stop without setting anything.
  4. If a colored banner appears above the triggers, read it. It tells you when the keys are already used by another action or by the stop-all-actions hotkey, and which one wins.
  5. Click Apply at the bottom of the window, or press Ctrl+S.

Now press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N anywhere: Notepad opens.

Choosing keys​

  • Ctrl+Shift+Alt with a letter is rarely used by other programs. The starter set already uses Ctrl+Shift+Alt+O to open the configuration window, and Ctrl+Shift+Alt+F9 stops all actions.
  • The keys are taken from every program. In Simple mode a hotkey is reserved with Windows: while Input.Observer runs, no other program receives those keys, even in a program where your action doesn't run, and even while Input.Observer is paused from the tray.
  • The window in front decides which action runs. A hotkey belongs to the action's app group. The app group of the window in front is used, and Global when that group has no action for the keys (unless the group's Fall back to Global is off).
note

Advanced mode. The hotkey trigger also shows Registered. Turn it off to watch for the keys without reserving them: other programs then receive them too. Advanced mode also shows Held modifier keys, and Swallow the final key for a hotkey that isn't reserved. See Hotkeys.

Next​

Type less with text expansion.