Assigning hot keys to programs

Kind of disappointing to find out there's no way to assign a hot key
directly to the program file, unless I've missed something.

The hot key has to be done to a desktop shortcut. And if the shortcut
is not on the desktop, the hot key doesn't seem to work. I even tried
putting the shortcuts in a folder on the desktop.

The goal is to minimize the number icons on the desktop, not increase them.

Any ideas on how to do this?


--
Ken
MacOS 10.14.6
Firefox 70.0.1
Thunderbird 60.9
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"

On Wed, 11 Dec 2019 20:42:49 -0700, Ken Springer
wrote:

Kind of disappointing to find out there's no way to assign a hot key
directly to the program file, unless I've missed something.

The hot key has to be done to a desktop shortcut. And if the shortcut
is not on the desktop, the hot key doesn't seem to work. I even tried
putting the shortcuts in a folder on the desktop.

The goal is to minimize the number icons on the desktop, not increase them.

Any ideas on how to do this?

I do something similar to what you appear to be aiming to do.

Firstly, I created a desktop icon which I labelled " Little Used
Programs ".

Then I dragged all the icons I didn't want on the desktop and dropped
them onto the "Little Used Programs" icon. I now have 51 icons in
that container.

To use any of those 51 programs, a single click (or double click if
required on your PC) on the "little Used Programs" icon opens up a
container with 51 icons. Then a single click on any of those icons
will start the program belonging to that icon.

So I have one icon on my desktop which will allow me to choose from a
list of 51 programs.

If you want any further info just leave a message.

Ken Springer wrote:
Kind of disappointing to find out there's no way to assign a hot key
directly to the program file, unless I've missed something.

The hot key has to be done to a desktop shortcut. And if the shortcut
is not on the desktop, the hot key doesn't seem to work. I even tried
putting the shortcuts in a folder on the desktop.

The goal is to minimize the number icons on the desktop, not increase them.

Any ideas on how to do this?



The following recipe, is the "Lets put a (Metro) App launcher on the desktop"
recipe, plus they edit the Properties when they're done.

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/c...uts-windows-10

How to Create Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 10

Type "explorer shell:AppsFolder" (without quotes) at the command prompt and hit Enter. ...
Right click on an app and select Create shortcut. ...
Click Yes when asked if you want the shortcut on the desktop. ...
Right click on the new shortcut icon and select Properties.
* Enter a key combination in the Shortcut key field.

The same field exists on Win32 shortcuts, so you can use
a hotkey for them too.

In the following example, I made the Photos App ctrl-alt-J
and I made Seamonkey.exe ctrl-alt-K.

https://i.postimg.cc/jqFKxDMp/shortc...Properties.gif

To be honest, I've never used that. Too ctrl - Alt - kooky.

Paul

On 12/11/19 10:43 PM, Paul wrote:
Ken Springer wrote:
Kind of disappointing to find out there's no way to assign a hot key
directly to the program file, unless I've missed something.

The hot key has to be done to a desktop shortcut. And if the shortcut
is not on the desktop, the hot key doesn't seem to work. I even tried
putting the shortcuts in a folder on the desktop.

The goal is to minimize the number icons on the desktop, not increase them.

Any ideas on how to do this?



The following recipe, is the "Lets put a (Metro) App launcher on the desktop"
recipe, plus they edit the Properties when they're done.

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/c...uts-windows-10

How to Create Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 10

Type "explorer shell:AppsFolder" (without quotes) at the command prompt and hit Enter. ...
Right click on an app and select Create shortcut. ...
Click Yes when asked if you want the shortcut on the desktop. ...
Right click on the new shortcut icon and select Properties.
* Enter a key combination in the Shortcut key field.

The same field exists on Win32 shortcuts, so you can use
a hotkey for them too.

In the following example, I made the Photos App ctrl-alt-J
and I made Seamonkey.exe ctrl-alt-K.

https://i.postimg.cc/jqFKxDMp/shortc...Properties.gif

To be honest, I've never used that. Too ctrl - Alt - kooky.

Desktop shortcuts wis is where I started, but it creates a bunch of
icons on the desktop, which is not the goal. The goal is to have the
hot key work without icons on the desktop. The minute I move all those
shortcuts anywhere other than the desktop and reboot, the hot keys no
longer work.

Some time tomorrow, I'll download an ico file and see if I can make
Monty's idea work.


--
Ken
MacOS 10.14.6
Firefox 70.0.1
Thunderbird 60.9
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"

On Thu, 12 Dec 2019 00:12:03 -0700, Ken Springer
wrote:

On 12/11/19 10:43 PM, Paul wrote:
Ken Springer wrote:
Kind of disappointing to find out there's no way to assign a hot key
directly to the program file, unless I've missed something.

The hot key has to be done to a desktop shortcut. And if the shortcut
is not on the desktop, the hot key doesn't seem to work. I even tried
putting the shortcuts in a folder on the desktop.

The goal is to minimize the number icons on the desktop, not increase them.

Any ideas on how to do this?



The following recipe, is the "Lets put a (Metro) App launcher on the desktop"
recipe, plus they edit the Properties when they're done.

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/c...uts-windows-10

How to Create Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 10

Type "explorer shell:AppsFolder" (without quotes) at the command prompt and hit Enter. ...
Right click on an app and select Create shortcut. ...
Click Yes when asked if you want the shortcut on the desktop. ...
Right click on the new shortcut icon and select Properties.
* Enter a key combination in the Shortcut key field.

The same field exists on Win32 shortcuts, so you can use
a hotkey for them too.

In the following example, I made the Photos App ctrl-alt-J
and I made Seamonkey.exe ctrl-alt-K.

https://i.postimg.cc/jqFKxDMp/shortc...Properties.gif

To be honest, I've never used that. Too ctrl - Alt - kooky.

Desktop shortcuts wis is where I started, but it creates a bunch of
icons on the desktop, which is not the goal. The goal is to have the
hot key work without icons on the desktop. The minute I move all those
shortcuts anywhere other than the desktop and reboot, the hot keys no
longer work.


Some time tomorrow, I'll download an ico file -

That might be the hardest part of the task. It took me less than
five minutes to create a shortcut labelled "Little Used Programs" and
drag 51 icons from the desktop to "little Used Programs". Windows
gave me a boring default icon. It took about 15 minutes to find an
icon that appealed to me as a replacement for the Window default.

Have fun!!

Il giorno Thu 12 Dec 2019 04:42:49a, *Ken Springer* ha inviato su
alt.comp.os.windows-10 il messaggio .
Vediamo cosa ha scritto:


The goal is to minimize the number icons on the desktop, not increase
them.

Any ideas on how to do this?



can't remember exactly, but more than 25 years ago Norton Desktop had a
sort of floating launch-bar where you could put programs shortcuts, with
just the icon and no name: that was really comfortable

today you have any sort of launch-bars that you can put almost everywhere
(but noone of them AFAIK can /float/ on the desktop)

--
/-\ /\/\ /\/\ /-\ /\/\ /\/\ /-\ T /-\
-=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- - -=-
http://www.bb2002.it
............ [ al lavoro ] ...........

"Monty" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Dec 2019 20:42:49 -0700, Ken Springer
wrote:

Kind of disappointing to find out there's no way to assign a hot key
directly to the program file, unless I've missed something.

The hot key has to be done to a desktop shortcut. And if the shortcut
is not on the desktop, the hot key doesn't seem to work. I even tried
putting the shortcuts in a folder on the desktop.

The goal is to minimize the number icons on the desktop, not increase
them.

Any ideas on how to do this?

I do something similar to what you appear to be aiming to do.

Firstly, I created a desktop icon which I labelled " Little Used
Programs ".

Then I dragged all the icons I didn't want on the desktop and dropped
them onto the "Little Used Programs" icon. I now have 51 icons in
that container.

To use any of those 51 programs, a single click (or double click if
required on your PC) on the "little Used Programs" icon opens up a
container with 51 icons. Then a single click on any of those icons
will start the program belonging to that icon.

So I have one icon on my desktop which will allow me to choose from a
list of 51 programs.


I do similar using a created folder called Desktop Shortcuts & populate it
with 'send to' shortcuts from each exe file.
Desktop currently has 40 shortcuts & about the same in the shortcuts folder.
I call this basic housekeeping

--
Regards
wasbit

On Wed, 11 Dec 2019 20:42:49 -0700, Ken Springer wrote:

Kind of disappointing to find out there's no way to assign a hot key
directly to the program file, unless I've missed something.

The hot key has to be done to a desktop shortcut. And if the shortcut
is not on the desktop, the hot key doesn't seem to work. I even tried
putting the shortcuts in a folder on the desktop.

The goal is to minimize the number icons on the desktop, not increase them.

Any ideas on how to do this?

This sounds like a mistake. On my desktop, replacing 40 or so
program icons with keyboard shortcuts would be asking too much for
me to remember.

On 12/12/19 4:11 AM, mechanic wrote:
On Wed, 11 Dec 2019 20:42:49 -0700, Ken Springer wrote:

Kind of disappointing to find out there's no way to assign a hot key
directly to the program file, unless I've missed something.

The hot key has to be done to a desktop shortcut. And if the shortcut
is not on the desktop, the hot key doesn't seem to work. I even tried
putting the shortcuts in a folder on the desktop.

The goal is to minimize the number icons on the desktop, not increase them.

Any ideas on how to do this?

This sounds like a mistake. On my desktop, replacing 40 or so
program icons with keyboard shortcuts would be asking too much for
me to remember.

I wouldn't try 40 programs, or the 51 Monty has either. LOL

The need is to simplify program launching without having to find and
click on an icon. Especially on smaller displays.

And a solution that simple, as I may help others do similar.


--
Ken
MacOS 10.14.6
Firefox 70.0.1
Thunderbird 60.9
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"

On 12/12/19 2:47 AM, Ammammata wrote:
Il giorno Thu 12 Dec 2019 04:42:49a, *Ken Springer* ha inviato su
alt.comp.os.windows-10 il messaggio .
Vediamo cosa ha scritto:


The goal is to minimize the number icons on the desktop, not increase
them.

Any ideas on how to do this?



can't remember exactly, but more than 25 years ago Norton Desktop had a
sort of floating launch-bar where you could put programs shortcuts, with
just the icon and no name: that was really comfortable

Norton Desktop, I remember it well. In fact, have a copy on my shelf.

today you have any sort of launch-bars that you can put almost everywhere
(but noone of them AFAIK can /float/ on the desktop)

There's a solution online for enabling the old Quick Launch bar in
Windows 7, I haven't tried that in Windows 10.

Launch bars isn't the answer, as they have small icons. I need large
icons in minimal space. Winaero Tweaker will help with this issue.


--
Ken
MacOS 10.14.6
Firefox 70.0.1
Thunderbird 60.9
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"

On 12/12/19 3:43 AM, wasbit wrote:
"Monty" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Dec 2019 20:42:49 -0700, Ken Springer
wrote:

Kind of disappointing to find out there's no way to assign a hot key
directly to the program file, unless I've missed something.

The hot key has to be done to a desktop shortcut. And if the shortcut
is not on the desktop, the hot key doesn't seem to work. I even tried
putting the shortcuts in a folder on the desktop.

The goal is to minimize the number icons on the desktop, not increase
them.

Any ideas on how to do this?

I do something similar to what you appear to be aiming to do.

Firstly, I created a desktop icon which I labelled " Little Used
Programs ".

Then I dragged all the icons I didn't want on the desktop and dropped
them onto the "Little Used Programs" icon. I now have 51 icons in
that container.

To use any of those 51 programs, a single click (or double click if
required on your PC) on the "little Used Programs" icon opens up a
container with 51 icons. Then a single click on any of those icons
will start the program belonging to that icon.

So I have one icon on my desktop which will allow me to choose from a
list of 51 programs.


I do similar using a created folder called Desktop Shortcuts & populate it
with 'send to' shortcuts from each exe file.
Desktop currently has 40 shortcuts & about the same in the shortcuts folder.
I call this basic housekeeping

I tried this already. But when I move the icons from the desktop to the
folder, the hot key stops working. It doesn't seem to matter if I
create the hot key before moving, or after moving, once the shortcut is
in the folder, and the system is rebooted, the hot key no longer works.

I haven't tried this on a different system, in case there's something
weird there.


--
Ken
MacOS 10.14.6
Firefox 70.0.1
Thunderbird 60.9
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"

On 12/11/19 10:41 PM, Monty wrote:
On Wed, 11 Dec 2019 20:42:49 -0700, Ken Springer
wrote:

Kind of disappointing to find out there's no way to assign a hot key
directly to the program file, unless I've missed something.

The hot key has to be done to a desktop shortcut. And if the shortcut
is not on the desktop, the hot key doesn't seem to work. I even tried
putting the shortcuts in a folder on the desktop.

The goal is to minimize the number icons on the desktop, not increase them.

Any ideas on how to do this?

I do something similar to what you appear to be aiming to do.

Firstly, I created a desktop icon which I labelled " Little Used
Programs ".

Then I dragged all the icons I didn't want on the desktop and dropped
them onto the "Little Used Programs" icon. I now have 51 icons in
that container.

What does "container" mean, in this case? The explanations I've found
all make it sound similar to a VM,

To use any of those 51 programs, a single click (or double click if
required on your PC) on the "little Used Programs" icon opens up a
container with 51 icons. Then a single click on any of those icons
will start the program belonging to that icon.

So I have one icon on my desktop which will allow me to choose from a
list of 51 programs.

If you want any further info just leave a message.





--
Ken
MacOS 10.14.6
Firefox 70.0.1
Thunderbird 60.9
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"

"Ken Springer" wrote

| The need is to simplify program launching without having to find and
| click on an icon. Especially on smaller displays.
|
| And a solution that simple, as I may help others do similar.
|

I came up with a solution I call "Start Menu". I click
in the lower left and it opens a set of submenus
with names like Utilities, Media, Graphics, Office, etc.
All the programs I use are on those submenus. No need
to remember a hotkey combo.... You're welcome... Yes,
I am brilliant.

(Actually, I almost always use Quick Launch. Those
sgortcuts are always visible with no clicking. I only
go to Start Menu for things I use less often.)

But if you want to do things the hard way....
I wrote a little test program and confirmed that a program
started from a hotkey gets no command line. That means
you can't just use one shortcut to a program that will
shell another. But there are things like AutoHotKey. I've
never used such a program and I'm not sure exactly how they
work. It sounds rather Rube Goldberg-esque to me. But
apparently it will do what you want if you don't mind a 4-key
hotkey.

My guess is that such a program installs a global keyboard
hook. Which means it gets access to all keystrokes, regardless
of what window has focus. Then, if you type the signal
combination it will check its list, start up the program that
accords with that combination, and "eat" the keystrokes by
not passing them along to be sent to the focused program.
So you just have to set up the hotkeys you want and that
program will run in the background, watching for a hotkey
combo. (A keyboard hook is common and harmless as long
as it's not malware and is written properly. It just inserts
a process into something like a bucket brigade of Windows
messages. The "intelligence" of programs works through
system messages that allow software to know when typing,
clicking, etc happen. A hook gets set into the message
system itself and gets first dibs on all messages of the
requested type.)

That's the only way I can see it working. If Explorer were
to do what you want then it would have to do a full file
search of LNK files on the system and check to see whether
any of them are activated by what you just typed. That would
be horrendously involved.

On 12/12/2019 8:48 AM, Ken Springer wrote:
On 12/12/19 3:43 AM, wasbit wrote:
"Monty" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Dec 2019 20:42:49 -0700, Ken Springer
wrote:

Kind of disappointing to find out there's no way to assign a hot key
directly to the program file, unless I've missed something.

The hot key has to be done to a desktop shortcut.Â* And if the shortcut
is not on the desktop, the hot key doesn't seem to work.Â* I even tried
putting the shortcuts in a folder on the desktop.

The goal is to minimize the number icons on the desktop, not increase
them.

Any ideas on how to do this?

I do something similar to what you appear to be aiming to do.

Firstly, I created a desktop icon which I labelled " Little Used
Programs ".

Then I dragged all the icons I didn't want on the desktop and dropped
them onto the "Little Used Programs" icon.Â* I now have 51 icons in
that container.

To use any of those 51 programs, a single click (or double click if
required on your PC) on the "little Used Programs" icon opens up a
container with 51 icons.Â* Then a single click on any of those icons
will start the program belonging to that icon.

So I have one icon on my desktop which will allow me to choose from a
list of 51 programs.


I do similar using a created folder called Desktop Shortcuts &
populate it
with 'send to' shortcuts from each exe file.
Desktop currently has 40 shortcuts & about the same in the shortcuts
folder.
I call this basic housekeeping

I tried this already.Â* But when I move the icons from the desktop to the
folder, the hot key stops working.Â* It doesn't seem to matter if I
create the hot key before moving, or after moving, once the shortcut is
in the folder, and the system is rebooted, the hot key no longer works.

I haven't tried this on a different system, in case there's something
weird there.


Make a batch file to do the hot key action and then a shortcut to it in
the "one folder".

Another alternative is StartDock''s ObjectDock which I find very convenient.

--
Zaidy036

On 12/12/2019 10:26 AM, Zaidy036 wrote:
On 12/12/2019 8:48 AM, Ken Springer wrote:
On 12/12/19 3:43 AM, wasbit wrote:
"Monty" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Dec 2019 20:42:49 -0700, Ken Springer
wrote:

Kind of disappointing to find out there's no way to assign a hot key
directly to the program file, unless I've missed something.

The hot key has to be done to a desktop shortcut.Â* And if the shortcut
is not on the desktop, the hot key doesn't seem to work.Â* I even tried
putting the shortcuts in a folder on the desktop.

The goal is to minimize the number icons on the desktop, not increase
them.

Any ideas on how to do this?

I do something similar to what you appear to be aiming to do.

Firstly, I created a desktop icon which I labelled " Little Used
Programs ".

Then I dragged all the icons I didn't want on the desktop and dropped
them onto the "Little Used Programs" icon.Â* I now have 51 icons in
that container.

To use any of those 51 programs, a single click (or double click if
required on your PC) on the "little Used Programs" icon opens up a
container with 51 icons.Â* Then a single click on any of those icons
will start the program belonging to that icon.

So I have one icon on my desktop which will allow me to choose from a
list of 51 programs.


I do similar using a created folder called Desktop Shortcuts &
populate it
with 'send to' shortcuts from each exe file.
Desktop currently has 40 shortcuts & about the same in the shortcuts
folder.
I call this basic housekeeping

I tried this already.Â* But when I move the icons from the desktop to
the folder, the hot key stops working.Â* It doesn't seem to matter if I
create the hot key before moving, or after moving, once the shortcut
is in the folder, and the system is rebooted, the hot key no longer
works.

I haven't tried this on a different system, in case there's something
weird there.


Make a batch file to do the hot key action and then a shortcut to it in
the "one folder".

Another alternative is StartDock''s ObjectDock which I find very
convenient.

Another alternative: Google "folder to toolbar"


--
Zaidy036