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Scott Citron
Legend
April 18, 2024
Answered

Align Center keyboard shortcut (Shift+Command+C) hijacked!

  • April 18, 2024
  • 3 replies
  • 1759 views

This has happened before. When working with type in InDesign 19.3, I'm no longer able to invoke Align Center by pressing the default keys (macOS 14.4.1) Shift+Command+C . All other align text commands work as expected, but not Align Center. This problem appeared previously a few years ago, but I have no idea how I solved it. 

 

(PS: Of course I checked Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts, but no problem here. I also checked the Finder Keyboard settings panel and again came up dry.)

Scott

Correct answer Scott Citron

Success! Restarted my Mac in Safe Mode, which disabled all login items. KBSC problem was gone. After lengthy process of elimination I discovered that Copy 'Em, my trusty Clipboard manager, had a shortcut assigned of Shift+Command+C. Once I disabled that shortcut, my InDesign problem disappeared. Thanks to Steve and James for your efforts.

3 replies

CarnahanMary
Participating Frequently
January 25, 2025

On my Windows system, that key command was hijacked by Zoom's "create new clip." I went into Zoom settings and unchecked that option. Now InDesign centers text with Ctrl-Shift-C again. 

Scott Citron
Scott CitronAuthorCorrect answer
Legend
April 19, 2024

Success! Restarted my Mac in Safe Mode, which disabled all login items. KBSC problem was gone. After lengthy process of elimination I discovered that Copy 'Em, my trusty Clipboard manager, had a shortcut assigned of Shift+Command+C. Once I disabled that shortcut, my InDesign problem disappeared. Thanks to Steve and James for your efforts.

Steve Werner
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 18, 2024

Yes, Scott, this can happen. 

 

To confirm that it's another application or extension which is grabbing your shortcut, reboot your computer. Open InDesign before any other application (if necessary use the diable application which autoload . Your shortcut wil probably now load.

 

Then load apps one by one to see which is the culprit. Some utilities or extensions can do this.

James Gifford—NitroPress
Legend
April 18, 2024

It's sometimes quicker to just close all apps and hit the affected key combination to see what happens. If a utility or helper app has captured that key, it will pop up.

 

(I use Simple Sticky Notes, which by default uses several Alt+[letter] keys and is aggressive about trapping them even inside other apps. It was the work of a few minutes to disable some of those shortcuts and reassign others.)