Custom menu shortcuts have dropped off

[Kim Aldis]

All the custom shortcuts have just dropped off my File->Plug-in Extras menu and can't be put back on. Has anyone figured out how to get them back? Ventura 13.1, Lightroom 12.0.1

[JohanElzenga]

Custom menu shortcuts are created in MacOS, not in Lightroom Classic. Did you check your MacOS settings?

[Kim Aldis]

Yes. Like I said, they can't be put back on again. The shortcuts MmacOS preference pane takes them but they won't appear in Lightroom.

[JohanElzenga]

Did you remember to add three spaces in front of the menu name? You needed to do that because plugin menus are indented, so I assume you still need to do that.

[Kim Aldis]

Yeah, I got that. I also tried it on other menus in Lightroom that didn't have indents. It appears that custom shortcuts are broken in Lightroom, because they're working fine in other apps.

[Kim Aldis]

Bearing in mind, also, that all the shortcuts I previously had in this menu, and there were a few, have completely disappeared. I think that reinforces the argument that it's broken.

[JohanElzenga]

Nope, Lightroom Classic is not broken. It still works for me with Lightroom Classic 12.1 and MacOS Ventura 13.1, so it's something on your system. Start by updating Lightroom Classic. You say that you are using 12.0.1 but the current version is 12.1.

[Kim Aldis]

Updated. Still doesn't work. It's working in all apps bar Lightroom.  my "system" is fine. The evidence for it not being Lightroom is sparse. In the meantime I've worked around it.

[C.Cella]

@Kim Aldis 

So what happens is that the shortcuts do appear assigned/existing on Mac in the Preferences on Ventura but you actually need to re-enter them.

At least that's how I fixed it when I upgraded to Ventura.

Take a screenshot of the current kbsc, then remove them all and re-apply them.

FWIW there is nothing Adobe can do to fix this if it persists.

It's Apple's fault if they don't work.

Worth saying that some kbsc do not work at all even if applied by Mac.

 .

[Kim Aldis]

No.  They're neither in the Lightroom menu nor in Apple preferences. I've been running Ventura for a while now. Shortcuts disappeared 2-3 days ago. 

[C.Cella]

@Kim Aldis 

Then updating to Ventura removed them.

You need to enter them in the Apple preferences again.

.

[Kim Aldis]

* I've been running Ventura for months.

* The shortcuts disappeard 2-3 days ago.

* Entering them in Apple Preferences doesn't work.

[C.Cella]

@Kim Aldis 

Can you share a screenshot of the Preferences?

[C.Cella]

@Kim Aldis 

You are writing it all wrong.

You do not have to write the path like that.

You must write it like this: 3 space follows by the exact name of the Entry/Plug-in

[SpaceSpace Space]Presetter

No square brackets.

Edit: erase the text like I show here an jsut be sure you have 3 spaces before the exact name of a Plug-in.

 

@JohanElzenga 

Gave you the right method alredy in his reply.

.

[Kim Aldis]

Yeah, that works. Thanks.

It seems to go against the Apple documentation on how to do this, though - see attached and link below. Also, setting a shortcut for, say, Photo->Flip Horizontal, works with "Photo->Flip Horizontal" in the shortcut menu title field. The '->' notation seems to work on all menus except Lightroom's plugin extras menu with the indents. Go figure.

( https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchlp2271/mac )

[C.Cella]

Use Any Shortcut  plug-in by @John R Ellis  to define any shortcut within LrC

It's better than using Mac as you can Backup the file and you can change the kbsc directly in the LrC environment.

P.s.

For future reference please do not attach images.

Use the icon to add them to the text...it makes harder for us to help you if we have to open and download every attachment.

[John R Ellis]

A limitation of Any Shortcut is that it can't set the shortcuts for plugin menu commands (which was @Kim Aldis original issue) due to LR limitations.  For those you have to use Mac's System Preferences or Windows Autohotkey (or similar).

[John R Ellis]

Re https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchlp2271/mac, that's very interesting. I think the optional use of hierarchical menu titles in System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts was introduced by Apple relatively recently.  The Wayback Machine shows that help page dating back to just 2019, while googling for "mac create keyboard shortcuts" brings up a long list of tutorials, none of which mention the hierarchical form (I looked at the first half dozen).

Being a shortcut nerd, I tested the hierarchical form in the Library and Develop modules with many LR commands, and it appears that some of the top-level menus support it and some not.  The ones that support it:

Library Module: Library, Photo, Metadata, View

Develop Module: Develop, Photo, Settings, Tools, View

This doesn't surprise me, given that LR's implementation of keyboard shortcuts in general appears ad hoc at best, and I think LR often departs from standard Mac app UI libraries to make it easier to port it between Mac and Windows.

@Kim Aldis,  your find is good to know in case others trip over this!

[Kim Aldis]

Interesting. I had thought that maybe the issue was with the name indentation but maybe that's not the case.

FWIW, my own solution was to write a Raycast extension that provides the basis for keyboard access to menu items. It has the advantage it will work with any menus from any app, not just Lightroom. It also allows me to use both shortcut key combinations and words to trigger menus. It's a lot easier to add menu items than in Apple prefs and gives decent feedback if the menu path contains errors. I'm happy to make it available but it's a bit rough round the edges for the moment, may need some to and fro-ing to get it installed. But if you don't mind getting your hands dirty ...

Apple prefs are a pain because you don't seem to be able to edit the menu name field; you have to delete the shortcut and start again. Very annoying, especially when trying to debug.