There are a few apps on macOS in the text manipulation category that I end up spending a lot of time on. For example: Obsidian (for notes), Zed (text editor + IDE lite), Android Studio & Intellij (IDE++), Cursor (IDE + AI), etc.
All these apps have two types of commands that I frequently use:
- Open a specific file or note
- Open the command palette (or find any action menu)
But by default, these apps use ever so slightly different shortcuts. One might use ⌘ P, another might use ⌘ ⇧ P, etc.
I’ve found it incredibly helpful to take a few minutes and make these specific keyboard shortcuts the same everywhere. So now I use:
- ⌘ O – Open a file/note
- ⌘ P – Open the command palette (or equivalent action menu)
This…
There are a few apps on macOS in the text manipulation category that I end up spending a lot of time on. For example: Obsidian (for notes), Zed (text editor + IDE lite), Android Studio & Intellij (IDE++), Cursor (IDE + AI), etc.
All these apps have two types of commands that I frequently use:
- Open a specific file or note
- Open the command palette (or find any action menu)
But by default, these apps use ever so slightly different shortcuts. One might use ⌘ P, another might use ⌘ ⇧ P, etc.
I’ve found it incredibly helpful to take a few minutes and make these specific keyboard shortcuts the same everywhere. So now I use:
- ⌘ O – Open a file/note
- ⌘ P – Open the command palette (or equivalent action menu)
This small change has reduced cognitive load significantly. I no longer have to think about which app I’m in, and what the shortcut is for that specific app. Muscle memory takes over, and I can just get things done faster. Highly recommended!