How To Create Keyboard Shortcuts To Open Any Program Or Folder In Windows
I use keyboard shortcuts a lot and find them very useful when I have a lot of programs open and need to navigate around quickly. I have two programs I use often, while I am working and it would be useful if keyboard shortcuts can be assigned to the programs. I also have the same need for folders. How can I create keyboard shortcuts in Windows for these programs and folders?
Creating your own keyboard shortcuts to open any program or folder in Windows is possible but there are some limitations with the key combination you can use. All shortcuts will start with Ctrl + Alt then any alpha, number or some special characters you want to assign to the shortcut. Also, any keyboard shortcuts create, must reside on the desktop.
In the below examples, we'll create a keyboard shortcut to open Notepad and another to open a folder (applies to Windows XP and Vista).
1. Click on Start, All Programs, Accessories, and then click Windows Explorer.
2. Navigate to C:\Windows\System32 and scroll down until you find notepad.exe.
3. Right-click on notepad.exe, click Send To, and then click Desktop (create shortcut)
4. Minimize Windows Explorer, then on your desktop, right-click the new shortcut, and then click Properties.
5. In the Shortcut tab, click in the Shortcut key box (where it says None). Now press the letter on your keyboard that you want to use to open the folder. In this example I will use the letter N
6. Test the keyboard shortcut key to open Notepad by holding down Ctrl + Alt and pressing N (Ctrl + Alt + N)
To create a keyboard shortcut for any folder, follow the same steps above but in Step 2 navigate to the folder you want use and in Step 3 right click on it.
In addition to using letters for assigning the shortcut key combination, numbers, up, down, left, right arrows can also be used.
5 Comments on How To Create Keyboard Shortcuts To Open Any Program Or Folder In Windows »
October 29, 2007
jayanta @ 1:27 am:
hey i am assigning some key combination to open a folder via a shortcut as per ur method but whenever i am restarting my computer the key combination is not working any more…..i have to reassign the key combination to make it work……pls suggest
Thabet Al Assadi @ 12:01 pm:
Thanks a lot for your useful tip. I am like very much keyboard shortcuts and your tip was useful and inspiring. I used way a little bit different than yours to achieve the same result and I would like to shear it with you.
To create a keyboard shortcut for any program installed on your PC:
Go to the Start, All programs, Right click on any program icon you want to add a shortcut and select “Properties”, Click the mouse in “Shortcut key” textbox, then press for any keyboard combination you like.
Test the new shortcut, by clicking on the Desktop then press your new keyboard shortcut.
Note:
I received "WP-Hashcash Check Failed" error when I tried to post the comment from Firefox.
Best regards
Thabet
Watching The Net @ 5:31 pm:
@jayanta
Make sure you are not using a key combination that is already in use by the System.
@Thabet Al Assadi
Good tip….also thanks for the heads up with Hashcash. It should be fixed now.
.
April 24, 2008
job @ 11:55 pm:
hey,
it was a useful piece of information but it cannot explain hw i can create a keyboard shortcut for a folder. can anybody give an answer to it??
April 25, 2008
Watching The Net @ 6:02 am:
@job
Honestly…..your kidding right?
From the article:
"To create a keyboard shortcut for any folder, follow the same steps above but in Step 2 navigate to the folder you want use and in Step 3 right click on it."