Associate "Create Archive" commnd with a Keyboard shorcut.

Question

Dear Mac Gurus:
Please Help:
On Tiger OS, If I select a folder on the Finder and control-click to access the drop-down Menu, I would see the command: "Create Archive of ....."
How to create a keyboard shortcut, such as: "CONTROL"Key + "A", to associate with this command?
Thanks!
Max NYC

Answer 1

Quite easily, because in the Finder's File menu you'll notice the same "Create Archive" command.
To set and modify keyboard shortcuts in the menu bar, open System Preferences and then Keyboard & Mouse. You'll notice one of the tabs is named "Keyboard Shortcuts". It's pretty self explanatory from there, and there's even a question mark "?" button in the lower right corner.
However, just to get you started, the plus and minus sign buttons under the table on the lower left are adding and removing your custom shortcuts (but not the defaults). You can deactivate any of the default shortcuts by unchecking their check boxes. When you add a custom shortcut, you'll have the option to add it for all applications or to choose a specific application.
You can modify any shortcut at any time without having to remove it simply by clicking on the shortcut to the right of its name and pressing new keys.
One other hint. If the the name had an ellipsis then you would need to type an ellipsis as part of its exact name. You can't use three dots. Instead, type it with Option-; by holding the Option key and then pressing the semi-colon key, on the US keyboard. Otherwise, use the Special Characters… menu item in the Edit menu to bring up the Character Palette. You can then type in the search field of the Character Palette the word ellipsis and it will return results as you type. Choose the "horizontal ellipsis" from the search results. Then you can then simply double-click the ellipsis and it will appear wherever you cursor happens to be, in this case the text field where you are specifying the exact name of a menu item in the Keyboard Shortcuts panel in System Preferences.
For your request of a keyboard shortcut in Finder for "Create Archive", you might notice the name of the files selected or number of items are added to the name of the command. This doesn't matter. Just use the original name of the menu item when it hasn't been changed, i.e. Create Archive. I've tested this and it works fine. You will have to relaunch Finder before it notices the keyboard shortcut is there, just as you would have to for any other application that is open when you modify it's shortcuts. You can relaunch Finder by logging out and back in (Fast User Switching doesn't count). Or you can Option-right-click (or Option-Control-click if you don't have a secondary mouse button) the Finder icon in the dock and choose Relaunch. You can also use Force Quit… from the Apple menu in the upper left corner of the screen to choose the Finder and Relaunch it.
Just to be clear, there is no ellipsis for the Create Archive menu item, I was just giving you a hint for when you meet up with a menu item that has one.