[INFO] Not so well known things about LR keyboard shortcuts

Question

Hi,
There are a few things that you should know about keyboard shortcuts in LR.
I already posted information about this last year for non english speaking
users but I had to be more accurate because this is of interest for english
speaking users as well.
This information can help solve some problems encountered if
- you are using an english version of LR with a non-english keyboard layout
- you are using a non english version of LR
- you want to change some keyboard shortcuts even when using the english
version
- you want to fix some bugs in the localized keyboard shortcuts
Here we go...
1. When using a non english version of LR, the translations are read from a
file named \Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
2\Resources\fr\TranslatedStrings.txt. The localized keyboard shortcuts are
also described in this file.
2. For the english version \Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
2\Resources\en\TranslatedStrings.txt doesn't exist by default because the
default values for texts and keyboard shortcuts are hard-coded.
3. Any change in TranslatedStrings.txt, including changes related to
keyboard shortcuts, will be taken into account after reloading LR. These
changes will also be reflected in the Help Panel that is displayed when you
use the Help | Shortcuts command.
5. So if you are using a localized version or the english version of LR (see
next point), you'll be able to change the default keyboard shortcuts.
4. Some keyboard shortcuts of the english version are unreachable when using
a keyboard with a foreign layout. You're not stuck, however. Nothing
prevents you from creating a TranslatedStrings.txt file in \Program
Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2\Resources\en. This file doesn't need
to be the full translation file. It just has to include all the lines ending
with Key=xxxxx + a few additional ones (or just the lines related to the
shortcuts that you want to change). You can download a full sample with
french shortcuts from http://www.mainsoft.fr/Files/LR/TranslatedStrings.txt
. Just create the file, edit the shortcuts as you want and reload LR. I
don't know how you can add comments to this file.
5. Attn french users: there's a bug described in the thread titled "Missing
shortcut in Lightroom 2.2 french". You'll be able to fix it by using the
information above (this is also described in the thread itself).
So that's it. LR doesn't offer you a keyboard shortcut editor - something
unexpected for a software at that price level - but you can edit them
anyway.
Enjoy!
Patrick

Answer 1

Hi,
This post is still valid for LR3. It's a pity that this new version
still doesn't have a built-in keyboard customization feature.
I shoul add a few additional details, though.
- You have to create the \en subfolder yourself. Once created and once you have also created the TranslatedStrings.txt file, it will be taken into account.
- It appears that the TranslatedStrings.txt files corresponding to each supported language do not contain the same commands. For some languages, some commands do not have any shortcut (or the translator was not concentrating on his job and the quality assurance dpt. just missed the point). So if you don't find the line(s) related to the shortcut that you want to customize in the file corresponding to your language, look for it in the other files.
- Some characters can't be used for customizing a shortcut, even if they are not already used for another shortcut. It depends on each local keyboard. I guess this is due to the very same problem that exists since LR 1.0: the program uses its own keyboard handler and fails to adapt to keyboards that are not corresponding to the selected language. From the beginning, many of us european users have told to Adobe that a user can select in LR a working language that is not corresponding to the keyboard and country settings used on the system. This is a common situation. They are just ignoring the problem.