Keyboard shortcut in Finder for selecting a different custom Favorite?

Question

I know I can get to e.g. Desktop with ⌘+⇧+D, but what about custom folders that I have added to Favorites? Can I move which Favorite is selected up and down?

Answer 1

You could use an application like Alfred or Automator services to assign shortcuts for opening folders:

If you want to open the folders over the current Finder window, you could use FastScripts to assign shortcuts to scripts like this:

tell application "Finder"
    reopen -- open a new file browser window if there are no open ones
    activate -- make Finder frontmost if the script was run with a global shortcut
    tell window 1
        set target to POSIX file "/Library/"
    end tell
end tell

Default Folder X allows adding custom shortcuts that work in both file dialogs and Finder.

Answer 2

I have had great luck with Spark. It looks like it may no longer be under active development, but so far it has done the trick with no issues. It's light, easy to configure, and FREE!

Answer 3

Not to my knowledge, no.

I would love to learn what distinguishes the system default shortcuts from those which the user creates. It would be nice to be able to navigate to custom locations with a simple keyboard shortcut when within an Open/Save dialog window.

Answer 4

This is doable, but kind of tricky—at least as I've experienced it. I am neurotic about optimizing my keyboard shortcuts, so I've spent quite a bit of time on this very issue.

There seem to be a few different ways you can go about this. The three with which I'm most familiar are:

1. Add a keyboard shortcut via System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Application Shortcuts. This is the easiest method, but it's limited to locations which are already contained in the Finder's menu system. e.g. I use ⌘⇧L for "Library" and ⌘⇧W for "Downloads"—but that's about all that's available via this method, to my knowledge.
2. Create a service (in Automator), and then assign a keyboard shortcut to trigger that service via the Keyboard section within System Preferences. Personally, I find Automator to be maddening at times, but I think the service(s) I've set up for this are pretty solid. (Details below)
3. Use an App specifically intended for controlling keyboard shortcuts. I've tried a few, and the one that I use now is simply called Shortcuts (available via the App Store). It's surprisingly trouble-free… and in fact, it's one of the only apps I have set to launch upon system start-up. It has several other nice features as well—one of which I really like: using the volume keys to control volume without requiring the fn key to be pressed. (i.e. It overrides my "Use all F1, F2… as standard function keys" setting—but only for my volume keys, which is great for a Photoshop user like myself.)

Note: Invoking a shortcut from within Save and Open dialog boxes leads to different results, depending on your method. The first 2 methods (i.e. not the Shortcuts app) have no effect whatsoever. e.g. When saving a file, if I press ⌘⇧L, nothing happens —whereas pressing ⌘⇧H (which is built-in to the system) would take me to the Home folder. The Shortcuts app (rightfully) has no idea when you're in a Save dialog box within another app, so invoking one of those shortcuts will actually just open up a new Finder window at that location (sometimes, smack dab in front of the dialog box you were just using.)

Final note: I recently came across an app called KeyCue (perhaps when lurking on this site, actually). To date, it's the only app I've found that provides a comprehensive overview of all your keyboard shortcuts (system and app-specific) in one place. I'd love to change a few things about the interface, but it can be pretty helpful at times.

(Note: I tried to post a screen-cap of my Automator service for custom keyboard shortcuts in Finder; also showing a script for invoking Moom upon opening the specified folder—but was denied because it's my first post on this forum. Will update it when possible.)

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