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Is there any way to view all of the shortcuts used by all of the installed applications and extensions to identify conflicting shortcuts?

I've seen some utilities that show the shortcuts available for the application that has focus or is "frontmost" but this doesn't help to troubleshoot when a shortcut isn't working.

A simple example: In Google Sheets, Cmd+Shift+L is supposed to center the contents of a cell but it doesn't work in my installation. I assume this is because that shortcut is also used by another application but I have no idea which one.

This problem is system-wide -- not just Google Sheets and I assume I'm not the only person with this question.

Is there no way to identify conflicting keyboard shortcuts?

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  • If they are app-specific they can't conflict; only the front-most app will get the command. Imagine if Cmd/S caused a conflict… Many web structures use Ctrl instead of Cmd, including stack exchange - check the text editing commands - meta.stackoverflow.com/editing-help Cmd/Shift/L is 'show sidebar', so they'd need to avoid that for a web structure, hence the use of Ctrl.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Oct 17, 2022 at 9:40
  • I see Google, in their never-ceasing cussedness, have chosen to ignore this in their official key commands page. You could see if Ctrl will work, or you could blame them for their usual trick of completely ignoring Apple Toolbox guidelines - though it's quite clear they simply don't care. You might also note that Google Chrome doesn't have this command...
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Oct 17, 2022 at 9:45
  • if you want to use the command in Safari, then set a junk command to the menu item - see apple.stackexchange.com/a/223221/85275 [For ref: google key commands list - support.google.com/docs/answer/… ]
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Oct 17, 2022 at 9:53
  • Don't forget that MacOS will intercept some keyboard shortcuts instead of passing them on to the app. Many of the MacOS default keyboard shortcuts can be controlled in System Settings/Keyboard.
    – JS.
    Commented Jan 29, 2023 at 22:13

2 Answers 2

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I could not find a fast way to do this, however I did find more than what's in System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts.

My process was:

  • Find the name of the shortcut on Apple's list
  • Search through plists below to find what you want to change
    • symbolichotkeys are listed by keycode -- use a web keycode lookup tool like keyjs to see what keycode is underlying your keyboard keys
  • If you find the plist setting, don't modify it in the xcode viewer opened below, see an example of changing these plists at How to disable default Mission Control shortcuts in terminal?

Using terminal:

open -a Xcode /Users/josh/Library/Preferences/com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist

open -a Xcode /Users/josh/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist

open -a Xcode /Users/josh/Library/Preferences/pbs.plist

open -a Xcode ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.universalaccess.plist

Caveat there are some global key bindings I could not find a way to disable, e.g. ⌘ Command ⇧ Shift [ and ⌘ Command ⇧ Shift ] or the equivalent ⌘ Command { and ⌘ Command }.

You can also try setting a list of default keybindings for the system, see an example at How to disable default option key binding.

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While this isn't a general solution the OP is asking for, but, on my system, Cmd+Shift+L got automatically mapped—not explicitly by me—to "Search With Google", which I assume got added by my installation of Chrome:

macOS Keyboard Shortcut Settings

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