How to Create Your Own Keyboard Shortcuts on a Mac

You want a keyboard shortcut for a menu command that doesn’t have one, like “Save as PDF” or a command you use constantly.

Why: macOS lets you assign your own shortcut to almost any menu command, in one app or across all apps. The catch is the menu title has to match exactly, and your shortcut can’t collide with an existing one.

Fix 1: Create a shortcut for a menu command

1. Open the Apple menu > System Settings, then click Keyboard in the sidebar.
2. Click Keyboard Shortcuts, then select App Shortcuts on the left.
3. Click the Add button (+).
4. From the Application pop-up menu, choose the app you want (or All Applications; use Other to find an app that isn’t listed).
5. In the Menu title field, type the menu command exactly as it appears in the app — including capitalization and the -> for submenus. For example, a nested command would be Format->Font->Ligatures->Use Default. If the menu shows an ellipsis, type three plain periods with no spaces (...).
6. Click the Keyboard shortcut field and press the keys you want (for example, Control-Option-Z).
7. Click Done.

The shortcut now appears next to that command in the app’s menu.

Fix 2: Fix a shortcut that won’t work

A new shortcut won’t work if it duplicates one that already exists for another command or app. If yours does nothing, change your shortcut to a free combination — or change the conflicting one. Also confirm the Menu title matches the command text exactly; a single mismatched character stops it from binding.

Fix 3: Remove a custom shortcut

In App Shortcuts, select the shortcut you created, then click the Remove button (−) to delete it. This only affects shortcuts you added — built-in shortcuts aren’t listed here.

FAQ

Can I add a shortcut to any command? Only to commands that actually appear in an app’s menus. Some apps don’t allow custom shortcuts at all.

Do I retype the whole menu path? Type only the final command’s title plus any submenu steps using ->. Match the visible text exactly, including ellipses as three periods.

Sources: Apple Support — Create keyboard shortcuts for apps on Mac