The Keyboard Shortcut Manager lets you customize keyboard shortcuts in PIXERA. Use it to find commands, assign shortcuts, disable assignments, and share your configuration with other users.

It brings together three types of shortcuts:

Opening the Keyboard Shortcut Manager

Open General Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts.

• Edit opens the Edit Keyboard Shortcuts window.
• Export saves your shortcut configuration as a JSON file.
• Import loads a shortcut configuration from a JSON file.

You can also open the editor using Edit Keyboard Shortcuts in the Settings command category. Its default shortcut is Ctrl+Alt+K.

The editor shows command categories on the left and the shortcuts for the selected category on the right. Control and Combinations appear at the end of the category list. You can resize the window to display more entries.

Confirm the dialog to apply your changes. Cancelling or closing the window without confirmation discards the changes made in that session.

If you do not export, the modified shortcuts will be saved in the settings.stt file

Finding a Shortcut

Use the two filters above the category list to narrow down the entries. Results update as you type, and searches are case-insensitive.

When both filters are active, entries must match both. Only categories containing matching entries are shown. The Control and Combinations categories remain accessible even when empty, so you can add entries.

Customizing Application Shortcuts

1. Select a command category on the left.
2. Find the command you want to change.
3. Edit its Shortcut field: Press the desired key combination and confirm with Enter.
4. Confirm the dialog to apply the assignment.

Shortcut Conflicts

If the key combination is already assigned to another application command or Control shortcut, PIXERA displays Possible Keyboard Shortcut Conflict and lists the affected entries.

• Choose OK to keep the duplicate assignment.
• Choose Cancel to keep the previous shortcut.

Disabling Shortcuts

Check the Disable box in a command row to turn off its shortcut without removing the assignment. The shortcut remains visible and can be enabled again later.

To change a whole category, right-click it and choose Enable All or Disable All. These options also apply to its subcategories.

Restoring Default Shortcuts

A reset control appears beside application commands that differ from their defaults. Use it to restore the command's default shortcut and enabled state.

To restore an entire category, right-click it and choose Reset All. This also restores commands in its subcategories.

Reset options apply to application commands. User-created Control shortcuts and combinations have no built-in defaults.

Creating a Control Shortcut

Control shortcuts trigger actions directly from the keyboard.

1. Select Control in the category list.
2. Add a new entry.
3. Right-click its Action cell and select the action from the available Control modules or API functions. Alternatively, enter the full action path manually.
    

4. Enter the key combination in Shortcut.
5. Enter any values required by the action in Parameters.
6. Optionally, restrict the shortcut to specific application tabs using Tab.
7. Confirm the dialog to apply your changes.

Restricting a Shortcut to Specific Tabs

Right-click the Tab cell to select Screens, Mapping, Compositing, or Control.

To use a shortcut in more than one tab, enter the tab names manually, separated by spaces or commas. For example, Compositing, Control makes it available in those two tabs. Choosing a tab from the popup replaces the current field value.

Managing Control Entries

You can add, remove, and move entries up or down. A new entry is inserted after the selected row, or at the end if no row is selected. The order is saved with your configuration.

Use Disable to turn off individual entries. Right-click the Control category and choose Enable All or Disable All to change the whole list.

Note

Activate keyboard shortcuts in Control settings must be enabled for Control shortcuts to run. Turning it off keeps the entries available for editing but prevents them from executing. Application shortcuts and text combinations remain available.

Troubleshooting

If a Control shortcut does not run, check that it is enabled, that Activate Keyboard Shortcuts is on, and that the current tab is allowed by its Tab field.

Also check the shortcut text, action path, and parameters. Unrecognized shortcut text can remain in a control entry, but it will not trigger an action. Manually entered action paths and parameters are not validated by the editor. Selecting the action from the right-click menu helps avoid typing errors.

Creating Text Combinations

Combinations are a powerful tool that lets you run control actions by entering a short text command, allowing the processing of parameters. They are configured in Combinations and executed through the Enter Key Combination window. This can be opened with Ctrl+K

1. Select Combinations in the category list.
2. Add a new entry.
3. Right-click its Action cell and select the action to execute, or enter its full path manually.
4. Enter the expression in Match Text.
5. Confirm the dialog to save the combination.

Use Disable to exclude an entry from matching without deleting it. You can also right-click the category and choose Enable All or Disable All.

Match Text

Match Text accepts regular expressions. The expression must match the entire entered text.

The following placeholders make common patterns easier to write. Most also capture a value to pass to the action as a parameter.

Example

To pass an integer to a control action, enter this expression in Match Text:

q<integer>

Entering q3 runs the selected action with 3 as its first parameter. Use an action that accepts a string parameter for this example.

Captured values are passed to the action in the order they appear in the expression. Values that look like numbers or booleans are passed as those types. Other values are treated as strings unless already quoted. Regular-expression capture groups can also supply parameters.

Combination Order

PIXERA checks combinations from top to bottom and runs the first enabled entry that matches. Use the move controls to place more specific expressions above broader ones.

New entries are inserted after the selected row, or appended if no row is selected. The order is saved with your configuration.

Executing a Combination

1. Run Execute Shortcut Language. Its default shortcut is Ctrl+K.
2. Enter your text in Enter Key Combination.
3. Press Enter or click Execute.

The window closes, and the first enabled matching action runs. Press Escape to close the window without executing. Empty input does not run an action.

Exporting and Importing Shortcuts

Use Export under General Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts to save your complete shortcut configuration as a JSON file. It includes customized application shortcuts, Control shortcuts, text combinations, disabled states, and the order of Control entries and combinations.

To load a configuration, choose Import and select the JSON shortcut file.

PIXERA 26.2 Inter 138 | 1. October 2026 | J.B.