QuickCut
QuickCut is a cross-platform keyboard manager that both facilitates key mapping and allows the configuration of global hotkeys triggering user defined actions.
Special thanks to JetBrains for supporting this project.
QuickCut
QuickCut is a cross-platform keyboard manager that both facilitates key mapping and allows the configuration of global hotkeys triggering user defined actions.
QuickCut offer a rich set of features that allows for shorthand access at the convenience of your chosen keyboard keys. It allows you to tailor your keyboard layout design making your time as efficient as possible.
Contents
Features
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Key Mapping | Maps a key to another key, i.e. Ctrl to Caps-Lock. |
| Mapping Multiple Keys | Maps multiple keys (shortcut), i.e. Ctrl+Shift+W to Alt+F4. |
| Unicode Characters | All languages are supported including emojis. |
| Auto Text | Pasting user defined template text, i.e. for emails or messages. |
| Portable Configurations | Formatted json file of the user defined Profiles and Actions. |
| Multiple Interchangeable Profiles | Convenient way to switch between profiles to activate different actions. |
| Open File / Application | Launch a specified File/App by a global hotkey. |
| Open Directory | Launch a specified Directory by a global hotkey. |
| Custom Themes | Various options of themes are available. |
More detailed information about QuickCut’s features can be found at QuickCut’s website.
Getting Started
Download links can be found at the following link.
For GitHub users, it is also possible to get the latest changes from the CI/CD - GitHub’s Actions, as new artifacts, including installers will be deployed every change. However, keep in mind that it might be unstable version during development.
For building this project from source, please refer to the BUILD documentation.
Introduction
QuickCut is designed to use Profiles and Actions in a one to many relationship (each profile can create multiple actions). This enables convenient change between multiple profiles creating different working environments depending on the selected profile. The Profiles are saved in a JSON format - making it easier to share your profiles and actions with others.
Creating your first Profile
When getting started with QuickCut, the following window appears:
You can create more profiles if you need to manage multiple keyboard layouts:
As soon as you click the Default button, all shortcuts for the selected profile will be activated.
Creating your first Action
There are multiple types of actions available that you can select based on your use case:
- Key Mapping
- Open File
- Open Directory
- Auto Text
Here is an example of creating a very simple Action that maps one key to another:
Select the appropriate Action Type from the following list:
Clicking the record button will record the desired key:
Click the Create button and that’s it! Your new key mapping action will now be activated without the need to restart the computer.
It is also possible to map multiple keys to different keys, i.e. F1 + Q to trigger Caps-Lock:
Launching your favorite Apps / Directories is simple as that, i.e. Ctrl + F13 to open SnippingTool:
Another useful feature is the Auto Text to write frequent messaging templates for you:
Summary
Above is a brief demonstration of QuickCut’s features; how to create profiles and diverse actions.
Once these steps are completed, you can close QuickCut’s GUI and use your computer as usual.
Quick Demo
Installing QuickCut
Creating Actions
Custom Themes
Motivation
I have my laptop connected to a monitor using external keyboard and mouse.
This is my preferred keyboard that I currently use at home:
It has F13 til F19 keys which are non-functioning keys I wanted to make use of. In looking for alternative solutions I came across KeyTweak, as well as other programs, that edit the registry using the default functionality Windows has for mapping keys. Unfortunately every time you map a key in the Windows Registry it requires a full reboot to the system in order to load the new key mapping layout. It also doesn’t allow for mapping a combination of keys to a single key.
This brought me to the idea of developing an interactive application that runs as a background service which does all sorts of key mapping invoking different actions to be as efficient as possible when using the keyboard.
For that reason QuickCut is here and free to use. :)
Contributing
Pull-Requests are greatly appreciated should you like to contribute to the project.
Same goes for opening issues; if you have any suggestions, feedback or you found any bugs, please do not hesitate to open an issue.
Authors
- Gilad Reich - Initial work - giladreich
See also the list of contributors who participated in this project.
License
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.
