How to Create a Shortcut on Mac: Keyboard Shortcuts, App Shortcuts, and More
Whether you're trying to speed up repetitive tasks, launch apps faster, or customize how your Mac responds to keystrokes, shortcuts are one of the most practical tools macOS offers. The good news: Mac gives you several different ways to create them, each suited to different goals and skill levels.
What "Shortcut" Actually Means on a Mac
On macOS, "shortcut" can refer to a few different things:
- Keyboard shortcuts — key combinations that trigger commands in apps or system functions
- Dock or desktop aliases — clickable icons that open files, folders, or apps quickly
- Shortcuts app automations — multi-step workflows triggered by a tap, phrase, or schedule
Understanding which type you need is the first decision to make, because the process for each is completely different.
How to Create a Custom Keyboard Shortcut on Mac
macOS lets you assign custom keyboard shortcuts to any menu item in any app — including system apps. Here's how:
- Open System Settings (macOS Ventura and later) or System Preferences (older versions)
- Go to Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts
- Select App Shortcuts in the left sidebar
- Click the + button
- Choose a specific app from the dropdown, or select All Applications to apply it globally
- Type the exact menu item name as it appears in the app's menu bar (spelling and punctuation must match exactly)
- Click in the Keyboard Shortcut field and press the key combination you want to assign
- Click Add
⌨️ For example, if you want a shortcut for "Export as PDF" in a specific app, you'd type that phrase exactly and assign something like Shift + Command + P.
Important limitations to know: Custom keyboard shortcuts only work for menu bar commands — not for buttons, toolbar items, or actions that don't appear in a dropdown menu. If the menu item name changes between app versions, the shortcut will stop working.
How to Create an Alias (Desktop or Dock Shortcut)
An alias is macOS's version of a shortcut icon — a lightweight pointer to a file, folder, or app that doesn't move or copy the original.
To create an alias:
- Right-click any file, folder, or app in Finder and select Make Alias
- Or select the item and press Command + L
The alias can be dragged anywhere — your desktop, a folder, or the Dock. Deleting the alias doesn't affect the original. Moving the original generally doesn't break the alias either, since macOS tracks items by ID rather than path.
To add an app to the Dock directly:
- Open the app, then right-click its icon in the Dock
- Select Options → Keep in Dock
Or drag any app from the Applications folder directly into the Dock.
How to Create Shortcuts Using the Shortcuts App
The Shortcuts app (built into macOS Monterey and later) lets you build multi-step automations — far more powerful than a simple key combo or alias. These can chain together actions like sending a message, resizing an image, running a script, or fetching web data.
To create a basic Shortcut:
- Open the Shortcuts app (found in Applications or via Spotlight)
- Click the + button to create a new shortcut
- Browse or search for actions in the right panel and drag them into your workflow
- Name your shortcut and optionally assign it a keyboard shortcut, add it to the menu bar, or enable it for Quick Actions in Finder
🔧 Shortcuts can also be triggered from the menu bar, via Siri by name, or set to run automatically based on conditions (called Automations).
The complexity here scales significantly — a beginner can build a one-action shortcut in under a minute, while a more experienced user can create conditional logic, variables, and API calls.
Comparing the Three Approaches
| Method | Best For | Skill Level | macOS Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom Keyboard Shortcut | Menu bar commands in any app | Beginner | All modern versions |
| Alias / Dock Shortcut | Quick access to files, folders, apps | Beginner | All versions |
| Shortcuts App | Multi-step automations and workflows | Beginner to Advanced | Monterey (12) and later |
Factors That Affect Which Approach Works for You
A few variables determine which method is actually useful in your situation:
macOS version matters significantly. The Shortcuts app isn't available before Monterey. Some System Settings layouts changed in Ventura, so menu paths may look different depending on your OS.
App behavior affects keyboard shortcut creation. Apps with sparse menu bars or that handle commands programmatically rather than through visible menus may not support custom key binding well.
What you're trying to automate changes the right tool entirely. Opening a folder quickly? An alias does the job. Triggering a complex file-processing workflow? That's a Shortcuts app scenario.
Technical comfort level is also a real factor. Creating an alias takes ten seconds. Building a useful multi-action Shortcut requires understanding how actions pass data between steps — it's approachable, but there's a learning curve.
Some users find that a combination of all three methods covers their workflow best: keyboard shortcuts for frequent in-app commands, aliases for fast file access, and the Shortcuts app for anything repetitive that involves multiple steps.
What makes the right setup look different from person to person is exactly how their daily tasks break down — which actions happen constantly, which apps they live in, and how much they want to invest in building automations upfront.