Finding / Setting Shortcuts

[leeetthad]

Hi,

Fairly new to Affinity and loving it. 

Workflow-wise, I find myself needing to use some of Photo's tools really often, things like highlight/shadow clipping and curves adjustment layer (Master, blue, red, green).

As such I would like to be able to find if some of these features have shortcuts. I looked at the Preferences/Shortcut Pane but cannot seem to locate these features/functions. Is there a better way to look for the shortcuts? Like a search?

Would be a shame not to have shortcuts on such quick-toggle things. ie. if you're editing a lot of photos, you're going to have to go through these steps a lot of times.

Thanks all!

 

 

[walt.farrell]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums.

For the most part, keyboard shortcuts are fot Tools (along the left side of the window), and for actions you can perform through the Menu (File, Edit, ...). There are a few exceptions, but starting by looking through the Menu is a good way to familiarize yourself with most of the possibilities.

Beyond that, you might also take a look in Preferences, Shortcuts, at the Miscellaneous section.

[leeetthad]

Hi Walt, thank you for the reply.

I see. I'll take a look at that again. 

The last I looked at it, it did not seem that there was an option for controls within adjustment layers? Only by dropdown menu and specific to tools.

For example, when I am in "Develop" mode, I don't see an option for assigning a shortcut to show clipping highlights or shadows. I would think this is a pretty routine toggle that people use when adjusting RAW files, and it would be nice to have it on a shortcut instead of clicking on it all the time.

Anyway, thanks!

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, leeetthad said:

The last I looked at it, it did not seem that there was an option for controls within adjustment layers? Only by dropdown menu and specific to tools.

True, as far as I know. You could have a shortcut to create a particular type if Adjustment layer, but not for the settings in it.

There's also nothing for those clipping toggles as far as I know. On the other hand, many users are probably using their mice or a drawing tablet, and may find clicking easier given that they don't need to switch to the keyboard.

[leeetthad]

Thanks for the reply.

I really don't find the reasoning for mice or tablet use as a good rationale for having fewer shortcut options. It would simply benefit every kind of user. Even when I'm using my tablet and stylus, I usually have my other hand on a keyboard or macropad.

We really need the option to add shortcuts for ALL the options and toggles in each adjustment layer too.

Take a pretty common color balancing move, adjusting the curves for each RGB or CMYK. The way Affinity Photo is set up now, you'd have to open the curves tab, go to the color curve you want, and select "picker" and move over to the spot you want to balance for, keeping an eye on the "info" tab. 

All is good until you realize, crap, I want to adjust for another color curve at this same spot. Now you have to click on the drop down, click on the color curve, and click on picker again, but oops ... now you're sampling a slightly different spot.

It may seem small, but when you have to process hundreds of photos in a seating, it is highly aggravating.

Plenty of options in Affinity that have shortcuts don't have keys assigned to them yet, and that's totally fine. But not having the option to add a shortcut to often used things makes for very bad UX.

 

[v_kyr]

On 2/12/2023 at 9:16 PM, leeetthad said:

Is there a better way to look for the shortcuts? Like a search?

Not really, the only one AFAIK which offers search is one of the older tools I've once setup for version 1 apps ...

• A visual shortcuts explorer for Affinity Tools 

... beside that an overview of the default Affinity apps predefined shortcuts is listed at various places, like for example ...

• APh Online Help (& App help system)
• APh customizing shortcuts (help system)
• Affinity Shortcuts (Spotlight)
• CheatSheet (MacOS)
• ... and so on ...