Finder keyboard shortcut for Open in New Tab when "open folders in new tabs" is turned off

Question

Finder keyboard shortcut for Open in New Tab when "open folders in new tabs" is turned off

I have Finder Preferences > Open folders in tabs instead of windows turned off. I prefer open in new window as my default.

As such...

CMD+double-click and CMD+O open folders in a new window
OPT+double-click opens folders in a new window while closing the previous window

But about half the time, I want folders to open in new tabs instead of new windows, and as near as I can tell, the only way to do this is a multi-step process: right-click > OPT > Open in New Tab.

I've tried making my own keyboard shortcut in Sys Prefs > Keyboard > Shortcuts, using several configurations (CMD+OPT+O, CMD+OPT+T, CMD+CTRL+O, CMD+CTRL+T, CMD+SHIFT+O, CMD+SHIFT+T, CRTL+O, CTRL+T, CTRL+SHIFT+O, CTRL+SHIFT+T), and none of them work.

Am I missing something here, or is this another area where Apple just flat-out hasn't bothered to make a keyboard-friendly way to do things? (Like having no keyboard shortcut for switching between Today and Notifications in the Notifications Center.)

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Oct 16, 2020 1:14 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,619 points

Oct 21, 2020 10:25 AM in response to 100 Watt Walrus

Ah, missed your reply somehow?

Might try Karabiner...

https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/

You can also easily make custom keyboards with...

http://scripts.sil.org/ukelele

Thanks to Old Toad…

You can do what you want with Keyboard Maestro and a whole lot more .

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Answer 2

Oct 16, 2020 5:14 PM in response to BDAqua

Nope. Finder. Specifically opening folders in a new Finder tab with a keyboard shortcut, not a right-click — just like you can open a folder in a new Finder window via CMD+double-clicking or selecting the folder, then CMD+CTRL+O. I want the same kind of shortcut for opening a Finder folder in a new tab instead of a new window.

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Answer 3

Oct 23, 2020 8:32 PM in response to BDAqua

So I guess I'm right that Apple hasn't bothered to make Open in New Tab easy in the Finder, unless it's the default.

Thanks for the suggestions, but Karabiner doesn't run 10.13, I don't think Ukelele helps (it's for keyboard layouts, not creating keyboard shortcuts), and I might be able to build a macro to do this very simple thing in Keyboard Maestro, but one keyboard shortcut isn't worth $36.

Maybe I can build something in Automator — although I've never gotten the hang of Automator.

Thanks for trying to help.

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Answer 4

Oct 23, 2020 8:52 PM in response to 100 Watt Walrus

Before I give up, is there a built-in way to make keyboard shortcuts for contextual menu items, rather than Menu Bar menu items?

I think this question is answered by the fact that you already pointed me to 3rd-party apps, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

250,619 points

Oct 16, 2020 3:43 PM in response to 100 Watt Walrus

I assume you're talking about Safari?

Right click on the link>Open in New Tab.

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Answer 6

Oct 20, 2020 7:18 PM in response to BDAqua

@BDAqua. Hoping you might still have a suggestion for me here. :)

BDAqua

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Finder keyboard shortcut for Open in New Tab when "open folders in new tabs" is turned off

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