Launch applications with Keyboard Shortcuts/Automator using F keys?

Question

K_arm Author

Level 1

9 points

Launch applications with Keyboard Shortcuts/Automator using F keys?

I'm running Mac OS X 10.7.3

I launch Automator.

1. Select "Services"

2. Use "Launch Application"

3. Select "no input" and "any application" where is says "Service receives selected"

4. Select the app "Safari" in the dropdown list, and then I save it by calling it "Launch Safari"

5. Open Keyboard in System Preferences

6. I do not want to use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys; I want to make use of the blank F keys that have no function (i.e.: F5, F6, F13 ... F19)

7. I click on Keyboard Shortcuts and select Services.

8. I scroll down the list of available services, and under General, I see my "Launch Safari"

9. I apply F18 to Safari.

I get the buzzing sound/screen flash; indicating the key has no function or is not available right now. I have also tried pressing the fn key while pressing F18 with no success.

I did the same thing for the Launchpad app, applied it to key 19 and it works like a charm.

What am I doing wrong?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3), 2.93 GHz 2 Duo; 8GB 1067 MHz DDR3

Posted on May 1, 2012 6:11 AM

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Answer 1

May 1, 2012 6:40 AM in response to K_arm

You cannot use the F-keys to directly launch applications in this way. The "Keyboard Shortcuts" section of the system preferences is used for running available menu commands within active applications, and will not launch them. What you need is a third-party application such as OneKey: http://www.everydaysoftware.net/onekey/index.html

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Answer 2

K_arm Author

Level 1

9 points

May 1, 2012 6:43 AM in response to Topher Kessler

I have tried assigning another shortcut (non F-key) to launch the app and it works fine. I also use F19 to lauch Launchpad, which works fine as well...

From what I understand, it's a lingering bug in Mac OS X which prevents you to use F keys for such actions?

I was using QuickSilver, but I wanted to try and see if I can do it through the Automator/Keyboard Shortcuts method.

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Answer 3

May 1, 2012 6:50 AM in response to K_arm

Ah my mistake...I skipped the part where you used it as a service.

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Answer 4

May 1, 2012 6:53 AM in response to K_arm

In System Preferences, select the Keyboard. Now click the "Use all F1, F2 ..."

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Answer 5

May 1, 2012 7:04 AM in response to K_arm

Do you have the F keys bound to any other features such as Expose/Dashboard? If you have any of these set then there might be a conflict with using them. Have you tried setting them to be standard F-keys instead of the special features that Apple has programmed? You can do this in the "Keyboard" tab.

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Answer 6

K_arm Author

Level 1

9 points

May 1, 2012 8:07 AM in response to Topher Kessler

I've tried checking the "Use all F1, F2 ..." and it gives me the same result. I want to keep that unchecked though, I prefer to have the special functions of those keys active without the need of the fn key (I don't want to press fn to raise volume, for example). I simply want to fill in the blank F keys with functions (like F5, F6, and F13 to F19). No I made sure nothing is assigned to them.

I have also tried assigning the "Launch Safari" service I made to another key combination (non-F-key, for example: ctrl+alt+cmd+s) and it worked. It's only the F keys that don't work.

It's also weird why my "Launch Launchpad" service works fine with F19.

Oddly enough, I assigned "Launch Safari" to F19 and it keep launching Launchpad instead of Safari.

In \\Library\Services\, I do see the two services I created as separate files.

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Answer 7

K_arm Author

Level 1

9 points

May 1, 2012 8:15 AM in response to K_arm

OK... very odd...

I just created another service to launch launchpad to eliminate the unlikely possibility that this will only work with Launchpad, and I called it "Launch Launchpad 2"

So I had it this way:

Launch Safari: F18 (not working)

Launch Launchpad: F19 (working)

Launch Launchpad 2: none (I did not assign a shortcut yet)

Then I did this:

Launch Launchpad 2: F18 (assigned it to the key I want Safari to be launched with)

Launch Launchpad: F19 (still working)

Launch Safari: none (I removed the shortcut to it)

Now F18 launches Safari.

It's as if you need to assign a key to the service, and then assign that key to another service in order to make the previous service work...?????

I repeated this with Calculator (instead of Safari, I made Launch Calculator to F16, and it gave me the EXACT SAME result -- not working at first, switching the F16 to Launchpad 2 and then F16 launches the Calculator...)

EDIT: The "Use all F1, F2, etc..." is unchecked throughout the whole process.

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Answer 8

Aug 16, 2012 3:05 PM in response to K_arm

Hello,

I fell onto this discussion when searching to do exactly what K_arm was trying to do: make use of the F16 key to launch Calculator, because F16 sits nicely over the numeric keypad, it seems only logical that when I'm using the calculator, I'm probably going to be using the numeric keypad, and hey, wouldn't it be cool to just be able to launch the calculator from a key sitting directly over that keypad?

Anyway, I was running into the same problem as K_arm - function keys didn't want to seem to launch applications, except in bizarre situations as described by K_arm above.

I eventually got this working, but it appears as if I needed to "initialize" the service simply by pulling up the Services menu option in the application that was currently in the foreground. I don't actually need to click on the "Launch Calculator" service - I just need to open up that Services menu in the Menu bar:

Once that services option is briefly made visible on the desktop, then I can hit F16 to launch the Calculator. I believe that this needs to be done for every application that might be active when you want to launch the Calculator. It appears as if he service needs to be "initialized" every time the application is re-launched.

bizarre...

tom

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Answer 9

Joe-00

Level 1

5 points

Jan 18, 2015 2:38 PM in response to Tom Fischer

BUG: KEYBOARD SHORTCUT KEYS DO NOT ALWAYS ACTIVATE A SERVICE (A WORKFLOW)

When you assign a keyboard shortcut to a Service (such as a Service Workflow created in Automator) using the System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts, if that shortcut key combination includes the Command key, pressing that shortcut will always successfully activate the Service. No problem there.

However, shortcut key combinations that do not include the Command key (for example, the shortcut key combo Ctrl-Shift-D) WILL NOT activate the Service in any newly opened application, until you click on the Services Menu option in that application.

For more info, see THIS THREAD.

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