Maybe I'm misunderstanding this section of the wiki, but I have found that KM hot keys will over-ride application hot keys.
I have tested and confirmed this in both Outlook 2011 and EN Mac 6.0.11.
Perhaps the wiki FAQ should be updated to state this?
I propose to add this after the bolded statement below: However, Keyboard Maestro Hot Keys will over-ride application Hot Keys, allowing you to redefine a specific Hot Key for the app.
I would also like to add Hot Keys are also known as Shortcut Keys.
I'll be happy to make the change, if you guys agree.
What is the difference between different kinds of hot keys?
The system has a variety of things people call hot keys, but there are actually several different kinds. The main kinds are:
Menu Command Keys - shown in menus and limited to within the application containing those menus (Services and such are available in all applications).
Hot Keys - defined by the system or by applications using the Hot Key API. They are available system-wide. The key will be swallowed by the system, and instead the assigned action will be triggered. If two (or more) applications define the same Hot Key, both applications actions will happen.
Wonky Event Tap system “hot keys”. In particular Command-Tab is done this way. Spaces keys may be done this way. Command-Option-D might be done this way.
Applications generally do not use hot keys unless they have some specific functionality they wont to provide while they are not at the front. For example, Yojimbo has lots of menu shortcuts/command keys, but it also has a couple hot keys.
If I create a macro with trigger Command-C, that will completely replace the Command-C Copy command key in Yojimbo.
But if I create a macro with trigger F9, that will fire as well as Yojimbo's Show Quick Input Panel.
Application hot keys are typically defined and/or enabled in their preferences.
OK, it get that they are technically different, but I think, for most people, it's a distinction without a difference.
I've been in the IT business one way or the other for many, many, years, and I did not know the difference until right now. Maybe it's just my ignorance, but I suspect a lot of other don't know as well.
I guess my point was to provide a keyword to search on that a lot of people would know.
Of course, it's up to you.
EDIT: Peter, I just noticed. In your image above, the column is labeled "Shortcut"
Given that they behave in completely different ways when they conflict, I think it can be a different most people do not know about or do not understand, but without a difference doesn't make sense.
Which in part is exactly what that wiki question is trying to get across! And indeed, it's clear that they are different in that wiki question:
Menu Command Keys - shown in menus and limited to within the application containing those menus (Services and such are available in all applications).
Hot Keys - defined by the system or by applications using the Hot Key API. They are available system-wide. The key will be swallowed by the system, and instead the assigned action will be triggered. If two (or more) applications define the same Hot Key, both applications actions will happen.
Wonky Event Tap system "hot keys". In particular Command-Tab is done this way. Spaces keys may be done this way. Command-Option-D might be done this way.
I have extended the middle sentence to be:
The key will be swallowed by the system, and instead the assigned action will be triggered, so they can override menu command keys and any other keys used normally in applications
And the first sentence to be:
The system has a variety of things people call hot keys or shortcuts or command keys,
It does not help that the system conflates the two as Shortcuts in the Keyboard preferences, even though some of them define command key menu overrides and some of them defined hot keys.
Sorry, maybe "distinction without a difference" is an American saying, I don't know. What it means is that most people would not see a difference, regardless of the technical difference.
I'm not trying to make things more complicated. It just occurs to me that if a non-programmer is trying to use KM, then they probably think of any keyboard stroke with the modifier keys as a "shortcut" to execute something. So really all I'm suggesting is that if someone searches the wiki for "shortcut" or "keyboard shortcut" or "shortcut key", then they should be taken to the "Hot Keys" section. I don't think we need to clutter the wiki with trying to explain the difference, because most people won't care. If you want to cite a reference, then that's fine.
Forgot my original point: the KM Hot Keys will over-ride application shortcut keys. That is a point worth making, IMO.
Of course, this is just all my opinion. Do what you think is best. It's really not worth that much of your time.
Hot Key - system wide hot key API (swallows keys and overrides other behaviours, fires in every application that registers it)
Command Keys (or Menu Command Keys) - menu keys for selecting a menu, application specific (except for the shared menus like the Services, but they are still application specific, just duplicated in each application like the Edit menu typically is).
Shortcuts - could be either (hence the use in the System Preferences, Keyboard preferences).
Peter, please tell me when I've begun beating a dead horse, and I'll go away.
IMO, the first addition above that I proposed is by far the most important.
I doubt few people know this, and I think it is a very powerful feature of KM.
But it should be changed to:
However, Keyboard Maestro Hot Keys will over-ride application Shortcut Keys, allowing you to redefine a specific Shortcut Key for the app.
If you don't like to equate "Hot Key" with "Shortcut Key" for technical reasons, then the second statement could read:
Some people think of Hot Keys and Shortcut Keys as the same thing, although they are technically different. Keyboard Maestro consistently uses the term "Hot Key", like with Triggers, to avoid any confusion. [see ref]
The [see ref] would be a link to a section on the wiki FAQ that has the definitions you just posted.
