What Are Shortkeys Shortcut Packs and How Do I Use Them?

Updated

Shortcut packs are pre-built collections of keyboard shortcuts that you install into Shortkeys with one click. Instead of configuring each key combination yourself, you pick a pack (Vim, YouTube, GitHub, and others), and its shortcuts are added to your current configuration. This is useful when you want a known set of behaviors — Vim-style navigation, for example — without building it action by action.

What a pack actually contains

A pack is a group of shortcuts, each mapping a key combination to one of Shortkeys' built-in actions or to custom JavaScript. Shortkeys ships with 100+ built-in actions organized by category, including:

  • Scrolling (12 actions): scroll to top/bottom, page down, scroll left/right, and "more" variants
  • Navigation (18 actions): go back/forward, reload, hard reload, copy URL, copy page title, open URL from clipboard, search Google/YouTube/Wikipedia/GitHub, and more
  • Tabs (29 actions): new tab, close tab, close other/left/right/duplicate tabs, and related tab management

A pack bundles a selection of these into a themed set, so installing it gives you a working shortcut scheme immediately.

How to install and use a pack

  1. Install the extension. Add Shortkeys to Chrome or Firefox. The site states it is free and open source.
  2. Open the packs section. Browse the curated collections — Vim, YouTube, GitHub, and others are named on the site.
  3. Install with one click. The pack's shortcuts are added to your current configuration.
  4. Test the keys. Press a combination from the pack and confirm the expected action runs. If a shortcut conflicts with an existing one, adjust or disable it in your configuration.
  5. Review and edit. Installed shortcuts behave like any other shortcut you created — you can change the key combo, swap the action, or move it into a group.

Managing what you install

Because packs land in your existing configuration, a few habits keep things clean:

  • Use groups. Shortcuts can be organized into collapsible groups, and you can enable, disable, or share an entire group at once. Putting each pack in its own group makes it easy to turn a whole scheme on or off.
  • Watch for conflicts. Two shortcuts bound to the same keys will not both fire. Check your list after installing a pack.
  • Record your own keys. If you want to change a pack shortcut, use the recorder: click Record and press your key combo. Multi-key sequences like Vim's g g are supported.
  • Chain actions with macros. Multiple actions can be combined into a single shortcut, with optional delays between steps.

Sharing and syncing

Shortcuts are not limited to what packs provide. You can create your own collections, group them, and share entire groups. On Chrome, shortcuts sync automatically across your browser instances through your Google account, so a pack you install on one machine follows you to others.

When packs are the right choice

Install a pack when you want a recognized, ready-made scheme — Vim-style movement, or shortcuts tuned for a specific site like YouTube or GitHub — and you would rather start from a working set than an empty list. Build shortcuts manually when your workflow is unusual, or when you only need a handful of actions and do not want a full scheme's worth of key bindings to manage.