Help Us Choose OmniGraffle 4.2 International Keyboard Shortcuts
 

Greetings, OmniGraffle users of the planet Earth.

We have found, thanks to some fine feedback from our users around the globe, that some of the keyboard shortcuts in OmniGraffle 4 are tricky or impossible, if your keyboard layout is different from the ones we used while developing it (USA/QWERTY and Dvorak). For instance, on a German keyboard, [B]Command-[[/B] just can't be typed without also hitting Option, which could cause the command to be interpreted as something else. The same goes for, say, a Finnish/Swedish keyboard.

We're always trying to make our software behave decently regardless of where you live, what language you speak, and how your system is set up. We started trying to make up new keyboard commands for the various other keyboard layouts, but it's hard to decide what feels right if you don't actually use the layout on a daily basis. So, we'd like to ask those of you out there, who use all the various different keyboard layouts, which OmniGraffle shortcuts cause you problems, and how you'd like them to change when the application senses that you're using that layout.

So far, we have received the following requests:

- German[INDENT] - All instances of [B][[/B] and [B]][/B] to [B]Ö[/B] and [B]Ä[/B]
- All instances of [B]{[/B] and [B]}[/B] to [B]Shift-Ö[/B] and [B]Shift-Ä[/B]
- All instances of [B]|[/B] to [B]Shift-Ü[/B][/INDENT]
If you have any further suggestions for keyboard shortcut improvements in various keyboard layouts, please let them be known!

Thanks very much,
Bill

Hi team,

thank you for taking care of this. Here is my complete list for [B]German[/B] shortcuts, which do not contain a regular character (A..Z, 0..9). All entries are in the order Menu Command Path / US Shortcut (US Physical Keys) / German Shortcut (German Physical Keys).

Edit>Outlining>Add Child / cmd-} (cmd-shift-]) / shift-cmd-Ä
Edit>Outlining>Add Sibling / alt-cmd-' / alt-cmd-+
Edit>Outlining>Add Aunt / cmd-{ (cmd-shift-[) / shift-cmd-Ö
Edit>Outlining>Add Parent / alt-cmd-; / alt-cmd-Ü
Edit>Outlining>Add Spouse / alt-cmd-- / alt-cmd-ß
Edit>Outlining>Indent / cmd-] / cmd-Ä
Edit>Outlining>Outdent / cmd-[ / cmd-Ö
View>Zoom>Zoom In / ctrl-cmd-= / ctrl-cmd-´
View>Zoom>Zoom Out / ctrl-cmd-- / ctrl-cmd-ß
View>Zoom>Zoom to Actual Size / ctrl-cmd-' / ctrl-cmd-+
View>Grid / ctrl-cmd-] / ctrl-cmd-Ä
Format>Text>Align Left / ctrl-cmd-{ (ctrl-cmd-shift-[) / shift-ctrl-cmd-Ö
Format>Text>Center / ctrl-cmd-| (ctrl-cmd-shift-\) / ctrl-cmd-' (ctrl-cmd-shift-#)
Format>Text>Align Right / ctrl-cmd-} (ctrl-cmd-shift-]) / shift-ctrl-cmd-Ä
Format>Text>Align Top / altl-cmd-{ (alt-cmd-shift-[) / shift-alt-cmd-Ö
Format>Text>Center Vertically / alt-cmd-| (alt-cmd-shift-\) / alt-cmd-' (shift-alt-cmd-#)
Format>Text>Align Bottom / alt-cmd-} (alt-cmd-shift-]) / shift-alt-cmd-Ä
Arrange>Grid>Snap to Grid / ctrl-cmd-[ / ctrl-cmd-Ö
Arrange>Grid>Align Objects to Grid / alt-cmd-[ / alt-cmd-Ö

Unchanged shortcuts (because all applications are using them this way):
OmniGraffle>Preferences / cmd-, / cmd-,
Edit>Spelling>Spelling… / cmd-: (cmd-shift-; ) / cmd-: (cmd-shift-.)
Edit>Spelling>Check Spelling / cmd-; / cmd-; (cmd-shift-,)
Format>Font>Bigger / cmd-+ / cmd-+
Format>Font>Smaller / cmd-- / cmd--
Help>OmniGraffle Help / cmd-? (cmd-shift-/) / cmd-? (cmd-shift-ß)

The idea behind this approach is to keep the relative physical key positions intact whenever possible.

Best wishes

Wolfgang

can't you leave the defaults as is and install a preferences pane so people can customize the keyboard shortcuts to what they desire?