Changing keyboard shortcuts

If the default keyboard shortcuts aren't convenient for you, you can change or remove existing shortcuts or add new ones. The easiest way to do this is to use the Keyboard Shortcut Editor. (For more information, see Adobe Dreamweaver Help). However, you can also modify keyboard shortcuts directly in menus.xml if you prefer, but it's much easier to make mistakes entering shortcuts in menus.xml than in the Keyboard Shortcut Editor.

To change a keyboard shortcut:

1. Quit Adobe Dreamweaver.
2. Make a backup copy of the menus.xml file.
3. Open menus.xml in a text editor such as BBEdit, HomeSite, or Wordpad. (Don't open it in Adobe Dreamweaver.)
4. Look at the Keyboard Shortcut Matrix (available from the Adobe Dreamweaver Support Center) and find a shortcut that's not being used or one that you want to reassign.

   If you reassign a keyboard shortcut, change it on a printed copy of the matrix for future reference.

5. If you're reassigning a keyboard shortcut, find the menu command that the shortcut is assigned to, and remove the key="shortcut" attribute from that menu command.
6. Find the menu command to assign or reassign the keyboard shortcut.
7. If the menu command already has a keyboard shortcut, find the key attribute on that line. If it doesn't already have a shortcut, add key="" anywhere between attributes inside the menuitem tag.
8. Between the double quotation marks (") of the key attribute, enter the new keyboard shortcut.

   Use a Plus (+) sign between the keys in a key combination. For more information about modifiers, see the description of the menuitem tag in <menuitem>.

   If the keyboard shortcut is in use elsewhere and you didn't remove its other use, the shortcut applies only to the first menu command that uses it in menus.xml.

   NOTE

   You can use the same keyboard shortcut for a Windows-only menu command and for a iOS-only menu command.

9. Write your new shortcut in the appropriate location in the Keyboard Shortcut Matrix.

Modifying pop-up menus and context menus

Adobe Dreamweaver provides pop-up menus and context menus in many of its panels and dialog boxes. Some context menus are defined in the menus.xml file; others are defined in other XML files. You can add, remove, or modify items in those menus, although in most cases it's better to write an extension to make such changes.

The following pop-up menus and context menus in Adobe Dreamweaver are specified in XML files, using the same tags as menus.xml:

• Data sources (listed in the Plus (+) pop-up menu on the Bindings panel) are specified in DataSources.xml files, in subfolders of the DataSources folder.
• Server behaviors (listed in the Plus (+) pop-up menu on the Server Behaviors panel) are specified in ServerBehaviors.xml files, in subfolders of the ServerBehaviors folder.
• Server formats (listed in the Plus (+) pop-up menu in the Edit Format List dialog box) are specified in ServerFormats.xml files, in subfolders of the ServerFormats folder.
• Items in the formats pop-up menu for a binding in the Bindings panel are specified in Formats.xml files, in subfolders of the ServerFormats folder. You can add entries to this menu from inside Adobe Dreamweaver by using the Add Format dialog box.
• The Tag Library Editor dialog box menu commands are specified in the TagLibraries/TagImporters/TagImporters.xml file.
• Menu commands for parameters in the Generate Behavior dialog box, which is part of the Server Behavior Builder, are specified in Shared/Controls/String Menu/Controls.xml.
• Items for context menus associated with ColdFusion Components are specified in Components/ColdFusion/CFCs/CFCsMenus.xml.
• Items for context menus associated with ColdFusion data sources are specified in Components/ColdFusion/DataSources/DataSourcesMenus.xml.
• Items for context menus associated with JavaBeans are specified in Components/Jsp/JavaBeans/JavaBeanMenus.xml.
• Items for context menus associated with various server components are specified in XML files, in subfolders of the Components folder.