How to overwrite key shortcuts?

Question

It is very handy to have shortcuts for frequently used glyphs, e.g. [[, ]], <|, |>, and ->. I know already that we can do this by modifying KeyEventTranslations.tr located in

FileNameJoin[{
  $InstallationDirectory,
  "SystemFiles",
  "FrontEnd",
  "TextResources",
  "Macintosh"
  }]

Working with US keyboard layout, I added the following to the file:

...

Item[KeyEvent[">", Modifiers -> {Control}],
FrontEndExecute[{
FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"\[AliasDelimiter]",After],
FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"->",After],
FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"\[AliasDelimiter]",After]
}]
],

Item[KeyEvent["[", Modifiers -> {Shift,Control}],
FrontEndExecute[{
FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"\[AliasDelimiter]",After],
FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"<|",After],
FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"\[AliasDelimiter]",After]
}]
],

Item[KeyEvent["]", Modifiers -> {Shift,Control}],
FrontEndExecute[{
FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"\[AliasDelimiter]",After],
FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"|>",After],
FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"\[AliasDelimiter]",After]
}]
],

...

This worked splendidly for the last two or three major releases of Mathematica. But now in version 12, precisely what Szabolcs anticipated here happened to me: Seemingly, new shortcuts

• Shift+Ctrl+.,
• Shift+Ctrl+[, and
• Shift+Ctrl+]

have been added, ruining my established workflow. Actually, I am not sure that these shortcuts are new, but starting with version 12, my former approach does work anymore. At least Shift+Ctrl+. seems to be remapped to something related to notebook cell selection. Shift+Ctrl+,, another shortcut that I remapped and that I use often, is already present in version 11.3 -- but the remapping worked well. So maybe the order in which the shortcuts are loaded when the FrontEnd starts has changed?

I don't use these shortcuts in the new built-in way; I'd rather prefer to overwrite them with my old settings because I #!@&ing don't want to relearn typing every time a new version is realeased!

I also found the "Shortcuts`" package by Rolf Mertig, but as Rolf pointed out, it does not seem to work anymore (I have to admit that I have not tried it yet).

Has anybody found a robust, future-proof solution for this?

Answer 1

KeyEventTranslations.tr started making problems in version 12, but just follow Mr. Wizard's advice. Some shortcuts you might like are already present in MenuSetup.tr, you can just add a few more in the same style. Find the line

MenuItem["Matching []", "InsertMatchingBrackets", MenuKey["]", Modifiers->{"Command", "Option"}]],

and add few more lines before or after

MenuItem["Rule \[Rule]", 
    FrontEndExecute[FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"\[Rule]", After]], MenuKey[">", Modifiers->{"Control"}]],
MenuItem["Double bracket \[LeftDoubleBracket]", 
    FrontEndExecute[FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"\[LeftDoubleBracket]", After]], MenuKey["[", Modifiers->{"Option"}]],
MenuItem["Double bracket \[RightDoubleBracket]", 
    FrontEndExecute[FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"\[RightDoubleBracket]", After]], MenuKey["]", Modifiers->{"Option"}]],
MenuItem["Left association \[LeftAssociation]", 
    FrontEndExecute[FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"\[LeftAssociation]", After]], MenuKey["[", Modifiers->{"Shift", "Control"}]],
MenuItem["Right association \[RightAssociation]", 
    FrontEndExecute[FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"\[RightAssociation]", After]], MenuKey["]", Modifiers->{"Shift", "Control"}]],

I would even add

MenuItem["Matching \[LeftDoubleBracket]\[RightDoubleBracket]", 
    FrontEndExecute[{
        FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"\[LeftDoubleBracket]", After],
        FrontEnd`NotebookWrite[FrontEnd`InputNotebook[],"\[RightDoubleBracket]", Before],
    }], MenuKey["]", Modifiers->{"Command", "Control"}]],