Customize keyboard shortcuts

Available in version 3.4 or later.

You can add new keyboard shortcuts or reassign an existing shortcut to a different command.

To customize keyboard shortcuts:

use the Settings / Advanced Options... menu (or open the Command Palette with Ctrl + K, type adv to narrow the results, and select the Advanced Options... command)
this opens the advanced settings file in Notepad
find the Shortcuts array and add new shortcut definitions

An example of customization:

Shortcuts [
    [
        Cmd = CmdOpen
        Key = Alt + o
    ]
    [
        Cmd = CmdNone
        Key = q
    ]
    [
        Name = Create green highlight
        Cmd = CmdCreateAnnotHighlight #00ff00
        Key = a
    ]
    [
        Cmd = CmdNextTab
        ToolbarText = Next Tab
    ]
]

Ver 3.6+ binds Ctrl + Tab / Ctrl + Shift + Tab to Smart Tab Switch (CmdNextTabSmart / CmdPrevTabSmart), which shows a tab list while Ctrl is held. In 3.5 those keys switched tabs immediately in strip order (CmdNextTab / CmdPrevTab).

Ver 3.7+: the simplest way to get the old behavior back is setting CtrlTabSimple = true in advanced settings. You can also rebind the keys:

Shortcuts [
    [
        Cmd = CmdNextTab
        Key = Ctrl + Tab
    ]
    [
        Cmd = CmdPrevTab
        Key = Ctrl + Shift + Tab
    ]
]

Ctrl + PageDown / Ctrl + PageUp already run next/prev tab without the popup. More detail: Tabs and windows.

Explanation of the first example:

by default, SumatraPDF uses the Ctrl + O shortcut for the CmdOpen (open a file) command. This changes the shortcut to Alt + O
by default, q closes the document. Binding it to CmdNone disables that built-in shortcut
ver 3.6+: CmdCreateAnnotHighlight takes a color argument (#00ff00 is green). We reassign a to create a green highlight annotation (instead of the default yellow)
ver 3.6+: Name is optional. If provided, the command will appear in the command palette (Ctrl + K)

Format of the `Key` section #

just a key (such as a, Z, or 5), i.e. the letters a to z and A to Z, and the numbers 0 to 9
modifiers + key. Modifiers are Shift, Alt, Ctrl, and AltGr (also RAlt / RightAlt), e.g. Alt + F1, Ctrl + Shift + Y, or AltGr + Return. On Windows, AltGr is the same as Ctrl + Alt
there are some special keys (e.g. Alt + F3)
- F1 - F24
- numpad0 - numpad9 : 0 to 9 but on a numerical keyboard
- Delete, Backspace, Insert, Home, End, Escape
- Left, Right, Up, Down for arrow keys
- full list of special keys
without modifiers, case matters, i.e. a and A are different
with modifiers, use Shift to select uppercase, i.e. Alt + a is the same as Alt + A; use Alt + Shift + A to select uppercase A

Global shortcuts #

Ver 3.7+: prefix Key with Global to register a system-wide global shortcut that works even when SumatraPDF does not have focus:

Shortcuts [
    [
        Cmd = CmdGoToNextPage
        Key = Global PageDown
    ]
    [
        Cmd = CmdScreenshot
        Key = Global Alt+PrtSc
    ]
]

To avoid hotkey conflicts, global shortcuts are only registered by the first running SumatraPDF instance.
For commands that require a window or document, the command is dispatched to the most recently activated open window. If that window is closed, it falls back to the previously active open window. Triggering the global shortcut does not steal focus or bring background windows to the foreground.
If SumatraPDF fails to register a global shortcut (e.g. if another program has already registered it), a warning notification is shown.

Commands #

You can see a full list of commands (or view them in the source code).

Escaping in settings values #

String values in the advanced settings file use $ as an escape character. A literal $ must be written as $$. A lone $ at the end of a value is treated as a trailing-whitespace marker, not a dollar sign.

This matters for CmdCommandPalette mode arguments: use CmdCommandPaletteFavorites (or CmdCommandPaletteTOC for table of contents) instead of CmdCommandPalette $ / CmdCommandPalette % when binding shortcuts.

Notes #

The changes are applied as soon as you save the settings file, so you can test them without restarting SumatraPDF.

If a custom Shortcut doesn’t work, it could be caused by an invalid command name or invalid command arguments.

We log information about unsuccessful shortcut parsing, so check the logs if things don’t work as expected.

SumatraPDF documentation