About Command Aliases and Shortcuts

A command alias is an alphanumeric character or character sequence that starts a command for modeling and other tasks in any environment.

Command aliases are not used while a dialog box is active.

Shortcuts are used primarily for transparent commands, such as zoom and pan, and for file utility functions, such as printing. In general, shortcuts can be executed when a dialog box is active.

If you use a shortcut key or an alias in an environment where the command cannot be used, the alias is inactive. For example:

Command alias You can assign the key combination QC to the Quality Check command. But if you are not working in the Construction Environment, the command is not activated.

Shortcut key To define the plus sign on the numeric keypad (Num +) to the perpendicular constraint, a sketch must be active. If a sketch is not active, the command is not activated.

You can see many predefined shortcut keys or command aliases when you pause the cursor over a command. You can see all predefined shortcut keys and command aliases when you select Tools tab Options panel Customize, and click the Keyboard tab. In most cases, you can edit the shortcut or command alias and assign a custom value.

Controls for Command Prompts

The default multi-character command aliases are not enabled by default. In Application options - General tab, under Prompting interaction, you can enable or disable functionality for:

Dynamic Prompts
AutoComplete for command aliases
Command Alias Input dialog box

About Custom Aliases and Shortcuts

You can define your own command aliases and shortcuts, and you can import and export them as XML files.

If the key combination you want to use is already assigned to a predefined shortcut or command alias, you can reassign it. For a predefined command alias, reassign the character sequence to the command of your choice. For a shortcut, you can usually delete the shortcut and reassign the key combination.

Strategy for Custom Aliases and Shortcuts

Assign command aliases to modeling and other general-purpose tasks.
Assign custom shortcuts for transparent commands (for example, zoom, pan), and for file utility functions, such as printing.

Custom Command Alias Keys

You can use only alphanumeric keys (A-Z, 0-9) to define command aliases. Use single keys or a combination of keys.

All other keys are ineligible. Spaces between characters are not permitted. Command aliases are not case-sensitive.

Custom Shortcut Keys

The following keys are reserved and not eligible for use in custom shortcuts:

Enter/Return	Num Lock	"Windows" key	Scroll Lock
"Menu" key	Backspace	Print Screen	Spacebar
Caps Lock	Pause/Break	Esc	Delete
Left and Right arrow keys	Num Enter	Tab	Insert
Ctrl+C	Ctrl+V	Ctrl+X	Function keys

Other nonstandard keys, such as multimedia, or Internet keys, are also ineligible.

Do not use Alt with the A-Z keys or the 1-0 keys. This combination can interfere with the Microsoft Windows standard accelerator keys for accessing menu commands.
We recommend that you use Alt in combination with other modifier keys such as Shift and Ctrl plus a letter or number key.

Assigning the Same Alias to Multiple Commands

Although each command can have only one assigned alias, the same alias can be assigned to multiple commands. This method is useful where commands in different environments have the same name and you want to remember only one alias. For example, the mirror command in sketching differs from the mirror command in parts. You can assign the same alias (for example MI) to all the mirror commands.

Note: You can execute any command in the AutoComplete drop-down list by clicking it directly. You can also use Tab or the Up or Down arrows to navigate to a command in the AutoComplete drop-down list. Then press the spacebar or Enter, or right-click to execute the command. For multiple commands with the same alias, to avoid ambiguity, ensure that only one of the commands is enabled when you enter the alias. AutoComplete lists only aliases for enabled commands.

Tips for Custom Shortcut Keys and Command Aliases

Reserved shortcut keys, see list above, cannot be reassigned. For example, Ctrl+C will always apply to Copy. It cannot be assigned to another command. You can assign an alias to any command including commands with reserved shortcuts. The alias is then used in place of the shortcut.
A key combination or character sequence may already be in use as a default shortcut or alias. Default is not the same as reserved. In the Customize dialog box, you can override an existing assignment, and assign the key combination or character sequence to the command of your choice.
Shortcuts assigned to the numeric keypad are sometimes unavailable on laptop computers.
In the Customize dialog box, Keyboard tab, use Copy to Clipboard to copy a list of command names and their assigned aliases and shortcuts. You can paste this data from the clipboard into an Excel spreadsheet or any word processor.

Note: If you use Copy to Clipboard while editing a shortcut, any changes to the shortcut are discarded and reset to the last value.