Keyboard Shortcuts and Customization

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UiPath studio has keyboard shortcuts for various activities to save a user's time. In this chapter, you will learn various keyboard shortcuts in UiPath Studio and their customization techniques in detail.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts refer to a task for invoking one or more commands by using a series of one or several keys such as CTRL+S to save a word document. Such tasks can also be done through menu, pointing devices or via a command line interface etc., but using keyboard shortcuts saves a lot of time.

File Management

  • Ctrl+Shift+N − This keyboard shortcut will create a new blank process.

  • Ctrl+O − If you want to open a workflow, either .xaml or project.json, that is created previously, use Ctrl+O keyboard shortcut.

  • Ctrl+L − With the help of this keyboard shortcut, we can open the folder where the Log files are stored.

  • Ctrl+S − It is a very familiar keyboard shortcut. It will save the currently open workflow.

  • Ctrl+Shift+S − Saves all the workflows that are currently open.

Comments

  • Ctrl+D − With the help of this keyboard shortcut ,you can ignore the activity that you recently selected by pacing it into a Comment Out container.

  • Ctrl + E − It will remove the activity that was placed in comment out container.

Debugging

  • F7 − This function key runs the currently open workflow in debug mode.

  • F8 − This function key checks the currently open workflow for validation errors.

  • F9 − With the help of this function key, we can mark the selected activity or task with a breakpoint.

  • Shift + F9 − Opposite to F9, it removes all the breakpoints in the currently open workflow.

  • F11 − At the time of debugging, this function key enables us to step into a block of activities. Additionally, it will execute the first activity also.

  • Shift + F11 − At the time of debugging, this shortcut enables us to step over the execution of a block of activities in the currently selected workflow.

Recording

  • Alt+Ctrl+W − This shortcut key opens the Web recording toolbar ('W' in this shortcut key stands for Web).

  • Alt+Ctrl+B − This shortcut key opens the Basic recording toolbar ('B' in this shortcut key stands for Basic).

  • Alt+Ctrl+C − This shortcut key opens the Citrix recording toolbar ('C' in this shortcut key stands for Citrix).

  • Alt+Ctrl+D − This shortcut key opens the Desktop recording toolbar ('D' in this shortcut key stands for Desktop).

  • F2 − This function key is used to add delay while recording.

  • F3 − This function key is used to specify a custom recording region.

  • F4 − With the help of this function key we can choose the UI framework, can be Default, AA and UIA, to record.

Workflow Execution

  • F5 − This function key runs the workflow that is currently open.

  • F12 − This function key stops the execution of the current workflow. The workflow can be in normal or debug mode.

Selected Activity

  • Ctrl + T − This shortcut key places the activity or task inside the TRY section of TRY-CATCH activity (Here 'T' stands for Try).

  • Ctrl + T − This shortcut key places the activity or task inside the section of TRY-CATCH activity (Here 'T' stands for Try).

  • Ctrl + N − With the help of this shortcut key, we can create a new sequence diagram in the current project.

  • Ctrl + C − It is a very familiar keyboard shortcut. It will copy the selected activity or task (one or many) to the clipboard.

  • Ctrl + V − It is another very familiar keyboard shortcut. It will paste the copied activity or task (one or many) inside the selected item.

Customization of Keyboard Shortcuts

The keyboard shortcuts, discussed above, are by default shortcuts keys of UiPath studio. It is quite an amazing feature of UiPath studio that we can customize these shortcut keys or we can create our own keyboard shortcuts.

Important points to remember for keyboard shortcuts customization

It is very easy to customize keyboard shortcut keys. However, we must consider the following points −

  • Location of supported keyboard shortcuts − First of all, we must have to know the location of all supported keyboard shortcuts. UiPath studio stores all of them in an .xml file. You can find that file at the location C:\users\username\AppData\UiPath\Uipath\keyboardmappings.xml. You can edit this file in Notepad.

  • What to edit − There are two important things to edit for customizing keyboard shortcuts −

    • The values between <Key> </Key> represents the main keyboard buttons to press and hence it must be changed as per your customization needs.

    • The values between <Modifiers> </Modifiers> represent the modifiers (Control, Alt, Windows) which can be changed as per your customization needs.

Steps for Keyboard Shortcuts Customization

In order to customize keyboard shortcuts, we need to follow these steps −

  • Step1 − First, we need to close the UiPath studio if it is open.

  • Step2 − Now, open the keyboardmappings.xml file containing the supported keyboard shortcuts with a text editor like Notepad or Notepad++.

  • Step3 − Find the keyword shortcuts you want to modify and change the values for keyboard buttons between <Key> </Key> and for modifiers between <Modifiers> </Modifiers>.

  • Step4 − At last we need to save and close the keyboardmappings.xml file.

Example

In this example we are customizing the keyboard shortcut Alt+Ctrl+W used for web recording toolbar.

We need to look for the keyboard shortcut for web recording toolbar as shown in the screenshot.

Web Recording Toolbar

Now, we will change the option 'W' between <Key> </Key> to say 'Z'. Then we will change the modifiers from Alt, Control between <Modifiers> </Modifiers> to Shift, Alt.

Web Recording Toolbar2

This will modify the keyboard shortcut Alt+Ctrl+W for web recording toolbar to Shift+Alt+Z.

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