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This question refers specifically to Evernote, but the answer is generic & can be used for any Mac app.

In Evernote for Mac 6.13.3 the Preferences | Keyboard Shortcuts tab does not show the shortcut I want to get rid of, which is CMD/T (which opens a new tab in Evernote—but I want it to have its general Mac function of showing fonts).

I therefore have no way of removing the CMD/T from Evernote.

Can anyone help?

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    Does it exist as a menu item in that app? [can't test, don't use it] If it does, then it's feasible.
    – Tetsujin
    Jan 3, 2018 at 9:14
  • Yes, it's listed on the File menu. But not under Keyboard Shortcuts in Preferences. So I don't see any way to disable or remove it.
    – Steve
    Jan 3, 2018 at 9:50
  • I grabbed a copy to test - though I've no clue how to use it ;) Answer below.
    – Tetsujin
    Jan 3, 2018 at 10:16

1 Answer 1

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So long as both the wanted & the unwanted commands are in the menus, then this is relatively straightforward, just needs a little lateral thinking...

First, you need to remove the unwanted command, by replacing it with 'garbage' - something you don't already use or need...

  • System Prefs > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts
  • Click + then add the name of your desired app.
  • Type the exact name of the menu item you wish to replace[1]
  • Add a garbage command [anything will do, so long as it's not going to conflict anywhere else]

Then, to add your new command

  • Select the name of your app in the list & click + [this will populate the app into new command]
  • Type the name of your wanted menu item
  • Add a key command - you can now use the one you previously overwrote in your unwanted shortcut.

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[1] This is especially important if the menu ends in an ellipsis … which typographically is not the same as three full stops ...

There is no need to specify any menu/sub-menu structure, no matter how far down the hierarchy your menu item may be - it will always find it using just the actual item name.

Late addition: if you have two menu items with the same name but in different sub-menus, you can differentiate by giving the actual menu path using -> as the sub-menu indicator, eg
File->Open->Open Special Name

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    Thanks, I was looking for just an Evernote solution, but you've significantly widened my horizons! I had no idea this could be done for any shortcut in any Mac app. So I can now potentially apply it in other apps as well. Much appreciated.
    – Steve
    Jan 3, 2018 at 12:30
  • Most welcome - & yes, it's a hugely powerful structure. Global commands & ones that don't have a menu option can get tricky, but for simple 'exists as a menu item' it's very easy.
    – Tetsujin
    Jan 3, 2018 at 12:35
  • I'm tempted to actually remove 'evernote' itself from the title, as it really is far more generically applicable & could be useful to future Googlers. What do you think?
    – Tetsujin
    Jan 3, 2018 at 12:38
  • I'd be happy with that. I've actually just clipped this page and added it to Evernote for future reference, and I did exactly that, changing the title to make it applicable to any Mac app.
    – Steve
    Jan 3, 2018 at 12:49
  • is is possible to just unbind a shortcut? I have a menu bar app that is hijacking cmd-J globally and I just want to unbind it. I tried replacing it with garbage like outlined above but it looks like its still globally hijacking Cmd-J despite the shortcut text in the menu now showing the garbage I changed it to.
    – Jtgrenz
    Nov 28, 2019 at 14:53

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