Solution to Keyboard Shortcuts not Working in WordPress 4.2 and Above

Soon after upgrading to WordPress 4.2 I noticed that the handy keyboard shortcuts I love to use when creating posts in WordPress were no longer working. After some digging I discovered that in WordPress 4.2 the keyboard shortcuts were actually changed.
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Soon after upgrading to WordPress 4.2 I noticed that the handy keyboard shortcuts I love to use when creating posts in WordPress were no longer working.

After some digging I discovered that in WordPress 4.2 the keyboard shortcuts were actually changed.

Before on a Mac (not sure about Windows systems) you could use the CMD + Number system for doing things like changing paragraph text to a heading, but now you’ll need to use CTRL + Alt + Number.

Some of my favourite ones:

H1 : CTRL + Alt + 1

Insert Image : CTRL + Alt + m

Insert Link: SHIFT + Alt + a

The full set of available shortcuts can be found on the WordPress Codex while Mike Wallagher has put together this great graphic to explain them all. It will take some getting used to but at least I got my beloved shortcuts back.

Jean Galea is an investor, entrepreneur, and blogger. He is the founder of WP Mayor, the plugins WP RSS Aggregator and Spotlight, as well as the Mastermind.fm podcast. His personal blog can be found at jeangalea.com.

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4 Responses

  1. Windows used to be Ctrl+Number now its the incredibly awkward Alt+Shift+ Number…

    But why did they change the shortcuts? And having chosen to change them why wasn’t the change publicised anywhere obvious?

    1. True, I find the new ones highly uncomfortable, and I also find it strange that it was done silently. Of course one can find the issue related to it in Trac but most people wouldn’t look there. I think it will have a bigger impact than the devs might have anticipated.

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