Evernote Tips ─ Custom shortcut key for Evernote Text Highlighting
This time I would like to share other useful tips for Evernote. With Evernote Web Clipper, Evernote is the best tool to capture, store and organize web contents in my digital devices. While reading the stored contents in Evernote, I highlight the important texts as same as you do. However, moving your mouse cursor between the text content and the toolbar button to highlight the texts is frustrating. You want to streamline the process by pressing a shortcut key.
The default shortcut key assigned in Evernote is Ctrl + Shift + H. I used it for several years, but I always think it isn’t user-friendly. The key combination is easy to mix with the shortcut keys in other word processors. For instance, Microsoft Word assigns the same function to Ctrl + Alt + H. But both of them are stupid design.
Besides it is confusing, the key combination is really difficult to press with just one hand. The Ctrl and Shift keys are in the most lateral, while the H key locates at the middle of a keyboard. It is hard to drag and select text with your mouse, and press the default shortcut key simultaneously. Setting a custom hotkey is one way to cope with this problem, but Evernote has no such preference. To bypass this limitation, I recommend you to solve with PhraseExpress.
PhraseExpress is free-of-charge to personal users (but you should purchase a license for commercial or professional use). So, I highly recommend you to download and install PhraseExpress on your desktops.
I will suggest you to custom your hotkey to a comfortable position with minimum finger movements. Thus, you don’t need to stretch your hands like a pianist. This simple method also helps you to focus on reading rather than a distracted mouse or keyboard motions. I wish my tips will boost your productivity and memory of note contents when using Evernote. You can follow my instruction below to setup your custom hotkey.
How to configure
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Create a new phrase in PhraseExpress.
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Assign a script name to Description , e.g. Highlight (Evernote)
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Insert Simulate keypress > More… to Phrase content.
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Choose Modifier to be Ctrl-Shift, Type H in Chars, and then press OK.
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Enable Execute only in specific programs, and restrict to this shorthand to only execute in Evernote.
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Set your Hotkey, e.g Ctrl + ` (Recommended).
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Finished. Test it in your Evernote.
If you like the Evernote tips in this article, please share to anybody who also use Evernote. Please feel free to leave any comments and enquire for more tips below. Thank you.
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