Trill
Download Buy $29

See every gesture and shortcut for the app in front

· 6 min read

A Mac app’s own keyboard shortcuts are printed in its menus, beside each command, and the shortcuts that work everywhere are in System Settings, under Keyboard, then Keyboard Shortcuts. The ones nothing lists are the gestures and shortcuts you added yourself. Trill shows those on demand: once its Hyper Key is on, hold it for a moment and a cheat sheet appears with every gesture and shortcut that works in the app in front. Let go and it is gone.

So there are really three places to look, depending on whose shortcut it is: the app’s, macOS’s, or yours.

Where a Mac app keeps its own shortcuts

Every Mac app lists its shortcuts in its menu bar menus. Open any menu and the shortcut for each command sits on the right of its name. That is the most complete cheat sheet an app has, and it is always up to date, because it is the app’s own menu.

The symbols take a moment to learn:

  • ⌘ is Command
  • ⌥ is Option
  • ⌃ is Control
  • ⇧ is Shift

So ⇧⌘N, beside New Folder in Finder’s File menu, means Shift-Command-N.

Three habits make the menus quicker to use as a reference:

  1. Hold Option with a menu open. Some commands change into an alternative while Option is held, often with a shortcut of their own. It is the quickest way to find the hidden half of a menu.
  2. Search the Help menu. Click Help in the menu bar and type part of a command’s name in the search field. Matching menu commands are listed; point at one and macOS opens the menu and points to the command, shortcut and all. Useful in apps with deep menus.
  3. Keep Apple’s list for the system. Apple publishes a page of Mac keyboard shortcuts on its support site, covering Finder, documents and the rest of macOS.

Shortcuts that work in every app

macOS’s own system-wide shortcuts are in System Settings:

  1. Open System Settings and click Keyboard in the sidebar.
  2. Click Keyboard Shortcuts.
  3. Pick a category on the left, such as Mission Control, Screenshots or Spotlight, to see its shortcuts. Most can be switched off or changed here.

The same window has App Shortcuts, which lets you give a shortcut to any menu command that does not have one, by typing the command’s exact name as it appears in the menu. Once added, the shortcut appears in that app’s menu like any other, so the menus stay your reference.

The shortcuts you made yourself are the ones you forget

Menu shortcuts are easy to find again because they are printed where you use them. Anything you add with a gesture or keyboard app is not. A four-finger tap appears in no menu, and a shortcut built on a Hyper Key is printed nowhere except in the app that made it.

Two things make this harder over time. First, gestures and shortcuts you set up in a burst of enthusiasm are used for a week and then half-remembered. Second, the good ones are often limited to particular apps: the same TipTap can mean next tab in a browser and redo in a writing app. Remembering what works where is exactly the job a cheat sheet should do for you.

Trill’s cheat sheet

Trill is a menu bar app for trackpad gestures, keyboard shortcuts with a Hyper Key, and window snapping. Its cheat sheet lists the gestures and shortcuts you have in it, filtered to the app you are using.

  1. Switch to the app you want to check, so it is in front.
  2. Hold the Hyper Key for a moment. The Hyper Key starts switched off, so turn it on first in Trill’s window, under Shortcuts. Caps Lock is the standard key, and Trill turns it into ✦.
  3. The cheat sheet appears, showing every gesture and shortcut that works in this app.
  4. Let go. The sheet is gone.

If you would rather click, choose Show cheat sheet from Trill’s menu bar menu; opened that way, the sheet stays until you click or press a key. Showing the cheat sheet is also one of Trill’s actions, so you can put it on a gesture or a shortcut of your own.

Because Trill’s gestures and shortcuts can work everywhere or only in chosen apps, the sheet changes with the app in front. With Trill’s ready-made Gesture Sets switched on, for example:

  • In Safari, the Browser set’s gestures appear: a 4-finger tap for a new tab, TipTap right or left for the next or previous tab, a 4-finger swipe down to close the tab and up to reopen the one you closed. The Everyday set’s gestures are there too, along with anything else that works in every app, such as the Windows set’s swipes and ✦ shortcuts.
  • In Xcode, the Developer set takes over: TipTap right or left for the next or previous tab, and a 4-finger tap to bring Terminal forward.
  • In Pages or Notes, the Writing set’s TipTap left and right for undo and redo, and a 4-finger tap to start dictation.

The sheet is about where you are: it lists what works in this app, not everything you have ever set up. A gesture Trill is holding back because macOS uses the same one still appears, dimmed, with the reason beside it, so the sheet also shows you what needs fixing.

What the cheat sheet does not show

Trill’s cheat sheet covers Trill’s own gestures and shortcuts. It does not list an app’s own menu shortcuts. For those, use the app’s menus, the Option key and the Help search described above. macOS’s own trackpad gestures are not on it either; they are listed in System Settings, under Trackpad.

Between them, the two lists cover everything. The menus are already the complete, current list of an app’s shortcuts. What they cannot show is what you set up yourself, and that is what the sheet holds.

Choosing the key you hold

The cheat sheet opens from the Hyper Key, so it is worth setting the Hyper Key up the way you like it. Caps Lock is the standard choice. Right Command, Right Option, or § on UK and German keyboards can be the Hyper Key instead.

If you would rather not use a Hyper Key at all, pick a shortcut to hold instead, in Trill’s Settings under Cheat sheet. It is used while the Hyper Key is off.

Holding the key is different from tapping it. Hold it with another key and that key arrives with Control, Option, Shift and Command at once, which is how Hyper Key shortcuts work. Hold it alone for a moment and the cheat sheet appears. Tap it alone and it does what you chose: send Escape (the default), do nothing, or still toggle Caps Lock. macOS may also need Input Monitoring switched on for Trill before the Hyper Key works.

How to turn Caps Lock into a Hyper Key on a Mac covers the setup, and which shortcuts are worth putting on it.

If you use BetterTouchTool

BetterTouchTool has a cheat sheet too: a Show Cheat Sheet action, which it describes as “an overview of the triggers configured in BTT”. If you already use BetterTouchTool for its wider range of devices and actions, that is the place to look for your own setup there.

Trill’s version is built around one habit: hold the Hyper Key in any app and see what works in that app.

Questions

Does Trill’s cheat sheet show an app’s menu shortcuts?

No. It shows the gestures and shortcuts you set up in Trill that work in the app in front. An app’s own shortcuts are in its menus, beside each command.

Can I open the cheat sheet without the Hyper Key?

Yes. Choose Show cheat sheet from Trill’s menu bar menu, pick a shortcut to hold in Settings, under Cheat sheet, or set a gesture or shortcut of your own to show the cheat sheet.

Why is the cheat sheet different in each app?

Gestures and shortcuts in Trill can work everywhere or only in the apps you choose, and its Gesture Sets each cover one kind of app. The sheet lists only what works in the app in front, so it changes when you switch.

Where are the shortcuts that work in every app?

In System Settings, under Keyboard, then Keyboard Shortcuts. Apple also keeps a list of Mac keyboard shortcuts on its support site.