Keyboard shortcuts

Global keyboard shortcuts work from any app, so you can check your Mac without reaching for the mouse. Goblin has three kinds here: two main shortcuts for the panel and the window, up to eight extra ones you set up yourself, and one for the Network Monitor. The clipboard has its own set, described below, and Capture, Measure and the other tools have theirs on their own pages.

None of them are on until you turn them on. The combinations below are what each starts with when you do.

Goblin's shortcuts don't need Accessibility or Input Monitoring permission. Goblin asks macOS only for the exact combinations you choose.

How combinations work#

Every shortcut in these three kinds is a letter from A to Z with one of these modifier sets:

The last set is listed as "⌥⇧⌘" in some of Goblin's pickers. It's the same combination.

If another app already uses a combination, macOS won't let Goblin have it. Goblin shows "This shortcut is in use. Choose another combination." in red, and that shortcut doesn't work until you pick another.

Open the panel or the window#

1. Click Goblin's item, then the gear. Or right-click the item and choose Settings… (⌘,).
2. Click General, and scroll to the Keyboard Shortcuts card.
3. Turn on Open dropdown from any app, Open window from any app, or both.
4. Next to each, pick the modifiers (for example ⌥⌘) and the letter.
5. Try it: press the combination in any app. The panel or window opens.

The pickers are greyed out while the setting is off. These are the best way in when Goblin's item is hidden (see My menu bar item is hidden). If Goblin's item has been taken out of the menu bar altogether, the dropdown shortcut opens Goblin's window on the panel's tab instead.

Don't give both shortcuts the same combination: the second one won't register.

Add an extra shortcut#

The Shortcuts card in Settings›Menu Bar holds up to 8 more shortcuts, each with its own action. Use them to jump straight to the tab you check most, such as Memory or Projects.

1. Open Settings›Menu Bar and scroll to the Shortcuts card.
2. Click Add Shortcut. Goblin adds a row with the first free combination, usually ⌃⌥⌘A, set to Show the dropdown.
3. Pick the modifiers and the letter.
4. After the arrow, pick what it does.
5. Press the combination in another app to try it.

The header counts them, for example "3 of 8". At 8, Add Shortcut is greyed out with the note "That is the most."

Remove an extra shortcut#

Click the remove button (−) at the end of the shortcut's row.

Extra shortcuts can't share a combination with the main shortcuts or with each other. A row with a clash says why in red, and doesn't work until you change it:

• "Already used for the dropdown shortcut. Choose another combination." (or the window shortcut, or the Network Monitor shortcut). This only counts while that shortcut is turned on. A combination one of Goblin's capture shortcuts holds gets a similar message.
• "Another shortcut here uses this combination." The row higher in the list keeps it.
• "This shortcut is in use. Choose another combination." Another app has it.

When another app uses the same keys#

Two apps on the same keys is a quiet problem: one of them stops working. Goblin checks each shortcut it holds against the shortcuts macOS and your open apps use, and tells you in several places:

• A warning under the shortcut, in amber, in Settings. For example "macOS uses this for “…”, so Goblin won’t get it. Choose another, or turn that off in System Settings › Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts." or "Paste also uses this. Only one of them will get it."
• A warning sign beside the pane's name in the Settings sidebar, with a banner at the top of the pane. On General the banner lists every clash in Goblin.
• A Shortcut clash dropdown from Goblin's menu bar item, once for each new clash. See Alert dropdowns.

To fix a clash:

1. Open the pane that has the warning sign, or click Change in the dropdown.
2. Choose another combination for Goblin's shortcut. Or change or turn off the other one: for macOS, in System Settings›Keyboard›Keyboard Shortcuts; for another app, in that app.

Goblin checks again when apps open or quit, and every minute. To stop the dropdown, turn off Drop down from the menu bar when macOS or another app uses one of Goblin’s shortcuts in Settings›General›Keyboard Shortcuts. The warnings in Settings stay.

Open the Network Monitor#

When the firewall is part of your Goblin, the Status Menu tab of Settings›Firewall has a Keyboard Shortcut card:

It uses the same modifier and letter pickers, with a readout of the full combination beside them. More on that pane in Firewall settings, and on the list it opens in Connections.

Clipboard shortcuts#

The clipboard's shortcuts are set in Settings › Clipboard, under Shortcuts and Capture. Unlike the ones above, all but Float Last Clip are on as soon as you turn Clipboard on, and Goblin takes them only while Clipboard is on.

If another app holds a combination, such as Paste with ⇧⌘V, Settings › Clipboard says so. What each one does is described in The clipboard strip and Paste tools.

Keys inside Goblin#

These work only while Goblin is in front. You can't change them.

The panel's keys are described in The menu bar panel.

Shortcuts app and Siri#

Goblin also adds actions to Apple's Shortcuts app, such as Get Goblin Reading and Show Goblin Dropdown, which you can run from Siri, a Shortcut or a key you assign in Shortcuts. They're described in Shortcuts.