globalShortcut

Detect keyboard events when the application does not have keyboard focus.

Process: Main

The globalShortcut module can register/unregister a global keyboard shortcut with the operating system so that you can customize the operations for various shortcuts.

[!NOTE] The shortcut is global; it will work even if the app does not have the keyboard focus. This module cannot be used before the ready event of the app module is emitted. Please also note that it is also possible to use Chromium's GlobalShortcutsPortal implementation, which allows apps to bind global shortcuts when running within a Wayland session.

const { app, globalShortcut } = require('electron')

// Enable usage of Portal's globalShortcuts. This is essential for cases when
// the app runs in a Wayland session.
app.commandLine.appendSwitch('enable-features', 'GlobalShortcutsPortal')

app.whenReady().then(() => {
  // Register a 'CommandOrControl+X' shortcut listener.
  const ret = globalShortcut.register('CommandOrControl+X', () => {
    console.log('CommandOrControl+X is pressed')
  })

  if (!ret) {
    console.log('registration failed')
  }

  // Check whether a shortcut is registered.
  console.log(globalShortcut.isRegistered('CommandOrControl+X'))
})

app.on('will-quit', () => {
  // Unregister a shortcut.
  globalShortcut.unregister('CommandOrControl+X')

  // Unregister all shortcuts.
  globalShortcut.unregisterAll()
})

[!TIP] See also: A detailed guide on Keyboard Shortcuts.

Methods

The globalShortcut module has the following methods:

globalShortcut.register(accelerator, callback)

• accelerator string - An accelerator shortcut.
• callback Function

Returns boolean - Whether or not the shortcut was registered successfully.

Registers a global shortcut of accelerator. The callback is called when the registered shortcut is pressed by the user.

When the accelerator is already taken by other applications, this call will silently fail. This behavior is intended by operating systems, since they don't want applications to fight for global shortcuts.

The following accelerators will not be registered successfully on macOS 10.14 Mojave unless the app has been authorized as a trusted accessibility client:

• "Media Play/Pause"
• "Media Next Track"
• "Media Previous Track"
• "Media Stop"

globalShortcut.registerAll(accelerators, callback)

• accelerators string[] - An array of accelerator shortcuts.
• callback Function

Registers a global shortcut of all accelerator items in accelerators. The callback is called when any of the registered shortcuts are pressed by the user.

When a given accelerator is already taken by other applications, this call will silently fail. This behavior is intended by operating systems, since they don't want applications to fight for global shortcuts.

The following accelerators will not be registered successfully on macOS 10.14 Mojave unless the app has been authorized as a trusted accessibility client:

• "Media Play/Pause"
• "Media Next Track"
• "Media Previous Track"
• "Media Stop"

globalShortcut.isRegistered(accelerator)

• accelerator string - An accelerator shortcut.

Returns boolean - Whether this application has registered accelerator.

When the accelerator is already taken by other applications, this call will still return false. This behavior is intended by operating systems, since they don't want applications to fight for global shortcuts.

globalShortcut.unregister(accelerator)

• accelerator string - An accelerator shortcut.

Unregisters the global shortcut of accelerator.

globalShortcut.unregisterAll()

Unregisters all of the global shortcuts.

globalShortcut.setSuspended(suspended)

• suspended boolean - Whether global shortcut handling should be suspended.

Suspends or resumes global shortcut handling. When suspended, all registered global shortcuts will stop listening for key presses. When resumed, all previously registered shortcuts will begin listening again. New shortcut registrations will fail while handling is suspended.

This can be useful when you want to temporarily allow the user to press key combinations without your application intercepting them, for example while displaying a UI to rebind shortcuts.

globalShortcut.isSuspended()

Returns boolean - Whether global shortcut handling is currently suspended.