Changing Adobe Lightroom Keyboard Shortcuts In Windows (Video)

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NOTE! Since the 8.3.1 update the folder name has changed where listed as “Lightroom Classic CC” it is now “Lightroom Classic”!

I had a problem, both my Laptop and Desktop run Windows 10 with United Kingdom Region settings but have the Portuguese Keyboard Layouts. Within Lightroom (and indeed Photoshop) I rely on the Keyboard shortcuts to increase and decrease both the Adjustment Brush and Spot Tool. By default, this is the [ and ] keys.

However, look where they are on a Portuguese Keyboard.

Portuguese Keyboard

To use the square brackets, you are required to press the alt gr key. In Lightroom both alt keys switches the brush to the Erase brush so I lost these keyboard shortcuts. Adobe give you the option to change the keys within Photoshop, but even today they still do not include this option in Lightroom. There is a way to do this on a Mac and I´ve seen 3rd party software available to purchase on Windows but I couldn’t help thinking that there must be configuration files included with Lightroom for various regions around the globe to cater for the differing keyboard layouts so had a dig around the installation directory. I came up a winner with an easy way to re-assign the shortcuts.

Here is the way to do it with a simple configuration file. Written instructions can be found below the video. You won’t believe how many times I recorded the outside intro section, I’ve included a few bloopers at the end!

{Remember to watch in HD if possible}



How to Change the Keyboard Shortcuts in Lightroom

In File Explorer, go to C:\Program Files|Adobe\{Lightroom install folder}\Resources – replace {Lightroom install folder} with the folder that Lightroom has been installed in. This will be different for different versions, at time of writing, I have the new Lightroom Classic CC so the folder is Adobe Lightroom Classic CC.

Resources Folder

In this folder, you will notice more folders with country codes, including a folder called en for english which is probably empty, it’s here you will place a new file. First look in one of the other country codes, for this example, I used the German folder, de. You will see a file called TranslatedStrings_Lr_de_DE.txt (or slightly different if you looked in a different country folder).

German Settings

Open this file in Notepad and you will find a lot of configuration. Most of this file is language translations, however, you will also find keyboard shortcut entries. To make finding them easier, select the Edit Menu and Find (or press ctrl-f) and search for agdevelop/local

Config File

This will take you down to the Develop Module Localised configuration. Take a scroll down further and you will find the following entries for the adjustment brush. This example is showing the Brush and Spot Tool increase and decrease shortcuts, if you want to change others, simply look for them in this section of the file.

Brush Settings

Spot Settings

All you need to do is copy these entries to a new file. Open Notepad as Administrator (users will not have access to write the file in the Resources Folder). In Windows 10 click search, type Notepad, right click on the result and select Run as administrator.

Run Notepad as Administrator

Copy the config entries for the shortcuts you require and paste them into the new Notepad.

New Config

Now simply change the key to the one you wish to re-assign. In my case, I wanted to change the increase and decrease keys to p and +. Interesting to note, that these keys already are assigned in Lightroom as Flag as Pick and Increase Contrast. When an Adjustment Brush or Spot Tool is selected, increase and decrease works, but when not in use, Flag as Pick and Increase Contrast still functions (see video for further clarification). So you can overwrite defaults. Notice in this example that there is the option to set both shifted and non-shifted keys, not all shortcuts have both.

Keys Assigned

All that is left is to save this file as a new configuration file for the English (UK, US and probably other English-speaking regions). Save the file in C:\Program Files|Adobe\{Lightroom install folder}\Resources\en – again, replace {Lightroom install folder} with the folder that Lightroom has been installed in. The name of the file has to be TranslatedStrings_Lr_en_US.txt, although the capitals are no important.

TranslatedStrings_Lr_en_US.txt

That’s it, once you open Lightroom, these settings will be loaded and your new shortcuts should work. If at anytime you need to revert, simply delete this saved file.

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