[How to] Play with Unity ‘Keyboard Shortcuts Overlay’ In Ubuntu 12.04

By , Published January 26, 2012

If you’ve upgraded Unity in Precise so you can play with Ubuntu’s new ‘HUD’ feature then you also have another slick new update ready and waiting to be checked out…

Unity Keyboard Shortcuts Overlay

The ‘Keyboard Shortcuts Overlay’, which we first told you was Precise-bound last December, is present and working in the HUD-enabled version of Unity.

The handy feature presents an overview of Unity keyboard shortcuts. Just hold down the ‘Super Key‘ (Also referred to by some as the ‘Windows key’) to reveal the Overlay. A switch for disabling the feature is present in the CompizConfig Settings Manager.

Related posts:

  1. Unity’s Dash to Ditch Giant Shortcuts
  2. Unity Shortcut Overlay Coming to Ubuntu 12.04
  3. Become a Natty power-user in no time using this Unity keyboard shortcuts wallpaper
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  • dandonio

    That’s excellent. Interacting with your computer in a keyboard exclusive manner gives a notable productivity boost.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GE4EYP3QOQ246PLG2Y2DOD2NIQ Dr. Fly

      Especially on a laptop where your mouse control is in the form of a crappy trackpad. Keyboard FTW!

      • Anonymous

        Just use the keyboard, I like that idea! It would make stuff so much faster, instead of two or three clicks, just a key combination and bam, there you go… 

  • Newbie Ilmu

    nice guys..i want to try

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GE4EYP3QOQ246PLG2Y2DOD2NIQ Dr. Fly

    Oh, cool…I already got the HUD installed on my system, but I had no idea until just now that it came with this hidden bonus. Awesome!

    • http://mark-y-a.myopenid.com/ Marky

      Well, how is it? :)

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GE4EYP3QOQ246PLG2Y2DOD2NIQ Dr. Fly

        Well, tbh it is a lot better than the HUD itself. XD The latter is still EXTREMELY buggy (though I love the concept). Application menus are now kinda broken on my system, but I’ll keep it around so I can help report bugs and do testing.

        A stable desktop is a boring desktop, am I right?

        • Anonymous

          *A stable desktop is a boring desktop, am I right?

          Yes – you don’t experience the work that is going into the coding of that feature. Every update make you happy. It’s like running 12.04, you experience everything first hand. 

          No – work also has to be done! 

          (I vote yes… work is so mainstream) 

  • Ian Santopietro

    Funny. They mention switching workspaces as being don with Super+Arrow keys. Currently this shortcut requires Ctrl+Alt+Arrows, but this could be a hint at future plans.

    • http://twitter.com/jrdn_v Jordan Vasquez

      Gahhhh I wish they would stop changing some of the shortcuts on us…  :/  Its getting confusing lol

      • Anonymous

        Agree, it should become global…  example: If I have Ubuntu 12.04 and you have 12.10 we should both have the same keys. 

    • Keorapetse Mogajane

      Hay I also have it that way. cool

    • Matthew Richardson

      I noticed that too. I hope they do change it. For a start, anyone with a right super key would then be able to change workspaces with one hand.
      Most importantly though it brings consistency. Almost all the window/workspace management and Unity shortcuts (what could be loosely termed, system shortcuts) either use a super key combination or have a dedicated key (i.e. F10 for indicator menus)

      • http://twitter.com/velja27 Veljko

        Newer keyboards are made without right Super button, which i find very frustrating.

  • http://twitter.com/jrdn_v Jordan Vasquez

    Unity is quickly becoming my favorite DE!! :)

    • David Gomes

      Too bad Unity is not a DE, but just a GNOME shell.

      • Bilal Akhtar

        Might want to reword that phrase into “but just a shell for GNOME” to avoid confusion.

        • David Gomes

          Yap Bilal. But there’s a difference between “GNOME shell” and “GNOME Shell”. I phrased it that way on purpose to see if people start referring to things as they should.

          • http://profiles.google.com/houdas.rodolphe Rodolphe Houdas

            I didn’t make the mistake. What do I win ?

          • http://slolinux.si kv1dr

            Yeah, there’s a difference between “Gnome shell” and “GNOME Shell” like between “David Gomes” and “david gomes”.

  • Iulian Baciu

    Because I don’t have a super key,  is there any other way to open that?

    • Anonymous

      CMD?

    • Anonymous

      Change teh shortcuts.

    • https://launchpad.net/~cscarney ~cscarney

      It looks like whatever key you map to show the launcher in CCSM also shows this overlay.

  • Satchit Bhogle

    This overlay should update itself if the user changes the default key bindings.

    • Sebastiaan Franken

      It does

  • Zombifier

    Wait… will the shortcut overlay be updated if we change the key combinations in Compiz?

    • https://launchpad.net/~rafalcieslak256 rc

      It seems it is, just have checked.

      • Anonymous

        That’s f* in awesome!

        * f-worded profanity

  • Anton Jakob

    Another amazing feature with this upgrade, is that the menu access via Alt Key doesn’t work no more. Try Alt+F for opening File Menu… doesn’t work, shoud be fixed.
    Only RELEASING the Alt key should open hud, not pressing

    • Anonymous

      ALT works for me.  Just don’t tap. Pressing ALT shows the application menu. ALT-f shows the file menu. ALT-e shows the edit menu, etc.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GE4EYP3QOQ246PLG2Y2DOD2NIQ Dr. Fly

      File a bug?

    • Anonymous

      Bad thing is that each time you have to switch to your native layout that fits the language of your system. Otherwise it doesn’t work which is not really convinient for me personally.

  • https://launchpad.net/~afccarl1994 Carl Ansell

    Works in Unity 5/Ubuntu 11.10 too.

  • http://twitter.com/woddy68 coppa carlo

    Fantastic UNITY !!!  Yeaa!!!

  • Anonymous

    Couldn’t they use the same approach for notifications? So they also looked sleek as the HUD?

    • https://login.ubuntu.com/+id/R4szkb7 Jo-Erlend Schinstad

       Did you mean to say indications? (Menus)

  • Marcelo Martinez

    Unity está avanzando a pasos agigantados.
    Ubuntu es la mejor opción para el escritorio, no tiene rival!

  • Aidan Sheridan

    I personally think this is a step in the right direction, but since ubuntu is becoming more and more competitive, they need to have some sort of (optional) guided/interactive tutorial program on a new install/creation of a new account, because there are many people, whether we like it or not, that just don’t know where to start when they’ve installed their new operating system, this would also be extremely helpful for people like my  father, who can’t stand computers because he doesn’t have a clue how to use any computer (he gave up on pc’s after windows rapidly started spitting out new versions in the late 90′s/early 00′s)

    • Anonymous

      Maybe a wiki as a PDF. One big help file which is regularly updated. With guided images. 

      • Glade Boldt

        I just typed HELP into the Dash Home Search, and the first result is a big question mark… Once I clicked that there is TONS of help for new recruits :)

        • Aidan Sheridan

          Yea, but I’m talking about the REALLY computer illiterate people, which is a surprisingly large amount… something to actually walk them through a guided tour when they first install ubuntu, and when they finish the notifier occasionally has some tips appear (until they decide to turn them off, of course)

          not many people actually want to read through long articles in order to figure out a new operating system when they could easily go with a more familiar windows or OS X (depending on the scenario, of course)

        • Adrian Wechner

           god damit… that help is great! should all have a look! i didn’t know that… learned already something that I didnt know :)

  • Anonymous

    Why isn’t this article listed under How-to’s?? 

  • http://twitter.com/danizmax Daniel

    I LOLed at Super + T description xD

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DPOGSGORE6X7F7QKRTDI5MPF74 ehsan

    so what will happen to “hold down super key then press 1-9″?

    • https://launchpad.net/~cscarney ~cscarney

       That’s one of the shortcuts listed in the overlay, so I assume nothing.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DPOGSGORE6X7F7QKRTDI5MPF74 ehsan

    there shall be a unity lens for IRC channels
    (Oh I want to delete this comment and I don’t know how)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DPOGSGORE6X7F7QKRTDI5MPF74 ehsan

    I hope that by some time we are going to see unity everywhere ,TV,Car,Mobilephone,and of course PC
    that’s maybe why its called unity.

  • Fatriff

    Time travel back to the 90s!

  • http://twitter.com/reivanen kim reivanen

    This is a great usability feature, and should auto pop-up on first start.

    Especially like the dynamic changing as the bindings get changed.

  • Andrey Dovzhik

    Can anyone say, where is key ‘Grave’ on keyboard?
    (section “Switching”: Alt + Grave)

    • Tim Holley

      Grave is the ~ button, above tab

      • Marco Ceppi

        Backtick?

  • http://twitter.com/dr3mro dr3mro

    how to get that feature in oneiric if i use unity 5.0

  • http://twitter.com/cexcells colin pyper

    Is it possible to do a distribution upgrade from 11.10 to try these new features? 

  • https://launchpad.net/~tim.timwahrendorff rakete

    I hate it, now every noob can use shortcuts and me pro knowledge is worthless… ;)

  • Bóris Andreev

    “A switch for disabling the feature is present in the CompizConfig Settings Manager.”
    Where?

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ Joey-Elijah Sneddon

      CCSM > Unity > Experimental > uncheck ‘Show Keyboard Shortcut Overlay’

      • Bóris Andreev

        thanks!

 
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