Speed Keys

Getting Started

If you haven’t already, go ahead and download and install LrSK for your operating system (macOS / Windows).

Lightroom Super Keys Overview

LrSuperKeys (LrSK) provides you with a Speed Menu and three types of keyboard mappings for Lightroom Classic:

Speed Keys: activate Lightroom Classic sliders by holding a key that is mapped to a slider, then using your mouse or arrow keys to make slider adjustments
Hot Keys: adjust Lightroom Classic sliders by using a pair of keys to increase & decrease sliders
Action Keys: perform one of 4 types of actions. They are: masking presets (including AI tools), develop presets, Lightroom Command, or shortcuts

Accessing LrSK – the Status Bar / Tray Icon

Starting with version 5.4.0, LrSK is now minimized to the Status Bar / Tray upon startup. To view and configure your super keys, simply select “Configure Super Keys” from the Status Bar / Tray icon menu.

From the status bar icon, you can quickly configure super keys, disable, enable, and exit LrSK.

Let’s Get Started with Speed Keys

LrSK delivers to you TWO NEW methods for adjusting Lightroom Classic sliders; Speed Keys and Hot Keys

While you can use either or both at the same time, we strongly recommend using Speed Keys only for optimal speed editing.

The most commonly used Lightroom sliders have Speed Keys pre-configured so that you can begin editing immediately after installation.

Speed Keys and Hot Keys are defined in columns as shown in the photo below. As you can see, many of the Lightroom sliders already have Speed Keys assigned to them.

How to use a Speed Key

Simply press and hold the key that is mapped to the slider you want to adjust, then scroll your mouse wheel or use the arrow keys to make adjustments.

For example to adjust the exposure; press and hold Q. An indicator will appear displaying the name of the slider you have activated and its current value. Now with the Q key held down, go ahead and spin your mouse wheel up or down to increase or decrease the exposure.

In addition to using the scroll wheel, click & drag and the arrow keys can be used to make slider adjustments.

Watch how we use Speed Keys and the trackpad on a MacBook Air (2013) to make slider adjustments.

Resetting a Lightroom Slider

One convenient feature of Speed Keys is the ability to effortlessly restore a slider to its original default position.

While adjusting a slider with a Speed Key pressed, if you need to reset the slider, you can easily do so by double-left-clicking or single-clicking your middle mouse button. For instance, resetting the Temperature slider will revert it to the original value the photo was captured with.

Assigning Speed Keys

Let’s use exposure as our example. To assign a different key, other than the default “Q”, click on the Speed Key entry box containing the letter “Q” in the Speed Key column. It will be highlighted, waiting for you to press a new key to assign. Now go ahead and press your new key.

You may wish to have no key assigned to exposure. To remove the assigned key, simply click on the X button. This will clear the entry box and remove the assigned key.

You might be wondering if you can still activate the spot removal tool by pressing Q. Well, the answer is YES! Simply tap on Q and the spot removal tool will be activated just like before. However, if you hold down Q, it will only activate the exposure Speed Key. So go ahead and give it a try!

Speed Keys have been arranged on the left-hand side of the keyboard by design. This allows you to have one hand on your keyboard selecting the Lightroom sliders, while your other hand is on your mouse making adjustments and also to advance photos using the mouse forward button.

You may have noticed the first two Speed Keys are not assigned to a Lightroom slider, but instead to the Speed Menu and Action Speed Key. These two special Speed Keys will be discussed in the next sections.

Customizing the Change Values

If you find that the default amount of change for each slider isn’t quite right, don’t worry! You have the option to adjust how much the slider value changes when you press a Hotkey or use a SpeedKey. To make these modifications, simply click on the “wrench” icon to get started.

This next screen is divided into four columns. In the first column, you can see the regular change value without any modifier keys pressed. The second column shows the change value when you press the SHIFT key along with a hotkey or SpeedKey. The third column contains the slider or parameter that will be adjusted. Finally, in the fourth column, you can find the range of acceptable values for each parameter.

If you have entered a new value but wish to revert back to the default value, simply press the X button located next to it. By doing so, the system will automatically restore and input the original default value for you.

To return to the previous Speed Keys and HotKeys screen, press the “Close” button.

Restoring Speed Keys

If you have customized your Speed Keys, but you wish to return them to their default values, you can do so by clicking on the “Restore Speed Keys” button. This will only restore your Speed Keys by overwriting your custom values with the default keys. If you have entered custom Hot Keys, they will not be affected by pressing this button.

Next up… Hot Keys

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