Shortcut Key Explorer

There are various default methods through which to launch applications and video games installed on your computer. For instance, a simple trick is to assign a hotkey command to any shortcut to be launched from any location. There’s no default option to view all assigned hotkeys, but Shortcut Key Explorer helps you do just that.

Since there’s no installation involved, you can go ahead and run the application right after download is done. However, take note that you cannot decompress it directly on the desktop, as you will get an error stating that the shortcut for the tool cannot be created. The app does not create a desktop icon, so you need to access it from the location of decompression, usually the C drive.

The application starts to scan your computer for assigned hotkeys right from the start. This can take a while, especially if your computer is really crowded. Note that it doesn’t display system hotkeys, or those used inside programs, but rather the ones you manually assign from the Properties panel of a shortcut.

As far as the visual design is concerned, the application keeps things simple, but the main window only shows up after scanning is done. All detected entries are shown in an organized table with column headers displaying shortcut names, assigned hotkeys, as well as shortcut location. These can be sorted out through a simple mouse click on the corresponding header.

Double-clicking an entry brings up its Properties panel so you can modify the hotkey. You can jump to the source folder to see where it’s located. In case new entries are added in the meantime, or some are not shown, the refresh button might be able to help out.

In conclusion, Shortcut Key Explorer is a handy tool if you’re working with shortcut hotkeys often. It prevents assigning the same key to multiple shortcuts, with the possibility to assign new keys on the spot, and even explore the source.