Customize Google Chrome keyboard shortcuts?

I would like to customize keyboard shortcuts in Google Chrome.

For example, I would like to map the key combination Ctrl+Shift+W to the command "Close Other Tabs" instead of right-clicking on a tab (default command).

Is there any setting in Chrome to set this combination to that command?

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13 Answers

If you're on a Mac then you can do this with the Mac System Preferences→Keyboard→Shortcuts.

Here are my current settings:

Simplified procedure:

1. Open System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts tab
2. From the left, click App Shortcuts.
3. Click +
4. Choose 'All Applications' as the app
5. Choose 'Shut Down...' as the command
6. Put in whatever shortcut you want.

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Not entirely the answer for general shortcuts, but still relative and somewhat cumbersome to find, chrome://extensions/shortcuts allows you to customize behaviors from a shortcut. I'm sure you could find/make an extension to reroute / transpose all of the shortcuts you want to use to control chrome as you see fit.

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This has been possible for quite some time already, at least on Windows.
There's a new kind of extensions for Chrome called "native extensions" that can customize Chrome shortcuts and other cool things.

AutoControl Shortcut Manager is exactly for this purpose.

There are no restrictions on the shortcuts you can create or customize. You can even disable shortcuts if you assign no action to them.

In the specific case asked in the question, Ctrl+Shift+W for closing "other tabs" looks like this:

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Looks like this feature is 'on the way' but not in the main release cycle yet. Found an article that describes the feature being implemented in the development build, #22. Or at least partially to allow some features to be shortcut-ed Ref:

That post mentions an experimental API for more types of actions linked to shortcuts which can be found.. here:

Of course that's all in the development stage still.

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Edit (2018): This is partially possible with the commands api which has been out for a couple years.

It's pretty restricted still since you cant replace the ones that are supplied by the browser and im not sure how much is exposed there for things like dev tooling.

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Update: As of Feb 2017, this plugin is no longer available.

There is a Chrome plugin called Shortcut Manager which can do this.

I just used it to create shortkeys for j and k to scroll up and down. It also has 'close other windows' available to map to a short-key.

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Go to this website:

And download and install their chrome extension, everything is done automatically.

DEAD Simple to add any custom shortcuts from keyboard to mouse.

All u do is add a new function, then click a button, then you tell what this button does on chrome.

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As described in the comments of another answer, I am also wanting to disable the "Cmd+Shift+W" shortcut for close window, and incidentally the similar shortcut that appears when I disable the first, which now stands for "Close All".

• I simply went to the Mac's Keyboard preference pane, in the "Shortcuts" tab, in "App Shortcuts" section, and went to create new shortcut mappings.
• I made these for Google Chrome and chose that as the first parameter, but I guess you could fix a similar problem in any other application by selecting the one you want instead.
• I then proceeded to name the menu entry that I wanted to replace, such as those I mentioned above.
• Lastly, I assigned it a complex key combination, one that I would hopefully never accidentally press in the future.

It's not the best approach, and I am currently reading into another question and answer "How to disable keyboard shortcuts in mac os x" which may remove the shortcut completely, but it works well enough through the existing system interface without having to install any additional software as a limited Google Chrome Web Extension or system application.

The extension in Charley Ramm's answer no longer exists, but I found a different one: Shortkeys

Add to Chrome, press options. I'm using it to bind forward/backwards keys to my Naga Hex V2, which is not supported on linux at the moment. The reviews suggest that some people have problems using it. It works fine for me, Linux Mint 18 + Dell multimedia keyboard.

Restart Chrome after changing the keybindings.

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I use BetterTouchTool on macOS:

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While I know this isn't the exact solution you were looking for it may be helpful to some as it was to me. This Chrome extension make many advanced shortcuts possible via the use of mouse gestures: CrxMouse Chrome™ Gestures

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I found a couple ones working on my Mac:

Simple one:

More options:

if you wanna some High Frequency chrome shortcut using by keyboard, I really recommend you VimiumC, it is an improved version of Vimium.

install here:

source and issue here:

• it is so easy to set shortcut to control your chrome, likemap <c-w> closeOtherTabs combination Ctrl+W to the command "Close Other Tabs"
• and key "z" and "c" made by myself for go left and right tab
• and key "s" also made by myself for selected words on webpage for Google search in another tab
• VimiumC already set key "x" as close tab and "X" as re-open closed tab by default

So convenient, simple and fast, all in your fingers

but, the bad part is, VimiumC can not run on chrome safe page, like "chrome://" and "" or blank page and unloaded pages which need javascript

For Windows you can remap keys for specific applications (e.g. Chrome) using Microsoft PowerToys -

e.g. I swapped my Alt and Ctrl keys for all applications, which broke the Alt+D shortcut in Chrome, so remapped it to Ctrl+L to select the address bar url -