Alt-C, Alt-V = Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V !!
I’ve used Windows operating system for years before switching over to Mac when Final Cut was at its peak. I then switched over to Premiere when they premiered (pun intended) Mercury engine, enabling me to edit smoother with a relatively low-spec mac. I replaced my MacBook with a faster model since, enabling me to scrub Panasonic GH4 4k footage relatively smoothly. I then switched again, this time to Davinci Resolve, mainly due to its awesome color grading capabilities. Unfortunately, it was a bit much for my 2013 MacBook pro. It choked badly when GH5 4k 10-bit and DJI H264 footage were laid on a timeline.
So, it was time to upgrade again. A 2017/2018 MacBook was out of my budget, so I settled for a 2017 Razer Blade which I picked up at a Best Buy for cool $1130 since it was a display model.
Since purching it 6-months ago, I’ve been pretty happy with it, but I still use my ‘old’ MacBook for photo editing due to its much better color accurate Retina display.
So, I chug away with what I think is the greatest editing/color-grading/compositing software – Davinci Resolve 15 on my little 14″ gaming laptop.
One relatively major problem, however, bothered me for months – I am used to Mac’s Command-C and Command-V as copy and paste shortcut keys. Trying to remember to hit CTRL for windows and Command for Mac every time I switch from one OS to another was a major pain in the butt.
The solution was obvious. Why not remap the windows keys so I can use either Ctrl-C/V or Alt C/V?
After the little research, I find that it’s not possible, at least from the Window’s side, HOWEVER, it IS possible using another piece of software, AutoHotkey. It took a bit of effort to learn how it works, but it was time well spent.
Here’s what you need to do to enable ALT-C/V to function just like CTRL-C/V (sectioned copied from their website)
1. Download AutoHotkey at https://www.autohotkey.com/
2. Right-Click on your desktop.
3. Find “New” in the menu.
4. Click “AutoHotkey Script” inside the “New” menu.
5. Give the script a new name. It must end with a .ahk extension. For example: MyScript.ahk (I named mine “MacCtrlAlt_script”)
6. Find the newly created file on your desktop and right-click it.
7. Click “Edit Script”.
8. A window should have popped up, probably Notepad. If so, SUCCESS!
9. The body of the file looks something like this.
#NoEnv ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
; #Warn ; Enable warnings to assist with detecting common errors.
SendMode Input ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir% ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.
9. Add these lines after the last line.
LAlt & c::Send ^c
LAlt & v::Send ^v
LAlt & a::Send ^a
LAlt & n::Send ^n
LAlt & s::Send ^s
LAlt & z::Send ^z
10. Save the file. If you are lazy like me, then you can simply download the file I already created here – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UpVKAPsJ7_27cw8avie9hEr-dSM3hy9k/view?usp=sharing
11. Run the file by double-clicking on your newly created *.ahk.
That’s it! Now you can copy and paste using EITHER CTRL or ALT key!
If you want to use this script every time you start the Windows, create a shortcut of your *.ahk file and put in in the startup directory by,
Press Win + R
type “shell:startup”
A new directory will open. You then simply copy and paste (using new available alt-c and alt-v, of course!) the shortcut file you created into the directory.
Once you have a shortcut in the startup folder, the ALT-C/V script loads automatically so you can get to work right away!
I will be creating a step-by-step video soon!
Bill Voelker 