HotkeyBridge help

Setup, troubleshooting, and what it does with your data. Back to the download page

What it is

A web page can only hear your keyboard while the browser is the window in front. Click into Excel and the web app goes deaf. HotkeyBridge is a small program in your Windows tray that hears the shortcut and passes it along to the web app.

Think of it as a doorbell. The web app lives inside the house and cannot hear you knocking from the street. HotkeyBridge is the wire that rings the bell inside.

Setting it up

Download HotkeyBridge and double-click it. An icon appears in the tray, down by the clock.
Open a web app that supports it and find its hotkey settings.
Click Enable global hotkeys. Your browser asks once whether to open HotkeyBridge. Say yes.
The status line turns green. Your shortcuts now work from any program.

You only do this once per website. The next app you connect skips the download step.

When something is wrong

Windows says "Windows protected your PC"

Expected. The file is not signed with a paid certificate yet, so Windows warns about it. Click More info, then Run anyway. If you would rather not, that is completely reasonable, and the web app still works normally without global shortcuts.

The web app says "Helper not running"

HotkeyBridge is closed. Look for its icon in the tray, including the hidden-icons arrow. If it is not there, start it again by double-clicking the file you downloaded.

To avoid this after every restart, right-click the tray icon and tick Run at startup.

It says "Helper found. Click Enable to connect."

The program is running but this website has not been approved yet. Click Enable global hotkeys and accept your browser's prompt. Each website is approved separately, on purpose.

A shortcut says it is already in use

Another program grabbed that key combination first, and Windows gives it to whoever asked first. Pick a different combination with the Change button next to the shortcut.

Combinations involving Ctrl+Shift or the Win key tend to be free. Ctrl+Alt+letter is popular with other tools, so collisions there are common.

A shortcut does nothing at all

Work through these in order:

Is the tray icon there, and does the web app's status line say Connected?
Right-click the tray icon and choose Status. It lists every shortcut it is currently listening for.
Check whether Pause hotkeys is ticked in the tray menu.
Try the shortcut while the browser is in front. If it works there but not elsewhere, another program is intercepting it.

The shortcut fires but nothing happens in the app

The page is probably closed. HotkeyBridge will open it for you, which takes a moment the first time. If it opens the wrong window, close the extra tabs so only one copy of the app is running.

Shortcuts stopped after the computer woke from sleep

HotkeyBridge re-registers them automatically a second or two after waking. If they are still dead, right-click the tray icon, choose Exit, and start it again.

I want to turn it off

Right-click the tray icon and choose Exit. To stop it starting automatically, untick Run at startup first. To remove it entirely, delete the file you downloaded.

Your privacy

Nothing is sent over the internet. HotkeyBridge only talks to your own computer.
No accounts, no sign-up, no tracking.
It listens only for the specific shortcuts a web app asks for. It is not a keylogger and never sees your normal typing.
Only websites you explicitly approve can connect, and only from this machine.
Your shortcut list is stored in a small settings file next to the program.

Still stuck

Try the demo page. It shows each shortcut as it arrives, which quickly tells you whether the problem is HotkeyBridge or the app you were using. Questions are welcome at the-Automator.com.