Chrome extension commands (keyboard shortcuts) not working

Question

Any idea how I can get Chrome extension keyboard shortcuts working on a Mac? I have this in my manifest.json

"commands": {
  "trigger_me": {
    "suggested_key": {
      "default": "Ctrl+E"
    },
    "description": "Trigger test"
  }
}

When I look in the Chrome Extensions tab under Keyboard shortcuts I can see the 'Trigger test' entry but the actual shortcut is not set.

How can I set a default shortcut via manifest.json?

Answer 1

As the manifest key name implies, suggested_key is only a suggestion for key binding. That suggestion will be taken into consideration only if the key is not already assigned to another command. In a Mac, "Ctrl+E" translates to "Command+E", which is assigned to "Uses selection for find".

You can review the list of commonly assigned shorcuts to find some combination that is unused. For instance, "Ctrl+Shift+K" worked for me.

Another thing to have in mind is that suggested keys are only considered when an extension is first installed. Disabling and enabling, updating, or reloading won't have any effect. So if you just changed the suggested key in your manifest and want to test it, you have to uninstall the extension and install it again.