GameboyRMH's Journal: Cool tip - VLC global hotkeys

I'm on a journal roll this morning.

VLC is often pointed out as a piece of software that's too geeky because it has a million and one options. It allows a level of customization that would more than satisfy even the most assburgerish nerd. But here's a handy one you might not have known about: global hotkeys. VLC allows you to set hotkeys that work even when the app doesn't have focus, in both Windows and Linux.

And it's so simple and useful you'll feel stupid if you haven't been using it already. You go to Hotkeys in the Simple interface, and click the table cell under Global for the command you want and hit the key you want to assign. When you're done, hit Save at the bottom (important!) and restart VLC.

My desktop and laptop both have Next/Prev/Play&Pause/Stop keys so I assigned those. I also assigned the Volume Up and Down (VLC's own volume control with preamp that can be cranked super high, a godsend for videos of unusual volume) to Ctrl-Next and Ctrl-Prev. Very handy, now when I'm playing music I never have to bring up the VLC window!