# Creating New Keyboard Shortcuts

You can press certain key combinations, called keyboard shortcuts, to quickly trigger various actions in Parallels Desktop. For example, you can press Command-Control-F to switch Windows to Full Screen mode. You can use existing keyboard shortcuts (you can see them in the **Parallels Desktop** > **Preferences** > **Shortcuts** > **Application Shortcuts** pane), and you can also create your own.

To create a new keyboard shortcut:

1. Make a note of the name for the command you want a shortcut for as it appears in a menu in Parallels Desktop. For example, if you want to create a new shortcut for switching to Full-Screen mode, you can see by opening the **View** menu in Parallels Desktop that the name of the menu item is **Enter Full Screen**:<br>

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2. In macOS, choose **Apple Menu** > **System Preferences.**
3. In System Preferences, click **Keyboard** and click **Shortcuts**.
4. Select **App Shortcuts** in the sidebar and click the Add button.
5. If you want a new shortcut to work only for Parallels Desktop, choose Parallels Desktop from the **Application** menu. If you leave **All Applications** selected, the shortcut will work for any application that has the same command name and is currently active.
6. Enter the menu item name from Step 1.\
   [**Important:** You must enter the command name exactly as it appears in the Parallels Desktop menu, or your new shortcut won't work.](#user-content-fn-1)[^1]
7. In the **Keyboard Shortcut** field, press the key combination that you want to trigger the action.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** You must create separate shortcuts for commands that change in the menu depending on the state of Parallels Desktop, such as **Enter Full Screen** and **Exit Full Screen**.
{% endhint %}

[^1]: