What is a Hotkey?
It is a generic term for a sequence of key combinations that when pressed at the same time let you quickly perform an action when only using your keyboard. The key sequence is broken down to two distinct components, the Hotkey and the Action Key(s).
- The Hotkey is typically either a single or two key combination, that informs the KVM device of your intention that you wish to perform an action.
- This is immediately followed by an Action Key or Keys.
For example, on the AV4PRO, the default hotkey is CTRL+ALT. If these keys are held down and you pressed the number 2 key afterwards, this will instruct the KVM switch to change to channel 2.
Hotkey Clashes
It is not uncommon for applications that are running on the host computer to use similar hotkeys to those used by the KVM, likewise, if you have a chain of KVM products connected together, they too could be the same. It is important to be aware that when you use a hotkey combination, the keys that you press are usually not passed on through to the host computer or next KVM device in the chain. Therefore, to avoid clashes, the hotkey should be changed so that each level, they are different.
For simplicity, many of our products out of the box use CTRL+ALT as their default hotkey setting. A popular combination of products is the CCS-PRO keyboard and mouse switch with AdderLink Infinity Receivers, each of which uses the same default hotkey, Like the AV4PRO, the CCS-PRO uses CTRL+ALT+<NUMBER> to change the channel in addition to its Free-Flow feature. When an AdderLink Infinity Receiver is under the control of an AIM Manager, it uses CTRL+ALT+C by default to raise its OSD menu to change the channel. If both the CCS-PRO and AdderLInk Infinity devices are left as default, it is not always possible to raise the OSD for Infinity. Therefore, it is recommended that hotkey is changed on either device so that they do not clash, for example, setting CTRL+SHIFT on the CCS-PRO and leaving AdderLink Infinity to its default.