Synapse 3 - Binding Windows Key shortcuts | Razer Insider

Synapse 3 - Binding Windows Key shortcuts

  • 25 June 2019
  • 9 replies
  • 3669 views

Userlevel 3
Hello Razer and users.

I have a Tartarus V2 which I wish to bind hotkeys for windows shortcuts, such as locking my workstation or opening Snip & Sketch.

The Windows Shortcuts option does not have enough default options, so I would like to bind combinations such as:

Win key + L - Lock workstation
Win key + Shift + S - Open Snip&Sketch (NOT the obsolete Snipping Tool)

et cetera.

My problem is when I'm trying to add a shortcut to one of the buttons on my Tartarus, the Keyboard Function bind section does not register the Windows key when it is pressed as part of the shortcut.

I imagine it should be very simple to just enable that functionality.

*EDIT: I corrected some phrasing that may have been hard to understand.

This topic has been closed for comments

9 Replies

Userlevel 7
First of all, @Worldwave , welcome to Razer Insider!

I tried changing what Win + Shift + S does on my laptop, and was unable to. It kept changing what I was actually trying to map (instead of letting me use Win, it kept changing my keyboard input to Ctrl + Alt). No matter what, Win + Shift + S just opened the Snipping Tool. It is a Windows feature that they don't let you change their default keyboard shortcuts. As is the case, I doubt that Razer opening up the Windows key functionality in the Keyboard Function rebind section would help your case.

The only thing that I have found (I haven't tried it) is this. It is a third-party tool, not affiliated with Razer or with Windows, so of course, use it at your own risk. According to the article (from Jan 2019, so it's not really old), it can actually hijack those shortcuts for you. You could try using it on the Win + Shift + S key combination, and then when you use the "Open Snipping Tool" command in Synapse 3, it might be able to open the program you want, as it would kick off Auto HotKey instead.

Please note: I am NOT official Support staff. I am simply trying to lighten the load for those amazing people.

By the way, as far as opening up that particular program instead of the Snipping Tool, you can always use the "Launch Program" functionality in Synapse.
Userlevel 3
This is kind of understanding what I was trying to say, backwards. I can see why my post could be read that way.

I don't want to rebind what the Win key does. I want to use the windows key in the macro shortcuts. Currently, it's impossible to do for some reason.

I don't want to change what Win + Shift + S does, I absolutely like what it does, Snip&Sketch is great. I want to apply the keyboard shortcut (win+shift+s) to one of the keys on my Tartarus, so that when I click that key, I get Snip&Sketch.

Try going into your Synapse 3, clicking on one of the keys on your keyboard, and trying to set that key to do a macro of Shift+Win+S. You'll understand.

Or other keyboard shortcuts, for example I want my Tartarus' D-pad to do Win+Right arrow key, win+left arrow key, etc.etc. so that I can align and snap windows around my huge monitor.

Side-note: Snip&Sketch can't be opened by "Launch Program" because Synapse doesn't have the permissions to access its directory (It's a Windows App, thus permission denied, even for my admin user)

So basically just let me use the windows key in macros.

Also with regards to reducing load on support employees... With all the good intent, and it's not my position to tell Razer people how to work, but I'm going to say it anyway, I posted this 30 hours ago. Should've received an answer from an official representative by now.

Unless the support team is hilariously understaffed (Like, one person), 20 support tickets per 24 hours shouldn't be that insane to take care of. This is coming from an IT SOC manager and we've been doing 90-150 tickets per 24 hours with 6 analysts on board in 2-man shifts...

Just strange that I haven't even received a hint of an official reply in 30 hours. No offense to you, I hope they don't call an unofficial response a "response" in their book, meaning that if I hadn't replied further, the thread would be closed because you responded. I'm guessing you don't have the internal access to raise this issue to Synapse 3 devs, which is likely where the question is headed.
Userlevel 3
5 hours later - I'm seeing responses from official support representatives on the forum right now, mere minutes after a post... Let's make sure this thread doesn't drown again and actually gets a response from someone on Razer... *Taps foot*
Userlevel 3
Still pending a reply.

Has this been seen by the team? Or purposefully ignored?

If there is no solution, that is fine too. Delaying the answer, even if it is a negative one, or just a "We're trying to figure it out", is definitely not the way to go.

You could definitely just say "Hey, we're not neglecting our clients, we're just trying to figure it out".
Userlevel 7
Hey, @Worldwave , I understand that you're frustrated.

I just updated my Windows version so that I could really look into doing more for you, and discovered that although it wasn't able to be done with a simple key combination in Synapse, I was completely able to do the key combinations that you are trying to make happen as macros.

If you go to the Macro tab in Synapse 3, you can record Macros that include the Windows key. I have never even seen Snip & Sketch before today, but with the macros I just made I was able to open it with a single button click and confirmed that it was using Win + Shift + S.

Same goes for locking your workstation with Win + L. I was able to make a macro that did that key combination, too. If you decide to go this route to achieve your objective, I would suggest that when you record you press the L key before the Windows key. When I tried to record pressing the Windows key first, it just locked the screen and didn't keep the macro. Once the keystrokes are recorded, you can always just rearrange the keystrokes by dragging them into the order you want, and get rid of any delays you recorded, so that the keystrokes to activate those functions you want happen at the same time.
Userlevel 3
Thank you so very much for your help. I will try this at home and get back to you. I was exploring doing this via batch scripts and AutoHotkey but obviously it's a worse choice.
Userlevel 3
OKAY, so, this works like a charm.

Everything I wanted to do when I started this thread, managed to do it with Macros.

I also discovered that you can run shortcuts to open apps that can't be targeted by their EXE file such as This PC. You link them to some Synapse Shortcut folder that you made somewhere, then in Synapse you choose the Launch Website option and select that .lnk file.

Now when you press that button, you open the shortcut you created. You can use this to go to any folder in your computer as well.
Userlevel 7
Hey @Worldwave it looks like you got the help you needed.

Razer Insider Support is available to those that are experiencing actual issues with their products, for example if something was physically broken with your product.

However, in this case, you were asking for a feature to be implemented and that is something support doesn't assist with.

You are absolutely more than welcome to share your thoughts and request such a function, but I think it's important to set expectations. Our engineers aren't going to put in a function or feature simply because someone asked for it. Trust me, I have my own list of things I'd love to see *cough*FULLCHROMABLACKWIDOWLITEINMERCURY*cough*

An easy fix may seem like something you can simply "turn on" but in reality, it may be more challenging than it seems.

I'm super glad that one our Vanguards @PT.Singer was able to assist. He's a rockstar!
Userlevel 3
oh, I wasn't asking for a feature implementation with this thread. Eventually, I was just asking to receive a reply from official staff. You could've said this is a feature request and thus may or may not be included in future versions depending on demand. I've been pretty clear that my issue was the delay, and not the service given.

I obviously wasn't going to wait for your devs to implement a fix, I would've implemented my own workaround. I started this thread because I was hoping for some official staff to come onboard and tell me I'm an idiot for not clicking that menu and going to that option, and that I missed something. But we ended up finding the actual way to do it, upon which I was satisfied, did not require further assistance, and said the issue was solved.

Again. The reason why I had a problem with you guys is because it took two days to get an official response from support with regards to my issue. In the mean time, the thread drowned and wouldn't have received attention at all had I not tried to push things.

Edit: I also think that given this information your reply was out of line at the least. You don't need to curb my expectations, I know how development works tyvm.