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Many applications, like Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite, let you customize keyboard shortcuts. But did you know that OS X allows you to edit keyboard shortcuts, or even add custom keyboard shortcuts to almost any application?

I select Revert to Original from the Photos menu in iPhoto so often that I bemoaned the lack of a keyboard shortcut for the command. Fortunately, it’s easy to add one. Here’s how…

1. First, make sure you know the exact name of the menu item you want to edit, then quit the application you want to edit.
2. Open System Preferences and select Keyboard & Mouse from the Hardware category.
3. Select the Keyboard Shortcuts tab and click on the + button near the bottom left corner of the window.
4. You can assign global shortcuts that affect all applications, but to change a shortcut for an individual application, select it from the Application pop-up menu. If the application isn’t listed, scroll down to the botton of the list and select Other. iPhoto should be on the list.
5. After selecting the application, type the menu title exactly as it appears in the application in the Menu Title field.
6. Now, enter the keyboard shortcut in the Keyboard Shortcut field. I chose Option-Command-O (for “original”) as my Revert to Original shortcut.
7. Quit System Preferences to save your changes, then open your edited application.

Your new keyboard shortcut should work just fine. If it doesn’t, repeat the above steps and make sure you’ve entered the menu title correctly and that there’s no conflict with another shortcut in your application.