Global Hotkey

Achieving laser focus should never be a long, complicated process. It should never take more than a single keyboard shortcut to get started.

Thanks to the “Global Hotkey” feature, you can instantly activate Focus while using any program (or straight from the desktop)!

How To Instantly Activate Focus With A Single Keyboard Shortcut

To access this feature, click the Focus menubar icon, click Preferences and then click on the General tab.

From there, click the Other tab:

The keyboard shortcut that lets you instantly turn on Focus can been seen in the “Hotkey” box.

By default, the keyboard shortcut for Focus is:

Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + Control (^) + F

When Focus is launched (as seen by the icon in the menubar) with this hotkey, a regular untimed working session will be activated right away.

NOTE: If Focus is configured to Pomodoro Mode before you press the keyboard shortcut, it will activate a timed Pomodro session instead.

NOTE #2: The keyboard shortcut respects whatever setting Focus is using. If you are able to unfocus, the key will let you. If you are blocked (likely due to being in Hardcore Mode), it will stop you.

How To Change The Default Keyboard Shortcut For Focus

However, you may have your own preferred keyboard shortcut for activating Focus and you want to change it. \ \ No problem! Here’s how you do it…

On the screen you previously saw, press the “⌫” icon to delete the default keyboard shortcut:

Once you do this, you will notice that the corresponding textbox is replaced with “Record Shortcut”.

Click “Record Shortcut” and you will see “Type Shortcut” in its place:

In other to enter a keyboard shortcut that Focus will accept, the following rules must be applied:

• The shortcut has to begin with either Command (⌘), Option (⌥), Control (^), or Shift (⇧)
• If you start the shortcut with Shift, it must be followed by Command (⌘), Option (⌥), or Control (^)
• The shortcut must end with either a letter, number, or the Return (⏎) key

Congrats! If your new keyboard shortcut has been successfully set, you will see that the box turns into a lighter shade of grey, with your new shortcut on display.

If you want to change the keyboard shortcut for activating Focus at any time, simply re-follow the instructions in this section.

NOTE: If you accidentally attempt to input a system-wide keyboard shortcut, Focus will give you the following warning: