Tom McKeesick
20250102 OSX dark mode shortcut
Update 20250924: As of the release of macOS Tahoe, you can also use the new “Shortcuts” app to achieve this! These shortcuts can’t be assigned to keyboard shortcuts yet, but you can run them via Spotlight.
Automator
Using the power of OSX Automator!
Automator offers many handy actions in OSX. After creating an “automation” in Automator, you can save it as a “Quick Action” and assign a keyboard shortcut to it in System Preferences.
Documentation: https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/automator/welcome/mac
1. Launch Automator
2. Create “Quick Action”
3. Search for “appearance”
4. Drag “Change System Appearance” to the workflow
If you like, you can click “Run” in the top-right corner to test the action.
5. Save the Quick Action
6. Assign a Keyboard Shortcut
Open System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services > General and assign a keyboard shortcut to the Quick Action.
Done! Enjoy your new shortcut 🤓🙈
Shortcuts
1. Launch Shortcuts
2. Add a new shortcut
3. Create the shortcut logic
4. Name the shortcut
After creating the logic, close the window to save your shortcut. You’ll then be able to rename it.
4. Use via Spotlight
Despite the name, it doesn’t seem like it’s currently possible to assign a keyboard shortcut to a shortcut created in the Shortcuts app.
Instead, you can run it via Spotlight (Cmd + Space) by typing the name of the shortcut. This can be made easier by “adding quick keys” to the Spotlight search, in this example I’ve chosen the letter "t"