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Reeder OS X Tip: Set the ESC key to close browser

When you follow an article’s link to its full content, or use Instapaper Mobilizer, or follow a link when reading something in Reeder the application hides its feed list on the left and opens a browser in the right column (where the feed’s article content usually is).

There’s a couple ways to close the browser and return to Reeder’s default view of feed list on the left and article on the right:

• Click the close button (an “x” in a dark circle) in the upper left corner of the browser column.
• Use the mouse to select a different feed item in the left column.
• Hit the “j” or “k” key to select a different feed item
• Select “Close Browser” from the file menu or hit cmd-shift-w for its keyboard shortcut.

I find myself trying to close the browser quite a lot (because I use Instapaper Mobilizer a ton) and wanted to set the escape key to do all this, since that seems much more in line with standard OS X behavior (and so is what my hands’ muscle memory wants to do).

It’s not terribly difficult to do, but does require a plist editor such as Property List Editor (which is one of the Developer tools you can install from your OS X install DVD) or PListEditPro. There are a lot of steps, and it might seem hacky (because we’re manually editing a plist), but it works fine. Here’s how to do it:

• Quit Reeder if its open.
• Open System Preferences
• Click the Keyboard icon
• Click the Keyboard Shortcuts tab
• Select “Application Shortcuts” in the left column
• Click the plus-sign button below the right column
• Select Reeder from the drop down list (or navigate to it by selecting “other…”)
• Type “Close Browser” (case sensitive) into the Menu Title field
• Select the field next to Keyboard Shortcut and hit cmd-shift-escape
• Close Preferences.
• Navigate to ~/Library/Preferences/ folder and find “com.reederapp.mac.Reeder.plist”
• Open that with a plist editor.
• Look for the NSUserKeyEquivalents, which should have a drop-down arrow next it and click that.
• You should see the Close Browser key on the left and something like “@⎋” on the right.

• Double click the field on the right and delete the “@” so its just the escape key icon.
• Save and close the plist.
• Open Reeder and try it out (or check by clicking the File menu and looking at the keyboard shortcut listed next to Close Browser”)