Alert keyboard shortcuts
Every key the connection alert handles, and the settings that turn keyboard answering on and off.
Block and Allow can be pressed from the keyboard, and only after they have armed. They ignore clicks and keys for 0.8 seconds after the alert appears. The panel does not take the keyboard unless you ask it to. A Return meant for another window cannot allow a connection.
The keys
Section titled “The keys”These apply when the panel is the key window.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Return | Allow, with the scope and lifetime as shown |
| Esc | Block, with the scope and lifetime as shown |
| ⌘1 | Remember: Once |
| ⌘2 | Remember: For 1 Hour |
| ⌘3 | Remember: Until Quit |
| ⌘4 | Remember: Forever |
| ⌘I | Show or hide the details area |
| ⌘M | Minimize (a small panel that keeps counting down; click it to come back) |
| ⌘R | Edit Rules… (opens this program’s rules) |
Return and Esc exist only while Answer with Return and Escape is on, which it is by default. Turning it off removes the shortcuts and changes the button help from “Allow (Return)” and “Block (Esc)” to “Allow” and “Block”. The button titles stay Allow and Block. Both keys still wait out the 0.8 second arm, and they do nothing while an answer is being applied.
⌘1 always sets Once. ⌘2, ⌘3, and ⌘4 change Remember only when the answer can be stored. Those four are not gated by the arm delay, and they are not removed by turning off Answer with Return and Escape. ⌘I, ⌘M, and ⌘R follow the same rule: they work whenever the panel is the key window.
Letting the keyboard answer at all
Section titled “Letting the keyboard answer at all”The panel floats without taking the keyboard, so typing keeps landing where it was. To answer from the keyboard, turn on Give alerts keyboard focus in Settings › Alerts › Alert Window. Return, Escape and ⌘1 to ⌘4 then answer the active alert. It is off by default.
With it on, the panel becomes the key window 0.8 seconds after the alert appears, plus another 150 milliseconds, so focus arrives after the answers have armed. A keystroke already on its way when the alert appears still lands in the previous window. The panel does not take focus again on its own once it is already on screen.
Related settings
Section titled “Related settings”Both switches live in Settings › Alerts, under Alert Window, with the Details picker (Compact or Full), Keep connection alerts minimized and Reset “Don’t Warn Again”. The reset button clears suppressed block warnings. It is not a key on the alert. Full shows the program’s path, signature and the server’s address as soon as an alert opens. See Alerts settings. Shortcuts for the rest of the app are in Keyboard shortcuts.