A shortcut to better UX with shortcut keys in AL

In this video, I take a look at how you can improve usability in Business Central by adding shortcut keys to actions. Check it out:

https://youtu.be/0IKeOJsVPBY

In this video, Erik explores the ShortcutKey property in AL for Business Central — a simple yet effective way to boost user productivity by assigning keyboard shortcuts to page actions. He walks through creating shortcut keys, discusses their quirks and limitations, and shares some surprising findings about how they interact with browser shortcuts and Business Central’s built-in key bindings.

Why Shortcut Keys Matter for UX

One of the easiest ways to improve user productivity in Business Central is to give users faster access to frequently used operations. For many users, keyboard shortcuts are low-hanging fruit — they eliminate the need to navigate through menus to find an action buried under More Actions → Processing or similar nested locations.

In AL, adding a shortcut key to an action is straightforward. Let’s look at how it works.

Creating a Basic Action with a Shortcut Key

Erik starts by creating a page extension on the Item Card with a simple test action. Here’s the complete example:

namespace DefaultPublisher.ShortCutKeys;

using Microsoft.Inventory.Item;

pageextension 50100 ItemCardExt extends "Item Card"
{
    actions
    {
        addlast(processing)
        {
            action(Test)
            {
                Caption = 'Test';
                ApplicationArea = all;
                ShortcutKey = 'Ctrl+U';
                trigger OnAction()
                begin
                    message('hello!');
                end;
            }
            action(Test2)
            {
                Caption = 'Test 2';
                ApplicationArea = all;
                ShortcutKey = 'F9';
                trigger OnAction()
                begin
                    message('hello 2!');
                end;
            }
        }
    }
}

The key property here is ShortcutKey. You assign it a string value representing the key combination, using + to separate modifiers from the key. For example: 'Ctrl+U', 'Ctrl+Alt+U', or 'F9'.

Don’t Forget ApplicationArea

An important gotcha Erik encounters early on: when he first creates the action without an ApplicationArea property, the action doesn’t appear on the page at all. This is because page extensions don’t inherit the application area from the base object the way you might expect. You must explicitly set ApplicationArea on each control and action in a page extension — there’s no way to declare it at the object level for extensions.

How Discoverable Are Shortcut Keys?

Once the shortcut key is assigned, the key combination shows up in the action’s tooltip. However, that’s about the extent of its discoverability. Users need to either hover over the action to see the tooltip or already know the shortcut exists. There’s no prominent visual indicator on the page itself.

Users can also still find and invoke actions through the Tell Me (Alt+Q) search, which will locate actions on the current page. But for power users who perform certain operations dozens of times a day, a keyboard shortcut is significantly faster.

Quirks and Limitations

Erik’s experimentation reveals several interesting behaviors and caveats:

Browser Shortcut Conflicts and Focus Issues

The official documentation states that shortcut keys set with this property take precedence over the web browser’s default shortcuts and will override their behavior. However, Erik finds this is not always the case.

The behavior depends on where focus is on the page. Business Central’s web client is built with layers in the DOM, and key event listeners are registered at certain levels:

  • If you click within the main content area of the page (the “good spot”), the AL shortcut key works and overrides the browser shortcut.
  • If you click in the header area or outside the main content region, the key press falls through to the browser. For example, Ctrl+U opens the browser’s “View Source” instead of triggering the action, and Ctrl+S opens the browser’s “Save As” dialog.

This inconsistency can be frustrating, especially if you’re trying to override common browser shortcuts like Ctrl+S for a custom save operation.

You Cannot Override Built-in Business Central Shortcuts

Erik tests assigning Alt+Q (the built-in “Tell Me” shortcut) to a custom action. The result: the built-in shortcut always wins, regardless of where focus is on the page. Business Central’s own key bindings take absolute precedence over custom shortcut keys.

Duplicate Shortcut Keys

What happens if two actions are assigned the same shortcut key? Erik tests this and finds that the first action defined always wins — the second action with the same shortcut key is never triggered via keyboard.

Function Keys Need Modifiers (Sometimes)

Erik attempts to assign F6 as a standalone shortcut key and finds it doesn’t work. However, Ctrl+F6 does work. Interestingly, F9 works as a standalone shortcut key — this is likely because F9 is already recognized by Business Central’s framework (it’s used on sales documents for statistics). There appear to be some inconsistencies in which function keys work without modifiers.

Syntax Reference

The ShortcutKey property accepts a string with the following format:

  • Modifiers and keys are separated by +
  • Available modifiers: Ctrl, Alt, Shift
  • You can combine modifiers: 'Ctrl+Alt+U'
  • Function keys can be used: 'F9', 'Ctrl+F6'
  • A single letter without a modifier does not work — you need at least one modifier for letter keys

Summary and Recommendations

The ShortcutKey property is a simple and effective tool for improving the user experience in Business Central. Here are the key takeaways:

  1. Use shortcut keys for frequently used actions to boost user productivity.
  2. Don’t misuse them — reserve shortcuts for genuinely common operations.
  3. Always set ApplicationArea on actions in page extensions, or your action won’t appear.
  4. Be aware of focus-dependent behavior — browser shortcuts may still fire if the user’s focus is in certain areas of the page.
  5. Avoid overriding built-in Business Central shortcuts — they cannot be overridden.
  6. Test your chosen key combinations thoroughly, as behavior can be inconsistent across different function keys and browser contexts.
  7. Document your shortcuts for users, since the only built-in discoverability is through the action’s tooltip.

One feature Erik would love to see in the future: the ability to assign shortcut keys to label controls on pages (which render as clickable links), not just actions. But for now, that’s out of scope.

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