Shortcuts Key implementation is not working in Desktop Office 365 Excel Plugin

Question

Shortcuts Key implementation is not working in Desktop Office 365 Excel Plugin

priyanka anusuri 20

Hi ,

I am experiencing an issue with keyboard shortcuts defined in shortcuts.json.

I have added shortcuts.json to the manifest using ExtendedOverrides, specified the url property, and associated the actions using Office.actions.associate(). This setup works correctly when the Microsoft 365 Office Add-in is running in the browser.

However, when I sideload the same manifest in the Excel desktop application, the keyboard shortcuts defined in shortcuts.json do not trigger at all.

I followed the implementation steps from the Office Add-in sample: https://github.com/OfficeDev/Office-Add-in-samples/tree/main/Samples/office-keyboard-shortcuts

Is there any additional configuration or a different approach required to enable keyboard shortcuts in the Excel desktop application?

Thanks in advance for your help.

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Answer 1

Teddie-D 19,760 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @priyanka anusuri

Based on your description, there isn't any additional configuration required specifically for the Excel desktop application. If the same manifest and implementation work in Excel on the web, the desktop client should also recognize the keyboard shortcuts provided that the required prerequisites are met.

To help narrow down the cause, could you confirm the following?

What is your Excel version and build (File > Account > About Excel)?
Does your add-in use a shared runtime, and is Office.actions.associate() being called successfully during initialization?
Do all shortcuts fail to trigger in Excel desktop, or only specific key combinations?
Have you tried resetting Office Add-in shortcut preferences to rule out a shortcut conflict?

Also, if you haven't already, please verify that your add-in meets the documented requirements for custom keyboard shortcuts, including the required requirement sets and supported Excel versions.

Please know that while our initial response might not resolve the issue right away, your input is incredibly valuable. With a bit more detail, we’ll work together to find the best solution for you.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

priyanka anusuri 20 Reputation points

2026-07-23T16:42:45.95+00:00

Hi Teddie,

Hope you are doing well, thanks for the response.

currently this is working after I removed key combinations for mac, web and browser and keeping only default key combinations.

I have a json format like below is not working and showing error saying.

"Unexpected Shortcut [Extended Manifest] [Parsing] [Platform Key Correct Format] Error hit while processing Extended Manifest. The specification of platform does not match the allowed format. Additional Info: Command+Shift+Up"

"shortcuts": [
{
"key": {
"default": "Ctrl+Alt+Up",
"mac": "Command+Shift+Up",
"web": "Ctrl+Alt+1",
"windows": "Ctrl+Alt+Up"
},
"actionId": "ShowTaskpane"
},

after deleting the below properties, it started working in desktop version as well . what is the reason can you explain?
"mac": "Command+Shift+Up",
"web": "Ctrl+Alt+1",
"windows": "Ctrl+Alt+Up"
priyanka anusuri 20 Reputation points

2026-07-23T16:43:26.54+00:00

Hi Teddie,

Hope you are doing well, thanks for the response.

currently this is working after I removed key combinations for mac, web and browser and keeping only default key combinations.

I have a json format like below is not working and showing error saying.

"Unexpected Shortcut [Extended Manifest] [Parsing] [Platform Key Correct Format] Error hit while processing Extended Manifest. The specification of platform does not match the allowed format. Additional Info: Command+Shift+Up"

"shortcuts": [
{
"key": {
"default": "Ctrl+Alt+Up",
"mac": "Command+Shift+Up",
"web": "Ctrl+Alt+1",
"windows": "Ctrl+Alt+Up"
},
"actionId": "ShowTaskpane"
},

after deleting the below properties, it started working in desktop version as well . what is the reason can you explain?
"mac": "Command+Shift+Up",
"web": "Ctrl+Alt+1",
"windows": "Ctrl+Alt+Up"
priyanka anusuri 20 Reputation points

2026-07-23T18:05:44.56+00:00

Hi Teddie,

Hope you are doing well, thanks for the response.

currently this is working after I removed key combinations for mac, web and browser and keeping only default key combinations.

I have a json format like below is not working and showing error saying.

"Unexpected Shortcut [Extended Manifest] [Parsing] [Platform Key Correct Format] Error hit while processing Extended Manifest. The specification of platform does not match the allowed format. Additional Info: Command+Shift+Up"

"shortcuts": [
{
"key": {
"default": "Ctrl+Alt+Up",
"mac": "Command+Shift+Up",
"web": "Ctrl+Alt+1",
"windows": "Ctrl+Alt+Up"
},
"actionId": "ShowTaskpane"
},

after deleting the below properties, it started working in desktop version as well . what is the reason can you explain?
"mac": "Command+Shift+Up",
"web": "Ctrl+Alt+1",
"windows": "Ctrl+Alt+Up"
Teddie-D 19,760 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-24T01:51:19.8133333+00:00

Hi @priyanka anusuri

Thank you for the update.

The behavior you observed suggests that the issue is related to the platform-specific shortcut definitions rather than Excel desktop itself. The error message The specification of platform does not match the allowed format. Additional Info: Command+Shift+Up indicates that the Extended Manifest parser could not validate the platform-specific shortcut configuration. When the parser encounters an invalid platform-specific shortcut, it may reject the shortcut configuration, preventing the shortcuts from being registered.

After removing the mac, web, and windows properties, only the default shortcut remained. Since that configuration could be parsed successfully, the shortcut began working in Excel desktop.

One thing worth noting is that the Microsoft sample for keyboard shortcuts uses a macOS shortcut such as "mac": "Command+Option+Up" whereas your configuration uses "mac": "Command+Shift+Up"

Could you try replacing Command+Shift+Up with Command+Option+Up and see if the manifest is parsed successfully?

If that works, it suggests that the parser is rejecting the specific Command+Shift+Up combination rather than the mac property itself. If the issue persists even when using the same combination as the sample, please let us know, as that would help determine whether this is a product issue with the Extended Manifest parser.
Teddie-D 19,760 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-27T00:21:14.78+00:00

Hi @priyanka anusuri

Is there any update on this thread? If you need further assistance, please feel free to let me know. Thank you!
priyanka anusuri 20 Reputation points

2026-07-27T07:15:20.3166667+00:00

Hi Teddie,

Thanks for the response.

I tried Command + Option + Up, and with that I was able to confirm that the shortcuts.json format is accepted by the manifest, and I could successfully perform the actions.

I have one question regarding the Shift key. On Windows, we use Shift as part of shortcut key combinations. Is the Shift key not supported as a shortcut modifier on macOS for the Office 365 plugin?

Could you please help me with the list of supported key combinations that work with the Office 365 plugin on Mac?
I have this guide already https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/design/keyboard-shortcuts?tabs=jsonmanifest and here also they used Command+Shift+Up in the example.

Please guide me
Austin-H 8,360 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-28T05:30:51.9633333+00:00

Hi @priyanka anusuri,
Thanks for your response.
The documentation does not provide a definitive list of all supported macOS shortcut combinations. Instead, it gives the following general rules:

-A shortcut must contain at least one modifier key (Command, Control, Option, or Shift) plus one additional key.

-On macOS, Command (Cmd) is supported.

-Shift may be used together with Command or Option; it just cannot be the sole modifier.

-Supported non-modifier keys include letters (A-Z), numbers (0-9), and certain punctuation characters.

I've reviewed the available Microsoft documentation and searched for references to this behavior. While the documentation indicates that Command+Shift+Up is intended to be a valid shortcut combination for Office Add-ins on macOS, I was unable to find any official statement, known issue documentation, or public reports that specifically confirm why this combination is rejected in your environment while Command+Option+Up works.
At this time, I have not found official documentation indicating that Command+Shift+Up is unsupported on macOS for Office Add-ins. In fact, the Microsoft documentation uses this combination as an example. However, since Command+Option+Up has been verified to work in your environment and I could not find evidence explaining the parsing error for Command+Shift+Up, I recommend using Command+Option+Up as a workaround. Unfortunately, I was unable to confirm whether the behavior with Command+Shift+Up is a product limitation or an issue specific to the current client/version.