Microsoft IntelliType Registry

IntelliType uses the Windows Registry to store its keymapping data. When you add, remove, change a key definition using the IntelliType Pro software, the registry is updated. (If you are not familiar with Registry, see: Registry Tutorial.)

The registry items for IntelliType is at: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\IntelliType Pro .

Under the “IntelliType Pro” branch, there are these branches:

 AppSpecific
 EventMapping
 Shortcuts
 SQM
 Zoom

The EventMapping is the generic key definition for your keys.

The “AppSpecific” holds key sets for each application. Each application will have a entry. For example, i have:

AppSpecific
 …
 emacs.exe
 firefox.exe
 googleearth.exe
 notepad.exe
 …

When you use IntelliType to create a new set of keys for a different software (Under the section “Custom Key Settings”, “Add…” button), it'll create a “EventMapping” branch under the app's name entry in “AppSpecific” . If you never defined keys specific to apps, it is safe to delete the whole AppSpecific entry. (it will be regenerated anyway. Do not delete the whole “IntelliType Pro” tree. If you do, next time you launch it, it'll complain of locating some file thinking that you might have pirated the software. But you can always download it again and reinstall.)

Am not sure what “Shortcuts” or “SQM” entries are for. They don't have any children and doesn't seem to be used.

The “Zoom” entry is for the Zoom slider on your keyboard. This entry will be created only if you have tried to disable the zoom using IntelliType (in the Zoom tab).

The EventMapping Entry

The “EventMapping”, regardless where it appears, is the main key data. Each of its children defines a key, and that key's action. The keys are identified by a numerical code.

i haven't found the code for the following keys: My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, Mute, Media, Messenger .

If you have not used IntelliType to set a particular key, no registry entry will exist for that key. The default behavior came from commands.xml file. [see Microsoft IntelliType commands.xml File]

Registry Key Actions

Each end node of “EventMapping” specify the key's action. For example, on my computer, i've set the Calculator button to launch iTunes. The Calculator button's code is 31, so in my EventMapping, there's a entry “31”, with the following content:

The most important one that specify what kind of action to do for a key, is named “Command”, and its value is a integer. What the integer means can be found in the file mscmdkey.xml at C:\Program Files\Microsoft IntelliType Pro.

For example, if the value of Command is 800, and because 800 is associated with SHELL_EXECUTE_COMMAND in mscmdkey.xml, so the action for the key is to execute a shell command. The precise shell command to execute is specified in the value of the register entry “ShellExecute”.

Key action can be executing a shell command, or type some other key, or execute a keyboard macro, or disable a key, and others.

The following is all of the actions and their code from mscmdkey.xml. Note: however, it may not be complete. For example, if you use IntelliType to define “My Farovites 1” button to launch some app, then, in the registry you'll see the key “Command” having a value of “406”, but 406 is nowhere to be found in mscmdkey.xml.

The following are some other codes not found in the mscmdkey.xml, but can be seen in the registry.

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