To NaOH:

I actually use KM regularly; but I do not see where you can generate a shift-F10 equivalent. How would you do it?

In my version (2.1.3), I created a New Macro. Then...

• Click and hold on New Action.
• Select Move or Click Mouse.
• In the box that appears, select the radio button next to Click Mouse.
• Check the box for the Control key modifier.
• Set the Relative To drop-down menu to Current Position.
• The setting for the Measured From drop-down menu is irrelevant as long as the Vertical & Horizontal positions are both set to zero.

Since you're familiar with KM, I presume you know how to assign your desired keyboard shortcut. Save it. And your done.

Yes, but that would require that I first position my mouse over the item in question.
Which defeats the purpose! I want to be able to select an item with the keyboard (by moving up and down with my arrow keys) and then pull the context menu for whatever item is highlighted.
Your suggestion requires that I move the mouse!
The point is to NOT have to use the mouse at all.
NEXT! ;-)

My bad.

I guess the question is this: Can a script be written to move the cursor over whatever item is selected? I'm a few rungs below a novice with AppleScript, so I'm not qualified to answer that.

If it can be done, such a script, added to the above Keyboard Maestro macro, would solve the problem.

There's already a key for doing this. By default, it's F11. And pressing it again returns you to whatever application you were previously using.

I suppose Ctrl+Space may be easier/quicker to hit for some people (less hand travel).

You're right, and I do use Exposé, but I don't like the fact that when invoking that command my already open Finder windows are moved aside.

The confusion here is that in my mind the Windows desktop area isn't a convenient place for performing tasks whereas I find the Finder, overall, pretty good. Thus, in my little head, the Windows idea of Show Desktop has an Apple equivalent of switch to Finder and hide others.

sorry to revive this old thread, but i am still looking for a solution to this problem.

i really can't believe that apple doesn't include this in it's universal access prefs. it's not in snow leopard either in case people are hoping. being able to use mouse keys and the '5' key makes it seem oh-so-close...

i've already written to apple, but it's clearly not a priority. maybe if more people wrote they would at least consider it for 10.7?

Most contextual menu items are readily available in the regular, top-of-the-screen menus. I think the big exception is the contents of the More submenu when in the Finder. Actually, some of the contextual menu items in Safari would be another set of exceptions.

As long as what you seek is in Menubar menus (File, Edit, etc.), the free Deja Menu may be of use.

Change spelling
 

I don't think this topic has been fully answered. What if I want to just access the context menu in any program with spell checking to change a word. Can I do this without using the mouse?

To access all menu items just like windows using ALT keys this is what I have done
1) Create applescript for each of the menu items (File, Edit, View, Window, Help etc)
2) Assign shortcut keys for each of these in quick silver
3) No matter which application I am in, if I press alt + F it expands File menu for me provided that application has a File menu)

tell application "System Events" to ¬
tell (first application process whose frontmost is true) ¬
to click menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1 of it

This AppleScript might be useful.
In Finder, you can bring up the context menu of selected item by keyboard shortcut.
I'm using it everyday since I found it.

http://homepage.mac.com/tkurita/scri.../2009/06.xhtml

See the article '2009-06-01'.
This page is in Japanese so you may not understand...

1. Save the AppleScript as a script file.
2. Use your favorite launcher utility to assign keyboard shortcut.(I'm using Butler)

Note: You have to 'enable access for assistive devices'.
System Preferences > Universal access

ctrl-space works for Mozilla apps
 

I also would love to see a keyboard shortcut to bring up the context menu for the item currently selected by the keyboard. As others have mentioned this is ideal for spell checking.

Mozilla apps implement ctrl-space to bring up the context menu. So if you use Thunderbird for mail this is a solution. Unfortunately while Firefox brings up the context menu, it does not always seem to be in the context of a misspelled word in a form. There is a bug report on this: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=346930

We should advocate adoption of this to application developers. Email your favorite software company and ask them to implement a context menu key shortcut. The script keiyam linked to indicates this is not difficult to implement for Cocoa apps. Obviously it would be nice if Apple adopted it as a standard.

openoffice.org also has a keyboard shortcut, shift-F10. This took me years to discover, mostly because it won't work on macbooks out of the box. To get this to work I had to disable Expose Application windows in Sys Prefs > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts and then press fn-shift-F10. I definitely prefer ctrl-space as the context menu shortcut key.

hey hey
i have found a work-around, if not a solution using quicksilver and the service menu shortcuts:
*in the keyboard prefpane add a new shortcut with the application designation 'all applications', make it whatever key combo that works for you

*for the menu title write "Send To Quicksilver"

this will pop open a qs window for whatever file/s you have selected and give you the same thing you get from the context menu without have to use a mouse

SOLVED: Spelling correction, keyboard only, with Mac OS X Lion
 

SOLVED?!

Like others on this thread, I couldn't believe that there was no way to access the contextual menu for misspellings using only the keyboard. I came here hoping to find an answer. And in doing so, I think I discovered the answer myself, in Mac OS X Lion.

If you type a word incorrectly and then use the arrow keys to position yourself at the beginning/end of that word, a little menu will appear with suggested spellings. Press "down" and then left/right to select the correct spelling.

It's a similar interface you see if you are typing and hold down a vowel (for instance) for several seconds.....

Context menu using a keyboard key App!
 

I was looking for exactly the same thing for months, and I finally found the answer! It's a little app from the appstore called Keymo link below.

However one small problem for me, it brings up the context menu from wherever the mouse curser is, not from where the blinking insertion point. I was going to use it for programs like Microsoft Word where I can quickly fix spelling mistakes without using the mouse.

manytricks.com/keymo