Aperture / Keyboard Shortcuts
Use Aperture's Command Editor to set keyboard shortcuts for commonly used functions
You can set keyboard shortcuts for almost anything in Aperture. I have hotkeys assigned for a lot of things. Everything from toggling on hot and cold areas to launching my favorite plug-ins.
I primarily shoot landscapes and many of my projects have sets of similar images. Lifting information from one photo and stamping it to others streamlines my work. In my workflow, I assign the core metadata (keywords, location, etc.) first and apply adjustments later.
By default, Aperture maps Shift-Command-C to lift both metadata and adjustments. Since I like to separate these steps, I assigned Shift-Command-M to lift metadata and Shift-Command-J to lift adjustment. The default hotkey Shift-Command-V to stamp metadata and adjustments works as the counterpart to either lift shortcut.
You can customize your keyboard shortcuts with Commands > Customize in the Aperture menu. Several keyboard layouts can be configured. Use the search bar in the upper left to find the function you are looking for. You might find out Aperture already has a keyboard shortcut defined – in which case, learn it and use it!