Make Ctrl+t open a new (chrome) tab when outside of chrome

_{WARNING: The solution posted here will solve the posted problem, however, the Ctrl+ shortcut key will become useless for applications that use Firefox and nautilus to open tabs (like google-chrome) even without a google-chrome window open . .t}

The key here is to capture the window id of google chrome if it's open. It can be done using wmctrl, grep and awk (or other application). Once you have the window ID, you can send any desired keystrokes using xdotool.

wmctrl and xdotool are not available in default installation. You can install them from the software center or by typing the following on the terminal:

sudo apt-get install wmctrl xdotool

Then paste the following into the file (give it a filename you like and remember the filename, if you want to hide it, start the filename with a ., I use that .google_chrome_system_tab_openas the filename):

windowid=$(wmctrl -l | grep "Google Chrome" | awk -F ' ' '{print $1}') && xdotool key --window $windowid ctrl+t

Then press Alt+ F2and type the following:

chmod +x /path/to/the/file

Replace with /path/to/the/filethe file location where you pasted the above command set (in my case) /home/jobin/.google_chrome_system_tab_open.

Now, go to System Settings -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> Customize Shortcuts and click +to add a new shortcut.

Provide a name for the shortcut (I'm using "Open Google Chrome System Tab") and paste the following into the textbox before "Command:".

/path/to/the/file

You can then set the desired keystrokes for this command; Ctrl+ tdepending on your situation.

If you use a shortcut like Ctrl+ ;, you might keep + Ctrlas ta shortcut for firefox and nautilus.