diff --git a/krita/data/actions/TextTool.action b/krita/data/actions/TextTool.action
--- a/krita/data/actions/TextTool.action
+++ b/krita/data/actions/TextTool.action
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     <iconText>Decrease Indent</iconText>
     <shortcut></shortcut>
     <toolTip>Decrease Indent</toolTip>
-    <icon>format-indent-less</icon>
+    <icon></icon>
     <whatsThis></whatsThis>
     <statusTip></statusTip>
     <isCheckable>false</isCheckable>
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@
     <iconText>Increase Indent</iconText>
     <shortcut></shortcut>
     <toolTip>Increase Indent</toolTip>
-    <icon>format-indent-more</icon>
+    <icon></icon>
     <whatsThis></whatsThis>
     <statusTip></statusTip>
     <isCheckable>false</isCheckable>
diff --git a/krita/plugins/extensions/dockers/advancedcolorselector/kis_color_selector_ng_docker_widget.cpp b/krita/plugins/extensions/dockers/advancedcolorselector/kis_color_selector_ng_docker_widget.cpp
--- a/krita/plugins/extensions/dockers/advancedcolorselector/kis_color_selector_ng_docker_widget.cpp
+++ b/krita/plugins/extensions/dockers/advancedcolorselector/kis_color_selector_ng_docker_widget.cpp
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@
 #include "kis_color_selector_settings.h"
 #include "kis_color_selector_container.h"
 
+#include "kis_action_registry.h"
+
 KisColorSelectorNgDockerWidget::KisColorSelectorNgDockerWidget(QWidget *parent) :
     QWidget(parent),
     m_colorHistoryAction(0),
@@ -93,11 +95,13 @@
 
     m_colorHistoryAction = new QAction("Show color history", this);
     m_colorHistoryAction->setShortcut(QKeySequence(tr("H")));
+    // m_colorHistoryAction = KisActionRegistry::instance()->makeQAction("show_color_history", this, "Color Selector");
     connect(m_colorHistoryAction, SIGNAL(triggered()), m_colorHistoryWidget, SLOT(showPopup()), Qt::UniqueConnection);
 
 
     m_commonColorsAction = new QAction("Show common colors", this);
     m_commonColorsAction->setShortcut(QKeySequence(tr("U")));
+    // m_colorHistoryAction = KisActionRegistry::instance()->makeQAction("show_common_colors", this, "Color Selector");
     connect(m_commonColorsAction, SIGNAL(triggered()), m_commonColorsWidget, SLOT(showPopup()), Qt::UniqueConnection);
 
 }
diff --git a/krita/ui/KisPart.cpp b/krita/ui/KisPart.cpp
--- a/krita/ui/KisPart.cpp
+++ b/krita/ui/KisPart.cpp
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@
 #include "KisViewManager.h"
 #include "KisOpenPane.h"
 #include "KisImportExportManager.h"
-#include <KisShortcutsDialog.h>
 
 #include <kis_debug.h>
 #include <KoResourcePaths.h>
@@ -126,44 +125,10 @@
 
 
     foreach (const QString &name, actionNames) {
-        QDomElement actionXml = actionRegistry->getActionXml(name);
-
-        // Convenience macros to extract text of a child node.
-        auto getChildContent      = [=](QString node){return actionXml.firstChildElement(node).text();};
-        // i18n requires converting format from QString.
-        auto getChildContent_i18n = [=](QString node) {
-            if (getChildContent(node).isEmpty()) {
-                // dbgAction << "Found empty string to translate for property" << node;
-                return QString();
-            }
-            return i18n(getChildContent(node).toUtf8().constData());
-        };
-
-        QString icon      = getChildContent("icon");
-        QString text      = getChildContent("text");
-
-        // Note: these fields in the .action definitions are marked for translation.
-        QString whatsthis = getChildContent_i18n("whatsThis");
-        QString toolTip   = getChildContent_i18n("toolTip");
-        QString statusTip = getChildContent_i18n("statusTip");
-        QString iconText  = getChildContent_i18n("iconText");
-
-        bool isCheckable             = getChildContent("isCheckable") == QString("true");
-        QKeySequence shortcut        = QKeySequence(getChildContent("shortcut"));
-        QKeySequence defaultShortcut = QKeySequence(getChildContent("defaultShortcut"));
-
-        KisAction *a = new KisAction(KisIconUtils::loadIcon(icon.toLatin1()), text);
-        a->setObjectName(name);
-        a->setWhatsThis(whatsthis);
-        a->setToolTip(toolTip);
-        a->setStatusTip(statusTip);
-        a->setIconText(iconText);
-        a->setDefaultShortcut(shortcut);
-        a->setShortcut(shortcut);  //TODO: Make this configurable from custom settings
-        a->setCheckable(isCheckable);
-
-
-        // XXX: these checks may become important again after refactoring
+
+        KisAction *a = new KisAction();
+        actionRegistry->propertizeAction(a, name);
+
         if (!actionCollection->action(name)) {
             actionCollection->addAction(name, a);
         }
@@ -174,30 +139,7 @@
 
     }
 
-    // TODO: check for colliding shortcuts
-    //
-    // Ultimately we want to have more than one KActionCollection, so we can
-    // have things like Ctrl+I be italics in the text editor widget, while not
-    // complaining about conflicts elsewhere. Right now, we use only one
-    // collection, and we don't make things like the text editor configurable,
-    // so duplicate shortcuts are handled mostly automatically by the shortcut
-    // editor.
-    //
-    // QMap<QKeySequence, QAction*> existingShortcuts;
-    // foreach(QAction* action, actionCollection->actions()) {
-    //     if(action->shortcut() == QKeySequence(0)) {
-    //         continue;
-    //     }
-    //     if (existingShortcuts.contains(action->shortcut())) {
-    //         dbgAction << QString("Actions %1 and %2 have the same shortcut: %3") \
-    //             .arg(action->text())                                             \
-    //             .arg(existingShortcuts[action->shortcut()]->text())              \
-    //             .arg(action->shortcut());
-    //     }
-    //     else {
-    //         existingShortcuts[action->shortcut()] = action;
-    //     }
-    // }
+
 
 };
 
@@ -501,9 +443,8 @@
     // planned anyway.
 
     // WidgetAction + WindowAction + ApplicationAction leaves only GlobalAction excluded
-    KisShortcutsDialog dlg;
-    dlg.addCollection(d->actionCollection);
-    dlg.configure();  // Show the dialog.
+
+    KisActionRegistry::instance()->configureShortcuts(d->actionCollection);
 
 
     // Now update the widget tooltips in the UI.
diff --git a/krita/ui/tool/kis_tool_polyline_base.cpp b/krita/ui/tool/kis_tool_polyline_base.cpp
--- a/krita/ui/tool/kis_tool_polyline_base.cpp
+++ b/krita/ui/tool/kis_tool_polyline_base.cpp
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@
 #include <kis_action.h>
 #include <kactioncollection.h>
 
+#include "kis_action_registry.h"
+
 #define SNAPPING_THRESHOLD 10
 #define SNAPPING_HANDLE_RADIUS 8
 #define PREVIEW_LINE_WIDTH 1
diff --git a/libs/widgetutils/kis_action_registry.h b/libs/widgetutils/kis_action_registry.h
--- a/libs/widgetutils/kis_action_registry.h
+++ b/libs/widgetutils/kis_action_registry.h
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include <QString>
 #include <QKeySequence>
 #include <QDomElement>
+#include <QAction>
 
 #include "kritawidgetutils_export.h"
 
@@ -68,6 +69,27 @@
 
 
     /**
+     * Saves action in a category. Note that this grabs ownership of the action.
+     */
+    void addAction(QString name, QAction *a, QString category = "Krita");
+
+
+    /**
+     * Produces a new QAction based on the .action data files.
+     */
+    QAction * makeQAction(QString name, QObject *parent, QString category = QString());
+
+    KActionCollection * getDefaultCollection();
+
+    /**
+     * Fills the standard QAction properties of an action.
+     *
+     * @return true if the action was loaded successfully.
+     */
+    bool propertizeAction(QString name, QAction *a);
+
+
+    /**
      * @return list of actions with data available.
      */
     QStringList allActions();
@@ -79,6 +101,11 @@
 
 
     /**
+     * Run shortcuts dialog.
+     */
+    void configureShortcuts(KActionCollection *ac);
+
+    /**
      * Constructor.  Please don't touch!
      */
     KisActionRegistry();
diff --git a/libs/widgetutils/kis_action_registry.cpp b/libs/widgetutils/kis_action_registry.cpp
--- a/libs/widgetutils/kis_action_registry.cpp
+++ b/libs/widgetutils/kis_action_registry.cpp
@@ -19,16 +19,17 @@
 
 #include <QString>
 #include <QHash>
-#include <utility>
-#include <KSharedConfig>
 #include <QGlobalStatic>
-#include <QDomElement>
-#include <kis_debug.h>
-#include <tuple>
-#include "kis_debug.h"
-#include <KoResourcePaths.h>
 #include <QFile>
+#include <QDomElement>
+#include <KSharedConfig>
+#include <klocalizedstring.h>
+#include <KisShortcutsDialog.h>
 
+#include "kis_debug.h"
+#include "KoResourcePaths.h"
+#include "kis_icon_utils.h"
+#include "kactioncollection.h"
 
 
 #include "kis_action_registry.h"
@@ -54,6 +55,8 @@
 {
 public:
 
+    Private(KisActionRegistry *_q) : q(_q) {};
+
     /**
      * We associate three pieces of information with each shortcut name. The
      * first piece of information is a QDomElement, containing the raw data from
@@ -65,10 +68,15 @@
      */
     QHash<QString, actionInfoItem> actionInfoList;
     KSharedConfigPtr cfg{0};
-    void loadActions();
+    void loadActionFiles();
+    void loadActionCollections();
     actionInfoItem actionInfo(QString name) {
         return actionInfoList.value(name, emptyActionInfo);
     };
+
+    KisActionRegistry *q;
+    KActionCollection * defaultActionCollection;
+    QHash<QString, KActionCollection*> actionCollections;
 };
 
 
@@ -81,10 +89,15 @@
 
 
 KisActionRegistry::KisActionRegistry()
-    : d(new KisActionRegistry::Private())
+    : d(new KisActionRegistry::Private(this))
 {
-    d->cfg = KSharedConfig::openConfig("kritashortcutsrc");
-    d->loadActions();
+    d->cfg = KSharedConfig::openConfig("krbitashortcutsrc");
+    d->loadActionFiles();
+
+    // Should change to , then translate
+    d->defaultActionCollection = new KActionCollection(this, "Krita");
+    d->actionCollections.insert("Krita", d->defaultActionCollection);
+
 }
 
 // No this isn't the most efficient logic, but it's nice and readable.
@@ -120,7 +133,152 @@
     return d->actionInfo(name).xmlData;
 };
 
-void KisActionRegistry::Private::loadActions()
+KActionCollection * KisActionRegistry::getDefaultCollection()
+{
+    return d->defaultActionCollection;
+};
+
+void KisActionRegistry::addAction(QString name, QAction *a, QString category)
+{
+    KActionCollection *ac;
+    if (d->actionCollections.contains(category)) {
+        ac = d->actionCollections.value(category);
+    } else {
+        ac = new KActionCollection(this, category);
+        d->actionCollections.insert("Krita", ac);
+        dbgAction << "Adding a new KActionCollection - " << category;
+    }
+
+    if (!ac->action(name)) {
+        ac->addAction(name, a);
+    }
+    else {
+        dbgAction << "duplicate action" << name << a << "in collection" << ac->componentName();
+    }
+
+    // TODO: look into the loading/saving mechanism
+    ac->readSettings();
+};
+
+
+
+QAction * KisActionRegistry::makeQAction(QString name, QObject *parent, QString category)
+{
+
+    QAction * a = new QAction(parent);
+    if (!d->actionInfoList.contains(name)) {
+        dbgAction << "Warning: requested data for unknown action" << name;
+        return a;
+    }
+
+    propertizeAction(name, a);
+    addAction(name, a, category);
+
+    return a;
+};
+
+
+void KisActionRegistry::configureShortcuts(KActionCollection *ac)
+{
+
+    KisShortcutsDialog dlg;
+    dlg.addCollection(ac);
+    foreach (auto collection, d->actionCollections) {
+        dlg.addCollection(collection);
+    }
+
+   dlg.configure();  // Show the dialog.
+}
+
+
+
+bool KisActionRegistry::propertizeAction(QString name, QAction * a)
+{
+
+    QStringList actionNames = allActions();
+    QDomElement actionXml = getActionXml(name);
+
+
+    // Convenience macros to extract text of a child node.
+    auto getChildContent      = [=](QString node){return actionXml.firstChildElement(node).text();};
+    // i18n requires converting format from QString.
+    auto getChildContent_i18n = [=](QString node) {
+        if (getChildContent(node).isEmpty()) {
+            dbgAction << "Found empty string to translate for property" << node;
+            return QString();
+        }
+        return i18n(getChildContent(node).toUtf8().constData());
+    };
+
+
+    QString icon      = getChildContent("icon");
+    QString text      = getChildContent("text");
+
+    // Note: these fields in the .action definitions are marked for translation.
+    QString whatsthis = getChildContent_i18n("whatsThis");
+    QString toolTip   = getChildContent_i18n("toolTip");
+    QString statusTip = getChildContent_i18n("statusTip");
+    QString iconText  = getChildContent_i18n("iconText");
+
+    bool isCheckable             = getChildContent("isCheckable") == QString("true");
+    QKeySequence shortcut        = QKeySequence(getChildContent("shortcut"));
+    QKeySequence defaultShortcut = QKeySequence(getChildContent("defaultShortcut"));
+
+
+    a->setObjectName(name); // This is helpful!!
+    a->setIcon(KisIconUtils::loadIcon(icon.toLatin1()));
+    a->setText(text);
+    a->setObjectName(name);
+    a->setWhatsThis(whatsthis);
+    a->setToolTip(toolTip);
+    a->setStatusTip(statusTip);
+    a->setIconText(iconText);
+    a->setShortcut(shortcut);
+    a->setCheckable(isCheckable);
+
+
+    // XXX: this totally duplicates KisAction::setDefaultShortcut
+    QList<QKeySequence> listifiedShortcut;
+    listifiedShortcut.append(shortcut);
+    setProperty("defaultShortcuts", qVariantFromValue(listifiedShortcut));
+
+
+
+
+    // TODO: check for colliding shortcuts, or make sure it happens smartly inside kactioncollection
+    //
+    // Ultimately we want to have more than one KActionCollection, so we can
+    // have things like Ctrl+I be italics in the text editor widget, while not
+    // complaining about conflicts elsewhere. Right now, we use only one
+    // collection, and we don't make things like the text editor configurable,
+    // so duplicate shortcuts are handled mostly automatically by the shortcut
+    // editor.
+    //
+    // QMap<QKeySequence, QAction*> existingShortcuts;
+    // foreach(QAction* action, actionCollection->actions()) {
+    //     if(action->shortcut() == QKeySequence(0)) {
+    //         continue;
+    //     }
+    //     if (existingShortcuts.contains(action->shortcut())) {
+    //         dbgAction << QString("Actions %1 and %2 have the same shortcut: %3") \
+    //             .arg(action->text())                                             \
+    //             .arg(existingShortcuts[action->shortcut()]->text())              \
+    //             .arg(action->shortcut());
+    //     }
+    //     else {
+    //         existingShortcuts[action->shortcut()] = action;
+    //     }
+    // }
+
+
+    return true;
+}
+
+
+
+
+
+void KisActionRegistry::Private::loadActionFiles()
 {
 
     KoResourcePaths::addResourceType("kis_actions", "data", "krita/actions");