These are the default shortcuts wired by the keyboard handler. On macOS, every Ctrl shortcut listed here also works with Cmd, because the handler checks e.ctrlKey || e.metaKey.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
V | Select tool |
B | Bond tool |
R | Ring tool |
L | Lone pair tool |
. | Radical tool |
E | Eraser tool |
T | Text tool |
U | Shape tool |
[ | Bracket tool |
A | Arrow tool |
\ | Line tool |
J | Projection tool (P is taken by phosphorus) |
M | LaTeX tool |
H | Pan tool (only when no arrow is selected and the arrow tool is inactive; otherwise H cycles arrowhead style) |
Shift+O | Orbital tool (plain O is the oxygen element) |
Shift+T | Open template browser |
Elements
These keys set the active element for the next atom drawn or relabel the selected atom.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
C | Carbon |
N | Nitrogen |
O | Oxygen |
S | Sulfur |
P | Phosphorus (opens the Object Properties panel instead when atoms, bonds, lone pairs, or radicals are selected) |
F | Fluorine (flips curve direction instead when a single curved arrow is selected) |
I | Iodine |
Charge
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
+ or = | Increase charge on the selected atoms |
- | Decrease charge on the selected atoms |
Edit & History
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+Z | Undo |
Ctrl+Y | Redo |
Ctrl+Shift+Z | Redo |
Ctrl+D | Duplicate selection |
Ctrl+G | Group selection |
Ctrl+Shift+G | Ungroup selection |
Delete or Backspace | Delete selected items (also removes a waypoint or bezier handles from a multi-segment or spline arrow when the cursor is near one) |
Escape | Cancel the current draw, exit an entered group, exit animation mode, or clear the selection |
Enter | Finalize a multi-segment arrow |
File
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+N | New file |
Ctrl+O | Open file |
Ctrl+S | Save |
Ctrl+Shift+S | Save as |
Selection & Clipboard
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+A | Select all atoms, bonds, and annotations |
Ctrl+C | Copy selection |
Ctrl+X | Cut selection |
Ctrl+V | Paste |
Ctrl+Shift+C | Copy canvas as image |
Ctrl+Alt+C or Alt+Shift+C | Copy style |
Ctrl+Alt+V or Alt+Shift+V | Paste style |
View & Panels
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
+ or = | Zoom in |
- | Zoom out |
Ctrl+0 | Reset zoom and pan to 100% |
Ctrl+Shift+0 | Zoom to fit |
Ctrl+Home | Center view |
Ctrl+; | Toggle smart guides |
Ctrl+' | Toggle grid overlay |
Ctrl+Shift+' | Open grid settings |
F7 | Toggle the layers panel |
Ctrl+] | Bring selected layer forward |
Ctrl+Shift+] | Bring selected layer to front |
Ctrl+[ | Send selected layer backward |
Ctrl+Shift+[ | Send selected layer to back |
Ctrl+K | Open the command palette |
Viewport (mouse)
Mouse and trackpad gestures for moving around the canvas. See Navigating the Canvas for details.
| Gesture | Action |
|---|
| Scroll wheel | Pan the canvas |
Shift + scroll wheel | Horizontal pan (for mice without a tilt wheel) |
Ctrl + scroll wheel | Zoom toward the cursor (also handles trackpad pinch) |
| Middle-drag or right-drag | Pan, regardless of the active tool |
Tabs
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+T | New tab |
Ctrl+Tab | Next tab |
Ctrl+Shift+Tab | Previous tab |
Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+9 | Switch to tab 1 through 9 |
Movement (Nudge)
Nudge applies to selected atoms and annotations.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
| Arrow keys | Nudge selection by 1 unit |
Shift + arrow keys | Nudge selection by 10 units |
Ctrl+Shift + arrow keys | Nudge selection by 1 screen pixel |
Arrows
The H key cycles arrowhead style across selected arrows, or across the arrow tool’s default head when no arrow is selected. The cycle is filled, harpoon-up, harpoon-down, back to filled.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
H | Cycle arrowhead style on selected arrows or the active arrow tool |
F | Flip the bow (curve direction) of a single selected curved arrow |
1 to 0 | Select arrow type while the arrow tool is active (1 straight, 2 double, 3 curved, 4 harpoon-up, 5 harpoon-down, 6 reaction, 7 equilibrium, 8 double-harpoon, 9 s-curve, 0 multi-segment) |
Enter | Finalize a multi-segment arrow |
Escape | Cancel or finalize an in-progress multi-segment arrow, or cancel a regular arrow draw |
Shape & Line Types
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
1 to 7 | Select shape type while the shape tool is active (1 rectangle, 2 ellipse, 3 line, 4 arc, 5 square bracket, 6 curly bracket, 7 round bracket) |
1 to 5 | Select line type while the line tool is active (1 straight, 2 curved, 3 s-curve, 4 spline, 5 multi-segment) |
Image Crop
Active while cropping an image (double-click an image to enter crop mode).
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Enter or Escape | Finish crop mode, keeping the crop |
Shift (drag a corner handle) | Lock the aspect ratio to the original visible proportions |
Shift (drag any handle) | Disable snapping to the image’s content edges |
Animation
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Shift+A | Toggle animation mode |
Delete or Backspace | Delete the selected animation frames, or the active state when nothing else is selected (animation mode only) |
Escape | Exit animation mode |
Slides & Pages
Available only when the document is in slide or paged mode.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
PageDown or Ctrl+ArrowDown | Next slide or page |
PageUp or Ctrl+ArrowUp | Previous slide or page |
Other
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
? | Open the help modal |
Ctrl+Shift+T | Open the template browser |
Overloaded keys
A few keys change behavior based on context. The primary behavior is listed above; the table below summarizes the overload.
| Key | Primary | Overload |
|---|
H | Pan tool | Cycles arrowhead style when arrows are selected or the arrow tool is active |
F | Fluorine element | Flips the bow of a single selected curved arrow |
P | Phosphorus element | Opens the Object Properties panel when objects are selected |
O | Oxygen element | Shift+O activates the orbital tool |
+ / = | Zoom in | Increases charge instead when atoms are selected |
- | Zoom out | Decreases charge instead when atoms are selected |
T | Text tool | Shift+T opens the template browser |
Modifier keys during operations
These modifiers change behavior while a tool is in use. They are held during a drag, not pressed as a shortcut.
| Modifier | Context | Effect |
|---|
Shift (drag) | Bond tool | Free length (extension drawing) instead of snapped length |
Alt or Ctrl (drag) | Bond tool | Free angle instead of snapped angle |
Shift+Alt or Shift+Ctrl (drag) | Bond tool | Free angle and free length together |
Shift (draw) | Ring tool | Force the ring non-aromatic |
Shift (drag) | Select tool | Add to or toggle the selection, or clone the selection while dragging |
Alt (click) | Select tool | Reset an arrow waypoint’s handles to smooth (collinear) |
G (held during a drag) | Any drag, grid overlay enabled | Temporarily invert grid snapping: snaps if snapping is off, releases if it is on |
See also
