Unless noted otherwise, keypad keys (such as arrows, Home, End, +, -, digits) are supposed to work the same as corresponding regular keys. See also KeyboardShortcutsToDo on Inkscape Wiki for a discussion of other shortcuts we're planning to implement; you can leave your ideas and requests there.
Tools | ||
| F1, s | selector | |
| Space | selector (temporary) | |
| Space switches to the select tool temporarily; another Space switches back. | ||
| F2, n | node tool | |
| F3, z | zoom tool | |
| F4, r | rectangle tool | |
| F5, e | ellipse/arc tool | |
| F6, p | freehand (pencil) tool | |
| Shift+F6, b | bezier (pen) tool | |
| Ctrl+F6, | calligraphic tool | |
| F7, d | dropper tool | |
| F8, t | text tool | |
| F9, i | spiral tool | |
| Shift+F9, * | star tool | |
File | ||
| Ctrl+N | create new document | |
| Ctrl+O | open an SVG document | |
| Shift+Ctrl+E | export to PNG | |
| Ctrl+I | import bitmap or SVG | |
| Ctrl+P | print document | |
| Ctrl+S | save document | |
| Shift+Ctrl+S | save under a new name | |
| Ctrl+Q | exit Inkscape | |
Window | ||
| Ctrl+R | toggle rulers | |
| Ctrl+B | toggle scrollbars | |
| F11 | toggle fullscreen | |
| F10 | main menu | |
| Menus can also be activated by Alt with the letter underscored in the menu name. | ||
| Shift+F10, right click | drop-down (context) menu | |
| Ctrl+F4, Ctrl+W | close document window | |
| This shuts down Inkscape if it was the only document window open. | ||
| Ctrl+Tab | next document window | |
| Shift+Ctrl+Tab | previous document window | |
| These cycle through the active document windows forward and backward. | ||
Dialogs | ||
| Shift+Ctrl+F | Fill and Stroke | |
| Shift+Ctrl+T | Text and Font | |
| Shift+Ctrl+M | Transform | |
| Shift+Ctrl+A | Align and Distribute | |
| Shift+Ctrl+X | XML Editor | |
| Shift+Ctrl+D | Document Options | |
| Shift+Ctrl+O | Inkscape Options | |
| Shift+Ctrl+E | Export to PNG | |
| These open a new dialog window if it wasn't open yet, otherwise the corresponding dialog gets focus. | ||
Toggle visibility | ||
| F12 | toggle dialogs | |
| This temporarily hides all open dialogs; another F12 shows them again. | ||
Within a dialog | ||
| Esc | return to the canvas | |
| Ctrl+F4, Ctrl+W | close the dialog | |
| Tab | jump to next widget | |
| Shift+Tab | jump to previous widget | |
| Enter | accept the new value | |
| This accepts the new value you typed in a text field and returns focus to canvas. | ||
| Space, Enter | activate current button or list | |
| Ctrl+PgUp, Ctrl+PgDn | in a multi-tab dialog, switch tabs | |
Top panel | ||
| The panel at the top of the document window provides different fields and controls for each tool. | ||
| Alt+X | jump to the first editable field | |
| Enter | accept the new value | |
| This accepts the new value you typed in a text field and returns focus to canvas. | ||
| Esc | cancel changes, return to canvas | |
| This cancels any changes you made in a text field and returns focus to canvas. | ||
| Ctrl+Z | cancel changes | |
| This cancels any changes you made in a text field but you stay in the field. | ||
| Tab | jump to next field | |
| Shift+Tab | jump to previous field | |
| Use these to navigate between fields in the top panel (the value in the field you leave, if changed, is accepted). | ||
Changing values | ||
| Up arrow, Down arrow | change value by 0.1 | |
| PgUp, PgDn | change value by 5.0 | |
Canvas | ||
Zoom | ||
| =, + | zoom in | |
| - | zoom out | |
| The keypad +/- keys do zooming even when you are editing a text object. | ||
| middle click, Ctrl+right click | zoom in | |
| Shift+middle click, Shift+right click | zoom out | |
| Ctrl+mouse wheel | zoom in or out | |
Preset zooms | ||
| 1 | zoom 1:1 | |
| 2 | zoom 1:2 | |
| 3 | zoom to selection | |
| 4 | zoom to drawing | |
| 5 | zoom to page | |
| Ctrl+E, 6 | zoom to page width | |
Zoom history | ||
| ` | (back quote) previous zoom | |
| Shift+` | next zoom | |
| With these keys, you can travel back and forth through the history of zooms in this session | ||
Scrolling (panning) | ||
| Ctrl+arrows | scroll canvas | |
| Scrolling by keys is accelerated, i.e. it speeds up when you press Ctrl+arrows in quick succession, or press and hold. | ||
| middle button drag | scroll canvas | |
| Shift+right button drag, Ctrl+right button drag | scroll canvas | |
| mouse wheel | scroll canvas vertically | |
| Shift+mouse wheel | scroll canvas horizontally | |
Guides and grid | ||
| mouse drag | drag off a ruler to create guide | |
| Drag off the horizontal or vertical ruler to create a new guideline. Drag a guideline onto the ruler to delete it. | ||
| |, Shift+\ | toggle guides and snapping to guides | |
| If you want to have different values for guides visibility and snapping, set them via the Document Options dialog. | ||
| When you create a new guide by dragging off the ruler, guide visibility and snapping are turned on. | ||
| #, Shift+3 | toggle grid and snapping to grid | |
| If you want to have different values for grid visibility and snapping, set them via the Document Options dialog. | ||
| Note that only the 3 key on the main keyboard works, not on the keypad. | ||
Object | ||
Undo/redo | ||
| Shift+Ctrl+Y, Ctrl+Z | undo | |
| Shift+Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Y | redo | |
Clipboard | ||
| Ctrl+C | copy selection | |
| This places a copy of the selection to the Inkscape clipboard (not the system clipboard). | ||
| Ctrl+X | cut selection | |
| This places a copy of the selection to the Inkscape clipboard and deletes the selection. | ||
| Ctrl+V | paste clipboard | |
| This places the clipboard objects at the mouse cursor, or at the center of the window if mouse is outside the canvas. | ||
| Ctrl+Alt+V | paste in place | |
| This places the clipboard objects to the original location from which they were copied. | ||
| Shift+Ctrl+V | paste style | |
| This applies the style of the (first of the) coped object(s) to the current selection. | ||
Duplicate | ||
| Ctrl+D | duplicate selection | |
| New object(s) are placed exactly over the original(s) and selected. | ||
Grouping | ||
| Shift+Ctrl+U, Ctrl+G | group selected objects | |
| Use Ctrl+click to select objects within group. | ||
| Shift+Ctrl+G, Ctrl+U | ungroup selected group(s) | |
| This removes only one level of grouping; press Ctrl+U repeatedly to ungroup nested groups. | ||
Z-order | ||
| Home | raise selection to top | |
| End | lower selection to bottom | |
| PgUp | raise selection one step | |
| PgDn | lower selection one step | |
Path | ||
Convert to path | ||
| Shift+Ctrl+C | convert selected object(s) to path | |
| Ctrl+Alt+C | convert stroke to path | |
Booleans | ||
| Ctrl++ | union | |
| Union combines any number of objects into a single path, removing overlaps. | ||
| Ctrl+- | difference | |
| Difference works on 2 objects, extracting the top from the bottom. | ||
| Ctrl+* | intersection | |
| Intersection creates a path representing the common (overlapping) area of all selected objects. | ||
| Ctrl+^ | exclusive OR (XOR) | |
| XOR is similar to Union, except that it works on 2 objects and removes areas where the objects overlap. | ||
| Ctrl+/ | division (cut) | |
| Division cuts the bottom object into pieces by the top object, preserving the fill and stroke of the bottom. | ||
| Ctrl+Alt+/ | cut path | |
| Cut Path cuts the bottom object's stroke only where it is intersected by the top path, removing any fill from the result. | ||
Offsets | ||
| Ctrl+( | inset path (towards center) | |
| Ctrl+) | outset path (away from center) | |
| The default offset distance is 2 pt. | ||
| Alt+( | inset path by 1px | |
| Alt+) | outset path by 1px | |
| Shift+Alt+( | inset path by 10px | |
| Shift+Alt+) | outset path by 10px | |
| The actual distance for pixel offsets depends on zoom level. Zoom in for finer adjustment. | ||
| All the (, ) commands convert the object to path, if necessary, and produce regular path. | ||
| Ctrl+J | create dynamic offset | |
| Ctrl+Alt+J | create linked offset | |
| These commands produce an offset object, editable by the node tool, standalone or linked to the original. | ||
Combining | ||
| Ctrl+K | combine paths | |
| This is different from grouping in that combined paths create one object. | ||
| This is different from Union in that overlapping areas are not affected. | ||
| Shift+Ctrl+K | break paths apart | |
| This attempts to break an object into constituent paths; it will fail if the object is one solid path. | ||
| Ctrl+L | simplify | |
| This command attempts to simplify selected path(s) by removing extra nodes. It converts all objects to paths first. | ||
| If you invoke this command several times in quick succession, it will act more and more aggressively. | ||
| Invoking Simplify again after a pause restores the default threshold. | ||
Selector | ||
Keyboard select | ||
| Tab | select next object | |
| Shift+Tab | select previous object | |
| These keys pick objects in their z-order (Tab cycles from bottom to top, Shift+Tab cycles from top to bottom). | ||
| Unless you did manual rearrangements, the last object you created is always on top. | ||
| As a result, if nothing is selected, pressing Shift+Tab once conveniently selects the object you created last. | ||
| Ctrl+A | select all objects | |
| Del | delete selection | |
| Esc | deselect | |
Keyboard move | ||
| arrows | move selection by the nudge distance | |
| Shift+arrows | move selection by 10x nudge distance | |
| The default nudge distance is 1mm. | ||
| Alt+arrows | move selection by 1 pixel | |
| Alt+Shift+arrows | move selection by 10 pixels | |
| The actual distance for pixel movements depends on zoom level. Zoom in for finer movement. | ||
Keyboard rotate | ||
| [, ] | rotate selection by the angle step | |
| The default angle step is 15 degrees. ] rotates clockwise, [ rotates counterclockwise. | ||
| Ctrl+[, Ctrl+] | rotate selection by 90 degrees | |
| Alt+[, Alt+] | rotate selection by 1 pixel | |
| The actual angle for pixel rotation depends on zoom level. Zoom in for finer movement. | ||
Keyboard scale | ||
| <, > | scale selection by the scale step | |
| The default scale step is 2 pt. | ||
| Ctrl+< | scale selection to 50% | |
| Ctrl+> | scale selection to 200% | |
| Alt+<, Alt+> | scale selection by 1 pixel | |
| The actual size increment for pixel scaling depends on zoom level. Zoom in for finer scaling. | ||
| Scaling is uniform around the center, so that the size increment applies to the larger of the two dimensions. | ||
| Instead of the < and > keys, you can use the , (comma) and . (period) keys respectively. | ||
Keyboard flip | ||
| h | flip selection horizontally | |
| v | flip selection vertically | |
Mouse select | ||
| click | select an object | |
| When you left-click on an object, previous selection is deselected. | ||
| Shift+click | toggle selection | |
| Shift+click adds an object to the current selection if it was not selected, or deselects it otherwise. | ||
Selecting within group | ||
| Ctrl+click | select within group | |
| Ctrl+Shift+click | toggle selection within group | |
Rubberband | ||
| mouse drag | select multiple objects | |
| Dragging around objects does "rubberband" selection; previous selection is deselected. | ||
| Shift+mouse drag | add objects to selection | |
| Normally, you need to start from an empty space to initiate a rubberband. | ||
| However, if you press Shift before dragging, Inkscape will do rubberband selection even if you start from an object. | ||
Mouse move | ||
| mouse drag | move selected objects | |
| Dragging an object selects it if it was not selected, then moves selection. | ||
| Ctrl+mouse drag | restrict movement to horizontal or vertical | |
| mouse dragSpace | drop a copy | |
| When dragging or transforming with mouse, each Space leaves a copy of the selected object. | ||
| You can press and hold Space while dragging for a nice "trail." | ||
Mouse transform | ||
| click | toggle scale/rotation handles | |
| mouse drag | scale (scale handles) | |
| mouse drag | rotate or skew (rotation handles) | |
Scale handles | ||
| Ctrl+mouse drag | scale preserving aspect ratio | |
| Shift+mouse drag | symmetric transformation | |
| Holding Shift while transforming makes transformation symmetric around the center of the selection. | ||
| Alt+mouse drag | slow movement | |
| Holding Alt while transforming makes transformation lag behind mouse movement, allowing finer changes. | ||
Rotation handles | ||
| Ctrl+mouse drag | skew and stretch | |
| Holding Ctrl when dragging a skew (non-corner) handle enables stretching in addition to skewing. | ||
| Ctrl+mouse drag | snap rotation to angle steps | |
| The default angle step is 15 degrees. | ||
Cancel | ||
| Esc | cancel rubberband, move, transformation | |
| Press Esc while mouse button is still down to cancel rubberband selection, move, or transformation of any kind. | ||
Freehand tool | ||
| mouse drag | draw a freehand line | |
| a | toggle new/append | |
| This switches between creating a new line or appending to the selected line (anchors are displayed for appending). | ||
Bezier tool | ||
Create nodes | ||
| click | create a sharp node | |
| mouse drag | create a bezier node with two handles | |
| Shift+mouse drag | move only one handle | |
| This moves only one handle (instead of both) to create a cusp node. | ||
| Ctrl+mouse drag | snap the handle to angle steps | |
| The default angle step is 15 degrees. | ||
Create segments | ||
| Ctrl+ | snap the segment to angle steps | |
| This snaps the new node's angle, relative to the previous node, to angle steps (default 15 degrees). | ||
Keyboard | ||
| a | toggle new/append | |
| This switches between creating a new line or appending to the selected line (anchors are displayed for appending). | ||
| Enter | finish current line | |
| Esc | cancel current line | |
| Backspace | erase last segment of current line | |
Node tool | ||
Keyboard select | ||
| Tab | select next node | |
| Shift+Tab | select previous node | |
| These keys let you select any node within the selected path | ||
| Ctrl+A | select all nodes of the path | |
| Esc | deselect all nodes | |
Keyboard move | ||
| arrows | move selected node(s) by the nudge distance | |
| Shift+arrows | move selected node(s) by 10x nudge distance | |
| The default nudge distance is 1mm. | ||
| Alt+arrows | move selected node(s) by 1 pixel | |
| Alt+Shift+arrows | move selected node(s) by 10 pixels | |
| The actual distance for pixel movements depends on zoom level. Zoom in for finer movement. | ||
Keyboard handle rotate | ||
| [, ] | rotate both handles by the angle step | |
| The default angle step is 15 degrees. ] rotates clockwise, [ rotates counterclockwise. May apply to more than one node. | ||
| Left Ctrl+[, Left Ctrl+] | rotate left handle by the angle step | |
| Right Ctrl+[, Right Ctrl+] | rotate right handle by the angle step | |
| Left Alt+[, Left Alt+] | rotate left handle by 1 pixel | |
| Right Alt+[, Right Alt+] | rotate right handle by 1 pixel | |
Keyboard handle scale | ||
| <, > | contract/expand both handles by scale step | |
| The default scale step is 2 pt. May apply to more than one node. | ||
| Left Ctrl+<, Left Ctrl+> | scale left handle by the scale step | |
| Right Ctrl+<, Right Ctrl+> | scale right handle by the scale step | |
| Left Alt+<, Left Alt+> | scale left handle by 1 pixel | |
| Right Alt+<, Right Alt+> | scale right handle by 1 pixel | |
| The actual size increment for pixel scaling depends on zoom level. Zoom in for finer scaling. | ||
| Instead of the < and > keys, you can use the , (comma) and . (period) keys respectively. | ||
Change path segment | ||
| Shift+L | make line | |
| Shift+K | make curve | |
| These commands require that more than two adjacent nodes be selected. | ||
Change node type | ||
| Shift+C | make cusp | |
| Shift+S | make smooth | |
| Shift+Y | make symmetric | |
| Ctrl+click | toggle smooth/cusp/symmetric | |
Join/break | ||
| Shift+J | join selected nodes | |
| This requires that exactly two end nodes within the path be selected. | ||
| Shift+B | break selected node(s) | |
| After break, only one of each two new nodes is selected. May apply to more than one node. | ||
Delete, create, duplicate | ||
| Del | delete selected node(s) | |
| Ctrl+Alt+click | delete node | |
| Ins | insert new node(s) | |
| This adds new node(s) in the middle(s) of selected segment(s), so it requires that more than two adjacent nodes be selected. | ||
| Shift+D | duplicate selected node(s) | |
| New nodes are created on the same path; they are placed exactly over the old ones and are selected. | ||
Active node | ||
| The active node is one under mouse or being dragged. | ||
| When you have an active node, some of the single-letter tool switch shortcuts may not work; | ||
| move your mouse cursor so that no node is active if you want to use them. | ||
| c | make active node cusp | |
| s | make active node smooth | |
| y | make active node symmetric | |
| b | break active node | |
| Backspace | delete active node | |
Mouse select | ||
| click | select an object | |
| Clicking on an object selects it. | ||
| The nodes or handles of the newly selected object become editable (this saves you a switch to selector). | ||
| click | select a node | |
| Clicking on a node selects it. | ||
| Shift+click | toggle selection of a node | |
| click | deselect | |
| Clicking in an empty space deselects all selected nodes. | ||
Rubberband | ||
| mouse drag | select multiple nodes | |
| Dragging around nodes does "rubberband" selection; previous node selection is deselected. | ||
| Shift+mouse drag | add nodes to selection | |
Mouse move | ||
| mouse drag | move selected nodes | |
| Ctrl+mouse drag | restrict movement to horizontal or vertical | |
| Ctrl+Alt+mouse drag | move along handles | |
| This restricts movement to the directions of the node's handles, their continuations and perpendiculars (total 8 snaps). | ||
| mouse dragSpace | drop a copy | |
| When dragging nodes with mouse, each Space leaves a copy of the selected object. | ||
| You can press and hold Space while dragging for a nice "trail." | ||
Mouse handle move | ||
| mouse drag | move a node handle | |
| Ctrl+mouse drag | snap the handle to angle steps | |
| The default angle step is 15 degrees. This also snaps to the handle's original angle, its continuation and perpendiculars. | ||
| Shift+mouse drag | rotate both handles | |
| Alt+mouse drag | lock the handle length | |
| Ctrl, Shift, Alt can be combined when dragging handles. | ||
Editing shapes | ||
| Node tool can also drag the handles of shapes (rectangles, ellipses, stars, spirals). Click on a shape to select it. | ||
| See the corresponding shape tools for their editing shortcuts, all of which also work in node tool. | ||
Cancel | ||
| Esc | cancel rubberband or move | |
| Press Esc while mouse button is still down to cancel rubberband selection, node move, handle move, or handle move. | ||
Zoom tool | ||
| click | zoom in | |
| Shift+click | zoom out | |
| mouse drag | zoom into the area | |
Rectangle tool | ||
Drawing | ||
| mouse drag | draw a rectangle | |
| Ctrl+mouse drag | make a square or integer-ratio rectangle | |
| This restricts rectangle so its height/width ratio is a whole number. | ||
| Shift+mouse drag | draw around the starting point | |
| This creates a rectangle symmetric around the starting point of the mouse drag. | ||
Editing | ||
| click | click a rectangle to select | |
| mouse drag | drag a handle to round corners | |
| Ctrl+mouse drag | lock the rounded corner circular | |
| When rounding corners of a rectangle, dragging only one handle (with the other at the corner) keeps the corner circular. | ||
| You can drag both handles for an elliptic rounded corner, or drag one with Ctrl to make sure the other one is synchronized. | ||
| Esc | deselect | |
Ellipse tool | ||
Drawing | ||
| mouse drag | draw an ellipse | |
| Ctrl+mouse drag | make circle or integer-ratio ellipse | |
| This restricts ellipse so its height/width ratio is a whole number. | ||
| Shift+mouse drag | draw around the starting point | |
| This creates an ellipse symmetric around the starting point of the mouse drag. | ||
Editing | ||
| click | click an ellipse to select | |
| mouse drag | drag a handle to make arc or segment | |
| Ctrl+mouse drag | restrict the arc or segment to angle steps | |
| The default angle step is 15 degrees. | ||
| Esc | deselect | |
Star tool | ||
Drawing | ||
| mouse drag | draw a star | |
| Ctrl+mouse drag | snap star to angle steps | |
| The default angle step is 15 degrees. | ||
Editing | ||
| click | click a star to select | |
| mouse drag | drag a handle to vary the star shape | |
| Ctrl+mouse drag | keep star rays radial (no skew) | |
| Esc | deselect | |
Spiral tool | ||
Drawing | ||
| mouse drag | draw a spiral | |
| Ctrl+mouse drag | snap spiral to angle steps | |
| The default angle step is 15 degrees. | ||
Editing | ||
| click | click a spiral to select | |
| mouse drag | drag a handle to vary the spiral shape | |
| Dragging internal handle "unrolls" the spiral from inside. Dragging the external handle adjusts spiral size. | ||
| Ctrl+mouse drag | snap handles to angle steps | |
| The default angle step is 15 degrees. | ||
| Alt+mouse drag | lock spiral radius | |
| This has effect when dragging the outer handle of the spiral. | ||
| Esc | deselect | |
Text tool | ||
| click | create/activate a text object | |
| Clicking in an empty space or on a non-text object displays a text cursor; now you can type your text. | ||
| Clicking on a text object activates it; cursor is placed at the end of the text. | ||
| To type + and - characters, use the main keyboard; keypad + and - are reserved for zoom. | ||
| arrows | navigate in a text object | |
| Home, End | go to beginning/end of line | |
| Enter | start a new line | |
| Esc | deselect the text object | |
Special characters | ||
| Ctrl+U | toggle Unicode mode | |
| In this mode, every four hex digits you type are translated into the corresponding Unicode character. | ||
| Another Ctrl+U or Esc or any non-hex character quits Unicode mode. | ||
| For example, Ctrl+U 2 0 1 4 Esc inserts an em-dash. | ||
| Ctrl+Space | insert no-break space | |
| A no-break space is visible even in a text object without xml:space="preserve". | ||
Letter spacing | ||
| Alt+> | expand the line by 1 pixel | |
| Shift+Alt+> | expand the line by 10 pixels | |
| Alt+< | contract the line by 1 pixel | |
| Shift+Alt+< | contract the line by 10 pixels | |
| These commands work when you are editing a text object. They adjust the inter-letter distance in the current line only. | ||
| The actual adjustment for pixel movements depends on zoom level. Zoom in for finer adjustment. | ||
Line spacing | ||
| Ctrl+Alt+> | make the text object taller by 1 pixel | |
| Shift+Ctrl+Alt+> | make the text object taller by 10 pixels | |
| Ctrl+Alt+< | make the text object shorter by 1 pixel | |
| Shift+Ctrl+Alt+< | make the text object shorter by 10 pixels | |
| These commands work when you are editing a text object. They adjust the inter-line distance in the current text object. | ||
| The actual adjustment for pixel movements depends on zoom level. Zoom in for finer adjustment. | ||
Kerning and shifting | ||
| Alt+arrows | shift next characters by 1 pixel | |
| Shift+Alt+arrows | shift next characters by 10 pixels | |
| These commands work when you are editing a text object. | ||
| They shift (horizontally or vertically) the character after the cursor and the rest of characters until the end of line. | ||
| E.g., to shift down one character, place the cursor before it, press Alt+Down, then move cursor after it and press Alt+Up. | ||
| The actual adjustment for pixel movements depends on zoom level. Zoom in for finer adjustment. | ||