Canvas shortcuts

Shortcuts are fastest when your hands are already on the canvas. Use this article when you want to create objects without opening the toolbar, select or duplicate several items quickly, resize with cleaner geometry, bypass snapping, or recover when a shortcut does not respond.

Shortcuts only work when the canvas owns keyboard focus. If your cursor is inside a text object, sticky note, spreadsheet cell, comment, chat message, browser address bar, or another input, that editor gets the keystroke first. Click empty canvas space or press Escape, then try the shortcut again.

Availability and permissions

Shortcut notation

ALLO uses the same shortcut language as the canvas UI. ⌘ is the Mac command-key symbol. ⌥ is Option on Mac. ⇧ is Shift. ↩ is Enter or Return. ⌫ is Backspace or Delete depending on the keyboard. Arrow keys are written as ↑, ↓, ←, and →.

When a shortcut differs by platform, this article shows both versions:

Tool shortcuts

Use these when the canvas is focused and you are not typing.

Some tools need edit access. If a shortcut does nothing, check focus first, then check whether you can edit that canvas.

Selection shortcuts

Use selection shortcuts when several objects need to move, align, group, lock, duplicate, or delete together.

Move, copy, resize, and snapping shortcuts

These shortcuts are easy to miss because they happen while your pointer is already down.

Snapping helps with clean layouts, but it should not fight the work. When you are making a rough map, connecting an arrow to an empty region, or matching a screenshot by eye, ⌘ or Ctrl gives you a temporary way around snapping without changing any canvas setting.

For connected arrow behavior on freeform whiteboards, see Connect objects with smart arrows.

Search and navigation shortcuts

For full canvas search behavior, see Search inside a canvas. For panning behavior, see Hand Tool.

Object shortcuts

Use these after selecting an object. Some shortcuts run immediately, and some open the same controls you see in the object menu or the floating toolbar.

When a style dropdown is open, number keys can act inside that dropdown instead of the canvas. In Stroke, 0 removes the stroke where supported and 1-9 choose thicker widths. In Opacity, 1-9 set 10%-90% opacity and 0 returns to 100%. Color pickers use number shortcuts for visible swatches when the picker shows them.

For lock behavior, including protected locks, see Lock canvas objects. For menu actions, see Use the element menu.

Text editing shortcuts

Text objects, sticky notes, shapes with text, comments, and spreadsheet cells use the rich text editor. These shortcuts work while the caret is inside the editor. They do not switch canvas tools.

Markdown-style triggers also work inside the editor: type #, ##, or ### for headings, --- for a divider, a single backtick for inline code, three backticks for a code block, and > for a block quote. Rich text behavior is shared across canvas text, sticky notes, shapes, comments, and spreadsheet cells. For the editor features behind these shortcuts, see Use rich text in canvas objects.

Drawing shortcuts

Drawing shortcuts only apply while the Drawing tool is active or when the canvas can switch drawing modes.

The eraser removes drawing strokes, not regular canvas objects such as sticky notes, files, or shapes. For the full drawing workflow, see Pen drawings.

Undo, redo, and refresh

Undo and redo are safest immediately after the action you want to reverse. If you have switched canvases, reloaded, or edited text inside a rich text editor, the shortcut may apply to a different editing layer than you expect. See Undo and redo on a canvas.

If a shortcut does not work

Most shortcut failures come from focus, permissions, or platform interception.