Canvas shortcuts
Use keyboard and mouse shortcuts for tools, selection, dragging, resizing, snapping, drawing, search, and object actions on a canvas.
Shortcuts are fastest when your hands are already on the canvas: create objects without the toolbar, select or duplicate several items, resize with cleaner geometry, or bypass snapping. They only fire when the canvas owns keyboard focus — if your cursor is inside a text object, sticky note, spreadsheet cell, comment, chat message, or a browser input, that editor gets the keystroke first. Click empty canvas space or press Escape, then try again.
Availability and notation
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Available on | Web and desktop apps. Mobile uses touch controls and a smaller toolbar. |
| Navigation shortcuts | Anyone who can open the canvas. |
| Create, move, resize, delete, group, lock, format | People with edit access. |
| When shortcuts pause | While typing, editing a cell, writing a comment, using chat, renaming, or focusing a browser input. |
| Notation | Mac uses ⌘ (Command), ⌥ (Option), ⇧ (Shift), ↩ (Enter), ⌫ (Backspace/Delete), and arrows ↑↓←→. Windows/Linux use Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Enter, Delete. This article shows both versions when they differ. |
Tool shortcuts
Use these when the canvas is focused and you are not typing.
| Shortcut | Tool |
|---|---|
V | Select — pointer, move objects, or exit a creation tool. |
D | Drawing — freehand marks, highlights, annotations. |
C | Comment — on the canvas or an object. |
P | Sticky note. |
T | Text — headings, labels, instructions. |
S | Shape — boxes, frames, diagram blocks. |
A | Arrow or line — connector or relationship. |
U | Upload files, images, PDFs. |
Y | YouTube embed. |
K | Stickers. |
Z | Sub-canvas from the current canvas. |
/ | Canvas command menu (different from the rich text slash menu). |
Escape | Cancel a preview or return to Select. |
Enter | Place a started one-shot object at the preview position. |
Some tools need edit access. If a shortcut does nothing, check focus first, then edit access.
Selection shortcuts
| Action | Shortcut or gesture | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Select one object | Click the object | Shows handles, outline, or inline toolbar when actions exist. |
| Add/remove from selection | Shift-click | Useful when a drag selection would catch too much. |
| Select a region | Drag across empty space | Selects everything inside the area. |
| Select all in scope | ⌘A / Ctrl+A | The browser or a focused editor may take this if the canvas is not focused. |
| Clear selection or leave a tool | Escape | |
| Edit the selected object | ↩ | For object types that support direct editing. |
| Delete the selected object | ⌫ or Delete | Needs edit access; locked or protected objects unlock first. |
Move, copy, resize, and snapping
These happen while your pointer is already down, so they are easy to miss.
| Action | Shortcut or gesture | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Move selected objects | Drag the selection | Moves them together. |
| Copy while dragging | ⌥-drag / Alt-drag | Duplicates as you drag, without the menu. |
| Keep proportions while resizing | Hold ⇧ / Shift | Keeps aspect ratio — images, logos, designed shapes. |
| Ignore snapping while moving | ⌘ / Ctrl while dragging | When guides keep pulling the object off the exact spot. |
| Ignore snapping while resizing | ⌘ / Ctrl while resizing | When one object needs a precise custom size. |
| Free arrow endpoint | ⌘ / Ctrl while placing/dragging an endpoint | Points to open space instead of attaching to an object. |
⌘/Ctrl is a temporary way around snapping without changing any canvas setting. For connected arrows on freeform whiteboards, see smart arrows.
Search and navigation
| Shortcut | Action | Notes |
|---|---|---|
⌘F / Ctrl+F | Search inside the open canvas | Searches this canvas, not every workspace item. |
Hold Space and drag | Temporarily pan | Release to return to the previous interaction. |
⌥W/A/S/D / Alt+W/A/S/D | Pan up/left/down/right | Small viewport moves without changing tools. |
⇧1 / Shift+1 | Fit the current page | |
⇧2 / Shift+2 | Focus the selected objects | |
⇧3 / Shift+3 | Reset zoom around the current page | |
⌥↑/⌥↓ / Alt+↑/Alt+↓ | Previous/next page | Add ⇧/Shift to adjust the view with the move. |
⌥1–⌥8 / Alt+1–Alt+8 | Jump to pages 1–8 | |
⌥9 / Alt+9 | Jump to the last page |
For search, see Search inside a canvas; for panning, see Hand Tool.
Object shortcuts
Use these after selecting an object.
| Shortcut | Action | Notes |
|---|---|---|
⌘C / Ctrl+C | Copy selected objects | If text is selected in an editor, it copies text instead. |
⌘V / Ctrl+V | Paste objects or clipboard content | Needs edit access and a writable canvas. |
⌘D / Ctrl+D | Duplicate selected objects | |
⌘G / Ctrl+G | Group | When more than one object can be grouped. |
⌘⇧G / Ctrl+Shift+G | Ungroup | |
⌘↑ / Ctrl+↑ | Bring to front | |
⌘↓ / Ctrl+↓ | Send to back | |
⌥E / Alt+E | Lock selected objects | |
⌥⇧E / Alt+Shift+E | Unlock objects ALLO can unlock for you | |
Space | Preview the selected file or media | |
⇧D / Shift+D | Download the selected file/media | Needs a downloadable object and permission. |
⇧C / Shift+C | Copy a private object link | For people who already have access; use a share link to invite someone new. |
⌥↩ / Alt+Enter | Open the linked canvas or folder-like object | |
⌘⌥↩ / Ctrl+Alt+Enter | Move the object to another canvas | When supported. |
⌘↩ / Ctrl+Enter | Add a comment to the selected object | |
⌘⌥T / Ctrl+Alt+T | Tidy up selected objects | |
⌘K / Ctrl+K | Add or edit a link | |
⌥B / Alt+B | Background color / cell background | |
⌥S / Alt+S | Stroke | |
⌥O / Alt+O | Opacity | |
⌥W / Alt+W | Shadow | |
⌥K / Alt+K | Resize | |
⌥C / Alt+C | Crop image | |
⇧H / Shift+H | Flip horizontally | |
⇧V / Shift+V | Flip vertically |
When a style dropdown is open, number keys act inside it: in Stroke, 0 removes the stroke and 1–9 choose widths; in Opacity, 1–9 set 10%–90% and 0 returns to 100%; color pickers use numbers for visible swatches. For locks see Lock canvas objects; for menu actions see the element menu.
Text editing shortcuts
These work while the caret is inside the rich text editor (text objects, sticky notes, shapes with text, comments, spreadsheet cells) and do not switch canvas tools.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
⌘B / Ctrl+B | Bold |
⌘I / Ctrl+I | Italic |
⌘U / Ctrl+U | Underline |
⌘⇧X / Ctrl+Shift+X | Strikethrough |
⌘K / Ctrl+K | Link |
⌘⇧7 / Ctrl+Shift+7 | Numbered list |
⌘⇧8 / Ctrl+Shift+8 | Bulleted list |
⌘⇧9 / Ctrl+Shift+9 | Checklist |
⌥↩ / Alt+Enter, or ⌘⇧↩ / Ctrl+Shift+Enter | Toggle a checklist item |
⌘⇧L/E/R/J / Ctrl+Shift+L/E/R/J | Align left / center / right / justify |
⌘+ / ⌘- (with Ctrl) | Increase / decrease font size |
⌘⌥1–⌘⌥6 / Ctrl+Alt+1–6 | Heading 1–6 |
⌘⌥0 / Ctrl+Alt+0 | Normal text |
⌘⌥\\ / Ctrl+Alt+\\ | Clear formatting |
Tab / ⇧Tab | Indent / outdent in lists |
Markdown-style triggers also work: #/##/### for headings, --- for a divider, single backtick for inline code, three backticks for a code block, > for a quote. See Use rich text in canvas objects.
Drawing shortcuts
These apply while the Drawing tool is active.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
D / H / E | Pen / highlighter / eraser |
[ / ] | Thinner / thicker stroke |
⇧[ / ⇧] (with Shift) | Thinner / thicker in a larger step |
2 / ⇧2 (with Shift) | Next / previous drawing color |
The eraser removes drawing strokes, not regular objects like sticky notes or files. See Pen drawings.
Undo, redo, and refresh
| Shortcut | Action | Notes |
|---|---|---|
⌘Z / Ctrl+Z | Undo | When the canvas owns focus. |
⌘⇧Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z | Redo | Mac and many web apps. |
Ctrl+Y | Redo | Common on Windows. |
⌘R / Ctrl+R | Refresh canvas data | The browser may refresh the page if it owns the shortcut. |
⌘⇧R / Ctrl+Shift+R | Force reload | Only when a normal refresh does not recover state. |
Undo and redo are safest immediately after the action. After switching canvases, reloading, or editing rich text, the shortcut may apply to a different layer than you expect. See Undo and redo.
If a shortcut does not work
Most failures come from focus, permissions, or platform interception.
| What you see | What to check |
|---|---|
| A letter appears instead of switching tools | You are typing in a note, comment, chat, cell, or browser input — click empty canvas space. |
| Browser find opens instead of canvas search | Click inside the canvas, then press ⌘F / Ctrl+F again. |
| Delete or duplicate does nothing | Confirm the object is editable and not locked or in a pending upload state. |
| An arrow endpoint keeps attaching | Hold ⌘ / Ctrl while placing or dragging the endpoint. |
| Resize keeps snapping | Hold ⌘ / Ctrl while resizing. |
| A shortcut conflicts with the OS or browser | Use the toolbar, inline toolbar, or element menu instead. |
Related articles
- Add and select canvas elements
- Arrows and lines
- Connect objects with smart arrows
- Use the element menu
- Lock canvas objects
- Use the hand tool
- Undo and redo canvas edits
- Search inside a canvas