Keyboard shortcuts let you switch tools and run common actions without reaching for the palette. The main canvas tools sit on single keys, so you can move between selecting, panning, and pointing in a single tap, and the built-in shortcut reference in Settings lists everything in one place. ⌘ below is the Command key on a Mac; on Windows and Linux use Ctrl.
The shortcut reference
Run Keyboard Shortcuts from search (⌘K) and Settings opens on its Keyboard category. Below the on/off switch, All Shortcuts lists every binding the editor knows, in collapsible groups by purpose, so you never have to memorise the full set. You can also get there yourself: open Settings from the gear in the editor's bottom bar and pick Keyboard.
The most useful canvas-tool keys are:
Vto Select (the default on desktop), withSkept working as a legacy alias where the palette strip's Search isn't shown; where it is,Sopens Search.Hfor the Hand (pan) tool, the default on touch viewports.Kfor the Laser pointer, for drawing attention while you present.Zto toggle Zen mode on and off.Escapeexits it too, once nothing is selected (the first press clears the selection).
One more switches mode rather than tool, and has an article of its own: I for Isometric mode (hold Shift and drag to rotate its camera).
The reference in Settings stays available in every role. On a view-only link, only the keys that change nothing still work: V (or S or 1), H, K, I and Z, zoom and zoom to fit, search, Tab to step through elements, and Escape. Everything that edits is switched off. A Participant sits in between: they can type into labels and articles, undo and redo, but no key adds, deletes, copies, duplicates, locks, reorders or nudges anything.
Editing shortcuts
These are the chords that edit the selection.
| Keys | Does |
|---|---|
⌘Z | Undo |
⌘⇧Z | Redo (Ctrl Y works too) |
⌘X | Cut the selection |
⌘C | Copy the selection |
⌘V | Paste, offset from the original |
⌘D | Duplicate the selection, offset |
⌘⇧L | Lock or unlock the selection |
⌘A | Select everything on the tab |
Delete / ⌫ | Delete the selection |
⌘⇧] / ⌘⇧[ | Bring to front / send to back |
Cut, copy and paste use your operating system's clipboard, not a private one, so a selection copied on one tab pastes onto another, into a different document, or into a second browser window. A paste lands offset from the original rather than exactly on top of it, so you can see what arrived, and arrows between copied elements come along and reconnect to the copies.
Moving around and selecting
| Keys | Does |
|---|---|
⌘K | Open search and commands (⌘. does the same) |
⌘+ / ⌘- | Zoom in / out |
⌘0 | Reset the zoom to 100% |
⇧1 | Zoom to fit everything on the tab |
Tab | Select the next element while the canvas has focus (Shift for the previous one) |
F6 | Move to the next part of the editor: header, palette, canvas, controls, tabs (Shift for the previous one) |
| Arrow keys | Nudge the selection 1px, or 10px with Shift |
⇧ + click | Add an element to the selection, or take it out |
⇧ + drag | Drop a duplicate (the original stays put) |
Space + drag | Pan the canvas whatever tool you are holding |
Space | Edit the selected element's label |
| Just type | Replace the selected element's label |
Escape | Cancel the current mode, or clear the selection |
Hold ⌘ | Show each palette tile's shortcut badge |
Keys that place an element
The rest of the letters pick up an element, ready to place: click a page to drop it at its default size, or drag to draw it to the size you want. A page can be built without visiting the palette at all:
Ra square,Oa circle,Da diamond,Ca cylinder,Ga parallelogram.Aan arrow,Ta text label,Na sticky note.
The number row
The main tools also sit on a digit, along the top of the keyboard:
| Key | Tool | Key | Tool |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Select | 5 | Arrow |
2 | Square | 8 | Text |
3 | Diamond | 9 | Image |
4 | Circle |
The digits are laid out to mirror Excalidraw's tool row, so if you have that muscle memory it carries straight over.
9 does nothing in an embedded document, where images can't be uploaded.
The chords (undo, copy, zoom and the rest) work on every kind of page.
Hold Shift for the power moves
Shift is the editor's power modifier. While you hold it, a small hint bar near the top of the canvas names what Shift is doing right then, so these are easy to discover:
- Shift-click elements to build a multi-selection; Shift-click again to remove one.
- Shift-click table cells to select several cells and style or clear them together.
- Shift while resizing an element (or drawing one to size) locks its proportions.
- Shift while move-dragging a selection drops a duplicate: the originals stay put, a translucent ghost follows your cursor, and the copy lands where you release, connected arrows included, all in one undo step.
- Shift while placing a quick-connect arrow chains the next arrow from the same source, so a hub fans out in one flow.
- Shift-drag a selected arrow's head splits a branch off its line, one trunk pointing at several targets. See Arrows.
- Shift + arrow keys nudge the selection in big (10px) steps.
While presenting
A running slide deck has its own set, and only its own set: the editor's shortcuts are switched off for the duration, so a stray R cannot drop a rectangle onto the canvas behind the slide.
| Keys | Does |
|---|---|
→, Space, Enter, Page Down, or a click | Next slide |
← or Page Up | Previous slide |
Home / End | Jump to the first or last slide |
G | Open the jump-to-slide list |
N | Show or hide presenter notes (on a slide that has them) |
L / S | Arm the laser / the spotlight |
Esc | Close what's open (jump list, notes, settings), or leave the presentation |
A click on empty slide advances; a click on an element that carries a note or comments opens them instead. Click-to-advance can be switched off in the deck's settings, and it pauses while the laser or spotlight is armed, so a click points rather than turns the page.
Turning shortcuts off
Shortcuts are handy, but they are not for everyone: if you dictate into the browser, or share it with something that needs the keys, they get in the way. You can switch them off with the Keyboard Shortcuts switch at the top of the Keyboard category in Settings: open Settings from the gear in the editor's bottom bar, pick Keyboard, and flip the switch.
Turning them off switches off the editor's shortcuts, not just the single letters: the tool keys, Delete, Escape, and the chords such as ⌘Z and ⌘C all stop, and the browser's own behaviour for those keys comes back. A few keep working because they are part of how the canvas or a presentation is driven rather than shortcuts: pasting with ⌘V (it goes through the browser's own paste), Space + drag to pan, holding ⌘ to show the palette's badges, and the slide keys while presenting. Use the on-screen controls (undo and redo sit in the bottom-right corner) while they are off. This choice is saved in your browser and, unlike most preferences, deliberately stays per device rather than following you across sign-in: that way you can keep shortcuts on where you have a full keyboard and off on a device where you don't.
The editor is also careful about context: even with shortcuts on, typing into a text label or an input never triggers a tool key. A z typed into a label is just a z, never a jump into Zen mode.
If a single key keeps switching your tool while you work, open Settings on the Keyboard category and flip the switch at the top to turn shortcuts off. You can turn them back on the moment you want the speed again.
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