Inkscape Keyboard Shortcuts

 

Tools
F1, sSelector
SpaceSelector (temporary) - Space switches to the Selector tool temporarily; another Space switches back.
F2, nNode tool
F3, zZoom tool
F4, rRectangle tool
F5, eEllipse/arc tool
F6, pFreehand (Pencil) tool
Shft+F6, bBezier (Pen) tool
Ctrl+F6, cCalligraphic tool
Ctrl+F1, gGradient tool
F7, dDropper tool
F8, tText tool
F9, iSpiral tool
Shft+F9, *Star tool
Ctrl+F2, oConnector tool
 
Dialogs
Shft+Ctrl+FFill and Stroke
Shft+Ctrl+WSwatches
Shft+Ctrl+TText and Font
Shft+Ctrl+MTransform
Shft+Ctrl+LLayers
Shft+Ctrl+AAlign and Distribute
Shft+Ctrl+OObject Properties
Shft+Ctrl+HUndo history
Shft+Ctrl+XXML Editor
Shft+Ctrl+DDocument Preferences
Shft+Ctrl+PInkscape Preferences
Shft+Ctrl+EExport to PNG
Ctrl+FFind
Shft+Alt+BTrace bitmap
F12Toggle dialogs - This temporarily hides all open dialogs; another F12 shows them again.
EscWithin a dialog return to the canvas
Ctrl+F4, Ctrl+WWithin a dialog close the dialog
TabWithin a dialog jump to next widget
Shft+TabWithin a dialog jump to previous widget
EnterWithin a dialog set the new value - This accepts the new value you typed in a text field and returns focus to canvas.
Ctrl+Enterin XML Editor, set the attr value When editing an attribute value in XML Editor, this sets the new value (same as clicking the Set attribute button).
Space, Enteractivate current button or list
Ctrl+PgUp, Ctrl+PgDnin a multi-tab dialog, switch tabs
 
Controls bar
Alt+Xjump to the first editable field
Enteraccept the new value
Esccancel changes, return to canvas
Ctrl+Zcancel changes
Tabjump to next field
Shft+Tabjump to previous field
Up arrow, Down arrowchange value by 0.1
PgUp, PgDnchange value by 5.0
 
Canvas
=, +zoom in
-zoom out
middle click, Ctrl+right clickzoom in
Shft+middle click, Shft+right clickzoom out
Ctrl+mouse wheelzoom in or out
Shft+middle button dragzoom into the area
Alt+ZActivate zoom field - The zoom field in the lower left corner of the window allows you to specify zoom level precisely.
1zoom 1:1
2zoom 1:2
3zoom to selection
4zoom to drawing
5zoom to page
Ctrl+E, 6zoom to page width
`(back quote) previous zoom
Shft+`next zoom
Ctrl+arrowsscroll 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 dragpan canvas
Shft+right button drag, Ctrl+right button dragpan canvas
mouse wheelscroll canvas vertically
Shft+mouse wheelscroll canvas horizontally
mouse dragdrag off a ruler to create guide
|, Shft+\toggle guides and snapping to guides
#, Shft+3toggle grid and snapping to grid
Ctrl+keypad 5toggle normal/outline mode
 
Palette
clickset fill color on selection
Shft+clickset stroke color on selection
mouse dragdrag fill color to objects
Shft+mouse dragdrag stroke color to objects
 
File
Ctrl+Ncreate new document
Ctrl+Oopen an SVG document
Shft+Ctrl+Eexport to PNG
Ctrl+Iimport bitmap or SVG
Ctrl+Pprint document
Ctrl+Ssave document
Shft+Ctrl+Ssave under a new name
Shft+Ctrl+Alt+Ssave a copy
Ctrl+Qexit Inkscape
 
Window
Ctrl+Rtoggle rulers
Ctrl+Btoggle scrollbars
F11toggle fullscreen
F10main menu
Shft+F10, right clickdrop-down (context) menu
Ctrl+F4, Ctrl+Wclose document window - This shuts down Inkscape if it was the only document window open.
Ctrl+Tabnext document window
Shft+Ctrl+Tabprevious document window - These cycle through the active document windows forward and backward.
 
Layers
Shft+PgUpmove to layer above
Shft+PgDnmove to layer below
Shft+Ctrl+PgUpraise layer
Shft+Ctrl+PgDnlower layer
Shft+Ctrl+Homeraise layer to top
Shft+Ctrl+Endlower layer to bottom
 
Object
Shft+Ctrl+Y, Ctrl+Zundo
Shft+Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Yredo
Ctrl+Ccopy selection - This places a copy of the selection to the Inkscape clipboard. Text from text objects is also placed onto the system clipboard.
Ctrl+Xcut selection - This works the same as copy selection followed by deleting the selection.
Ctrl+Vpaste clipboard - This places the clipboard objects at the mouse cursor, or at the center of the window if mouse is outside the canvas.
When editing text with the text tool, this pastes the text from the system clipboard into the current text object.
Ctrl+Alt+Vpaste in place - This places the clipboard objects to the original location from which they were copied.
Shft+Ctrl+Vpaste style -
This applies the style of the (first of the) coped object(s) to the current selection.
If a gradient handle (in Gradient tool) or a text span (in Text tool) are selected, they get the style instead of the entire object.
Ctrl+Dduplicate selection
Alt+Dclone object - A clone can be moved/scaled/rotated/skewed independently, but it updates the path, fill, and stroke from its original.
The clone is placed exactly over the original object and is selected.
You can only clone one object at a time; if you want to clone several objects together, group them and clone the group.
Shft+Alt+Dunlink clone - Unlinking a clone cuts the link to the original, turning the clone into a plain copy.
Shft+Dselect original - To find out which object this is a clone of, select the clone and give this command. The original will be selected.
Alt+Bcreate a bitmap copy
This exports the selected object(s) (all other objects hidden) as PNG in the document's directory and imports it back.
The imported bitmap is placed over the original selection and is selected.
Shft+Alt+Btrace bitmap - This opens the Trace Bitmap dialog allowing you to convert a bitmap object to path(s).
Alt+Iobject(s) to pattern - This converts the selection to a rectangle with tiled pattern fill.
Shft+Alt+Ipattern to object(s) - Each selected object with pattern fill is broken into the same object without fill and a single pattern object.
Shft+Ctrl+U, Ctrl+Ggroup selected objects - Use Ctrl+click to select objects within group.
Shft+Ctrl+G, Ctrl+Uungroup selected group(s) - This removes only one level of grouping; press Ctrl+U repeatedly to ungroup nested groups.
Homeraise selection to top
Endlower selection to bottom
PgUpraise selection one step
PgDnlower selection one step
 
Path
Shft+Ctrl+Cconvert selected object(s) to path
Ctrl+Alt+Cconvert stroke to path
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.
The result of Union, Difference, Intersection, and XOR inherits the id= attribute and therefore the clones of the bottom object.
Division and Cut path normally produce several objects; of them, a random one inherits the id= of the bottom source object.
Ctrl+(inset path (towards center)
Ctrl+)outset path (away from center) - The default offset distance is 2 px (SVG pixel units, not screen pixels).
Alt+(inset path by 1 pixel
Alt+)outset path by 1 pixel
Shft+Alt+(inset path by 10 pixels
Shft+Alt+)outset path by 10 pixels - 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+Jcreate dynamic offset
Ctrl+Alt+Jcreate linked offset
These commands produce an offset object, editable by the node tool, standalone or linked to the original.
Shft+Dselect source
Selecting a linked offset and giving this command will select the source path of the linked offset.
Ctrl+Kcombine 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.
Whether overlapping areas are filled is controlled by the Fill: winding/alternating switch on the Fill & Stroke dialog.
Shft+Ctrl+Kbreak paths apart - This attempts to break an object into constituent paths; it will fail if the object is one solid path.
Ctrl+Lsimplify
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 (settable in the Inkscape Preferences dialog).
 
Selector
Tabselect next object
Shft+Tabselect 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.
This works on objects within the current layer (unless you change that in preferences).






Ctrl+Aselect all (current layer) - This works on objects within the current layer (unless you change that in preferences).
Ctrl+Alt+Aselect all (all layers)
!invert selection (current layer)
Alt+!invert selection (all layers)
Escdeselect
Backspace, Deldelete selection
arrowsmove selection by the nudge distance
Shft+arrowsmove selection by 10x nudge distance
Alt+arrowsmove selection by 1 pixel
Alt+Shft+arrowsmove selection by 10 pixels
., >scale selection up by the scale step
,, <scale selection down by the scale step
Ctrl+., Ctrl+>scale selection to 200%
Ctrl+,, Ctrl+<scale selection to 50%
Alt+., Alt+>scale selection up by 1 pixel
Alt+,, Alt+<scale selection down 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.
[, ]rotate selection by the angle step
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.
These commands use the rotation center, draggable in Selector (by default it's in geometric center).
hflip selection horizontally
vflip selection vertically
clickselect an object
Shft+clicktoggle selection
click - click (double-click)edit the object
paths, double clicking switches to Node tool;
shapes, to corresponding shape tool;
text, to Text tool.
groups, double clicking per
ms the Enter group command (the group becomes temporary layer).
Double clicking in empty space swithes to the parent layer in the hierarchy, if any.
Ctrl+clickselect within group
Ctrl+Shft+clicktoggle selection within group
Alt+clickselect under
Alt+click selects the object at click point which is beneath (in z-order) the lowest selected object at click point.
If the bottom object is reached, Alt+click again selects the top object. So, several Alt+clicks cycle through z-order stack at point.
On Linux, Alt+click and Alt+drag may be reserved by the window manager. If you reconfigure your window manager
to not map Alt+click, then it will be free for Inkscape to use.
If your keyboard has a Meta key, you may wish to set your Modifier key to use it instead of Alt.
(Sometimes you can also use Ctrl+Alt+click (select under in groups) with the same effect as Alt+click.)

Shft+Alt+clicktoggle under
Ctrl+Alt+clickselect under, in groups
Shft+Ctrl+Alt+clicktoggle under, in groups
Ctrl+Enterenter group
Ctrl+Backspacego to parent group/layer
mouse dragselect multiple objects
Shft+mouse dragadd objects to selection
mouse dragselect + move
Alt+mouse dragmove selected
Ctrl+mouse dragrestrict movement to horizontal or vertical
Shft+mouse dragtemporarily disable snapping
mouse dragSpacedrop a copy
clicktoggle scale/rotation handles
mouse dragscale (scale handles)
mouse dragrotate or skew (rotation handles)
mouse dragscale
Ctrl+mouse dragscale preserving aspect ratio
Shft+mouse dragsymmetric transformation
Alt+mouse dragslow movement
mouse dragrotate or skew
Ctrl+mouse dragsnap skew angle
Ctrl+mouse dragsnap rotation angle
mouse dragmove rotation center
Shft+clickreset rotation center
Esccancel rubberband, move, transformation
 
Node tool
Tabselect next node
Shft+Tabselect previous node
Ctrl+Aselect all nodes in subpath(s)
Ctrl+Alt+Aselect all nodes in path
!invert selection in subpath(s)
Alt+!invert selection in path
Escdeselect all nodes
arrowsmove selected node(s) by the nudge distance
Shft+arrowsmove selected node(s) by 10x nudge distance
Alt+arrowsmove selected node(s) by 1 pixel
Alt+Shft+arrowsmove selected node(s) by 10 pixels
<, >contract/expand both handles by scale step
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
[, ]rotate both handles by the angle step
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
., >scale nodes up by the scale step
,, <scale nodes down by the scale step
Alt+., Alt+>scale nodes up by 1 pixel
Alt+,, Alt+<scale nodes down by 1 pixel
[, ]rotate nodes by the angle step
Alt+[, Alt+]rotate nodes by 1 pixel
hflip nodes horizontally
vflip nodes vertically
Shft+Lmake line
Shft+Umake curve
Shft+Cmake cusp
Shft+Smake smooth
Shft+Ymake symmetric
Ctrl+clicktoggle smooth/cusp/symmetric
Shft+Jjoin selected nodes
Shft+Bbreak selected node(s)
Backspace, Deldelete selected node(s)
Ctrl+Backspace, Ctrl+Deldelete without preserving shape
Ctrl+Alt+clickcreate/delete node
clickclickcreate node
Insinsert new node(s)
Shft+Dduplicate selected node(s)
clickclick a non-selected object to select
Alt+clickselect under
Shft+clicktoggle selection
clickselect a node
clickselect two adjacent nodes
Shft+clicktoggle selection
clickdeselect
mouse dragselect multiple nodes
Shft+mouse dragadd nodes to selection
mouse dragmove selected nodes
Ctrl+mouse dragrestrict movement to horizontal or vertical
Ctrl+Alt+mouse dragmove along handles
Shft+mouse dragtemporarily disable snapping
Shft+mouse dragdrag out handle
mouse dragmove a node handle
Ctrl+mouse dragsnap the handle to angle steps
Shft+mouse dragrotate both handles
Alt+mouse draglock the handle length
Ctrl+clickretract the handle
Shft+rreverse path direction
Esccancel rubberband or move
 
Rectangle tool
mouse dragdraw a rectangle
Ctrl+mouse dragmake a square or integer-ratio rectangle
Shft+mouse dragdraw around the starting point
clickclick an object to select
Alt+click, Ctrl+Alt+clickselect under
Shft+clicktoggle selection
mouse dragdrag a handle to resize or round corners
Ctrl+mouse draglock width, height, or ratio (resize handles)
Ctrl+mouse draglock the corner circular (rounding handles)
Escdeselect
 
Ellipse tool
mouse dragdraw an ellipse
Ctrl+mouse dragmake circle or integer-ratio ellipse
Shft+mouse dragdraw around the starting point
clickclick an object to select
Alt+click, Ctrl+Alt+clickselect under
Shft+clicktoggle selection
mouse dragdrag a handle to resize, make arc or segment
Ctrl+mouse draglock circle (resize handles)
Ctrl+mouse dragsnap to angle steps (arc/segment handles)
Escdeselect
 
Star tool
mouse dragdraw a star
Ctrl+mouse dragsnap star to angle steps
clickclick an object to select
Alt+clickselect under
Shft+clicktoggle selection
mouse dragdrag a handle to vary the star shape
Ctrl+mouse dragkeep star rays radial (no skew)
Shft+mouse draground the star
Shft+clickremove rounding
Alt+mouse dragrandomize the star
Alt+click, Ctrl+Alt+clickremove randomization
Escdeselect
 
Spiral tool
mouse dragdraw a spiral
Ctrl+mouse dragsnap spiral to angle steps
clickclick an object to select
Alt+clickselect under
Shft+clicktoggle selection
mouse dragroll/unroll from inside (inner handle)
Alt+mouse dragconverge/diverge (inner handle)
Alt+click, Ctrl+Alt+clickreset divergence (inner handle)
Shft+clickzero inner radius (inner handle)
mouse dragroll/unroll from outside (outer handle)
Shft+mouse dragscale/rotate (outer handle)
Ctrl+mouse dragsnap handles to angle steps
Escdeselect
 
Zoom tool
clickzoom in
Shft+clickzoom out
mouse dragzoom into the area
 
Pencil tool
mouse dragdraw a freehand line
Shft+mouse dragadd to selected path
Shft+mouse dragtemporarily disable snapping
 
Pen (Bezier) tool
clickcreate a sharp node
Shft+clickadd to selected path
mouse dragcreate a bezier node with two handles
Shft+mouse dragmove only one handle
Ctrl+mouse dragsnap the handle to angle steps
arrowsmove last node by the nudge distance
Shft+arrowsmove last node by 10x nudge distance
Alt+arrowsmove last node by 1 pixel
Alt+Shft+arrowsmove last node by 10 pixels
Ctrl+snap last segment to angle steps
Shft+Lmake last segment line
Shft+Umake last segment curve
Enterfinish current line
right clickfinish current line
clickclickfinish current line
Esc, Ctrl+zcancel current line
Backspace, Delerase last segment of current line
 
Calligraphy
mouse dragdraw a calligraphic line
Left arrow, Right arrowadjust pen width
Up arrow, Down arrowadjust pen angle
Escdeselect
mouse dragcreate gradient
clickclickcreate default gradient
Tabselect next handle
Shft+Tabselect previous handle
arrowsmove selected handle by the nudge distance
Shft+arrowsmove selected handle by 10x nudge distance
Alt+arrowsmove selected handle by 1 pixel
Alt+Shft+arrowsmove selected handle by 10 pixels
Escdeselect handle
click - clickopen gradient editor
Shft+rreverse gradient definition
clickclick an object to select
Alt+clickselect under
Shft+clicktoggle selection
 
Dropper tool
clickpick fill color
Shft+clickpick stroke color
mouse dragaverage fill color
Shft+mouse dragaverage stroke color
Alt+clickpick inverse color
Ctrl+Ccopy color
 
Text tool
clickcreate/select a text object
Escdeselect the text object
arrowsmove cursor by one character
Ctrl+Left arrow, Ctrl+Right arrowmove cursor by one word
Ctrl+Up arrow, Ctrl+Down arrowmove cursor by one paragraph
Home, Endgo to beginning/end of line
Ctrl+Home, Ctrl+Endgo to beginning/end of text
mouse dragcreate flowed text
mouse dragadjust frame size
Ctrl+mouse draglock width, height, or ratio of frame
Alt+Wflow text into frame
Alt+Shft+Wunflow text from frame
Shft+Dselect external frame
Shft+Dselect path from text
Enterstart a new line or paragraph
Ctrl+Utoggle Unicode entry
Ctrl+Spaceinsert no-break space
mouse dragselect text
Shft+arrowsselect text by character
Ctrl+Shft+arrowsselect text by word
Shft+Home, Shft+Endselect to beginning/end of line
Ctrl+Shft+Home, Ctrl+Shft+Endselect to beginning/end of text
clickclickselect word
clickclickclickselect line
Ctrl+Aselect all text
Ctrl+Bmake selection bold
Ctrl+Imake selection italic
Alt+>expand line/paragraph by 1 pixel
Shft+Alt+>expand line/paragraph by 10 pixels
Alt+<contract line/paragraph by 1 pixel
Shft+Alt+<contract line/paragraph by 10 pixels
Ctrl+Alt+>make the text object taller by 1 pixel
Shft+Ctrl+Alt+>make the text object taller by 10 pixels
Ctrl+Alt+<make the text object shorter by 1 pixel
Shft+Ctrl+Alt+<make the text object shorter by 10 pixels
Alt+arrowsshift characters by 1 pixel
Shft+Alt+arrowsshift characters by 10 pixels
Ctrl+[, Ctrl+]rotate character(s) by 90 degrees
Alt+[, Alt+]rotate character(s) by 1 pixel

 

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