Keyboard Shortcuts

Most features in novelWriter are available as keyboard shortcuts. This is a reference list of those shortcuts. Most of them are also listed in the application’s user interface.

Note

On MacOS, replace Ctrl with Cmd.

Main Window Shortcuts

Shortcut	Description
F1	Open the online user manual
F5	Open the Build Manuscript tool
F6	Open the Writing Statistics tool
F8	Toggle Focus Mode
F9	Re-build the project’s index
F11	Toggle full screen mode
Ctrl+,	Open the Preferences dialog
Ctrl+E	Switch focus to the document editor
Ctrl+T	Switch or toggle focus for the project tree or novel view
Ctrl+Q	Exit novelWriter
Ctrl+Shift+,	Open the Project Settings dialog
Ctrl+Shift+O	Open the Welcome dialog to open or create a project
Ctrl+Shift+S	Save the current project
Ctrl+Shift+T	Switch focus to the outline view
Ctrl+Shift+W	Close the current project
Shift+F1	Open the local user manual (PDF) if it is available
Shift+F6	Open the Project Details dialog

Project Tree Shortcuts

Shortcut	Description
F2	Edit the label of the selected item
Return	Open the selected document in the editor
Alt+Up	Jump or go to the previous item at same level in the tree
Alt+Down	Jump or go to the next item at same level in the tree
Alt+Left	Jump to the parent item in the tree
Alt+Right	Jump to the first child item in the project tree
Ctrl+.	Open the context menu on the selected item
Ctrl+L	Open the Quick Links menu
Ctrl+N	Open the Create New Item menu
Ctrl+O	Open the selected document in the editor
Ctrl+R	Open the selected document in the viewer
Ctrl+Up	Move selected item one step up in the tree
Ctrl+Down	Move selected item one step down in the tree
Ctrl+Shift+Del	Move the selected item to Trash

Document Editor Shortcuts

Text Search Shortcuts

Shortcut	Description
F3	Find the next occurrence of the search word
Ctrl+F	Open the search bar and search for the selected word, if any is selected
Ctrl+G	Find the next occurrence of the search word
Ctrl+H	Open the search tool and populate with the selected word (Mac Cmd+=)
Ctrl+Shift+1	Replace selected occurrence of the search word, and move to the next
Ctrl+Shift+G	Find the previous occurrence of the search word
Shift+F3	Find the previous occurrence of the search word

Text Formatting Shortcuts

Shortcut	Description
Ctrl+'	Wrap selected text, or word under cursor, in single quotes
Ctrl+"	Wrap selected text, or word under cursor, in double quotes
Ctrl+/	Toggle block format as comment for block under cursor, or selected text
Ctrl+0	Remove block formatting for block under cursor, or selected text
Ctrl+1	Change block format to heading level 1
Ctrl+2	Change block format to heading level 2
Ctrl+3	Change block format to heading level 3
Ctrl+4	Change block format to heading level 4
Ctrl+5	Change block alignment to left-aligned
Ctrl+6	Change block alignment to centred
Ctrl+7	Change block alignment to right-aligned
Ctrl+8	Add a left margin to the block
Ctrl+9	Add a right margin to the block
Ctrl+B	Format selected text, or word under cursor, with strong emphasis (bold)
Ctrl+D	Format selected text, or word under cursor, with strike through
Ctrl+I	Format selected text, or word under cursor, with emphasis (italic)
Ctrl+Shift+/	Remove block formatting for block under cursor, or selected text
Ctrl+Shift+D	Toggle block format as ignored text for block under cursor, or selected text

Other Editor Shortcuts

Shortcut	Description
F7	Re-run the spell checker on the document
Ctrl+.	Open the context menu at the current cursor location
Ctrl+A	Select all text in the document
Ctrl+C	Copy selected text to clipboard
Ctrl+K	Activate the insert commands (see list in Insert Shortcuts)
Ctrl+R	Open or reload the current document in the viewer
Ctrl+S	Save the current document
Ctrl+V	Paste text from clipboard to cursor position
Ctrl+W	Close the current document
Ctrl+X	Cut selected text to clipboard
Ctrl+Y	Redo latest undo
Ctrl+Z	Undo latest changes
Ctrl+Backspace	Delete the word before the cursor
Ctrl+Del	Delete the word after the cursor
Ctrl+F7	Toggle spell checking
Ctrl+Return	Open the tag or reference under the cursor in the viewer
Ctrl+Shift+A	Select all text in the current paragraph

Insert Shortcuts

A set of insert features are also available through shortcuts, but they require a double combination of key sequences. The insert feature is activated with Ctrl+K, followed by a key or key combination for the inserted content.

Shortcut	Description
Ctrl+K, Space	Insert a non-breaking space
Ctrl+K, _	Insert a long dash (em dash)
Ctrl+K, .	Insert an ellipsis
Ctrl+K, '	Insert a modifier apostrophe
Ctrl+K, *	Insert a list bullet
Ctrl+K, %	Insert a per mille symbol
Ctrl+K, ~	Insert a figure dash (same width as a number)
Ctrl+K, −	Insert a short dash (en dash)
Ctrl+K, 1	Insert a left single quote
Ctrl+K, 2	Insert a right single quote
Ctrl+K, 3	Insert a left double quote
Ctrl+K, 4	Insert a right double quote
Ctrl+K, C	Insert a @char keyword
Ctrl+K, E	Insert an @entity keyword
Ctrl+K, F	Insert a @focus keyword
Ctrl+K, G	Insert a @tag keyword
Ctrl+K, H	Insert a short description comment
Ctrl+K, L	Insert a @location keyword
Ctrl+K, O	Insert an @object keyword
Ctrl+K, P	Insert a @plot keyword
Ctrl+K, S	Insert a synopsis comment
Ctrl+K, T	Insert a @time keyword
Ctrl+K, V	Insert a @pov keyword
Ctrl+K, X	Insert a @custom keyword
Ctrl+K, Ctrl+Space	Insert a thin non-breaking space
Ctrl+K, Ctrl+_	Insert a horizontal bar (quotation dash)
Ctrl+K, Ctrl+'	Insert a prime
Ctrl+K, Ctrl+"	Insert a double prime
Ctrl+K, Ctrl+*	Insert a flower mark (alternative bullet)
Ctrl+K, Ctrl+−	Insert a hyphen bullet (alternative bullet)
Ctrl+K, Ctrl+D	Insert a division sign
Ctrl+K, Ctrl+O	Insert a degree symbol
Ctrl+K, Ctrl+X	Insert a times sign
Ctrl+K, Shift+Space	Insert a thin space

Document Viewer Shortcuts

Shortcut	Description
Alt+Left	Move backward in the view history
Alt+Right	Move forward in the view history
Ctrl+C	Copy selected text to clipboard
Ctrl+Shift+A	Select all text in the current paragraph
Ctrl+Shift+R	Close the document viewer