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 or toggle focus for the editor or viewer

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 search and look for the selected word

Ctrl+G

Find the next occurrence of the search word

Ctrl+H

Open replace and look for the selected word (Mac Cmd+=)

Ctrl+Shift+1

Replace selected occurrence, and move to the next

Ctrl+Shift+G

Find the previous occurrence of the search word

Ctrl+Shift+F

Open project search and look for the selected 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 comment format for block or selected text

Ctrl+0

Remove format for block 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 bold

Ctrl+D

Format selected text, or word under cursor, with strike through

Ctrl+I

Format selected text, or word under cursor, with italic

Ctrl+Shift+/

Remove format for block or selected text

Ctrl+Shift+D

Toggle ignored text format for block 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, M

Insert a @mention 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