Keyboard shortcuts

Learning even a handful of these makes a noticeable difference on a large sheet, because switching tools by keyboard keeps your cursor where you are working.

Tools

Press the key to switch tool. These work whenever the editor has focus and you are not typing in a field.

Key	Tool
`R`	Region
`X`	Expand Region
`P`	Precision Region
`S`	Shape
`D`	Color Sweep
`I`	Inclusive Region
`F`	Free Trace
`Q`	Color Filter
`B`	Manual Border
`E`	Eraser
`L`	Linear Region
`C`	Count
`A`	Auto Count
`G`	Find Pattern
`H`	Magnifier
`W`	Measure Width
`M`	Markup
`V`	Inspect
`Z`	Zone
`N`	Drawing Navigator

Shape modes

Available while Shape (S) is selected.

Key	Mode
`1`	Polygon
`2`	Drag Box
`3`	Box
`4`	Drag Circle
`5`	Circle
`6`	Brush
`7`	Ellipse

Eraser modes

Available while the Eraser (E) is selected.

Key	Mode
`1`	Polygon
`2`	Drag Box
`3`	Box
`4`	Drag Circle
`5`	Circle
`6`	Brush
`7`	Ellipse
`⇧R`	Region
`⇧S`	Sweep
`⇧M`	Multi
`⇧X`	Expand
`⇧F`	Free Trace

Linear Region modes

Available while Linear Region (L) is selected.

Key	Mode
`1`	Polyline
`2`	Dashed Trace
`3`	Freehand Trace
`4`	Ellipse
`5`	Dot Trace
`6`	Auto Boundary
`7`	Auto Line
`C`	Cut

Canvas views

Key	View
`Ctrl` + `1` (`Cmd` + `1`)	Fit to Screen
`Ctrl` + `2`	TakeOff View
`Ctrl` + `3`	3D View
`Ctrl` + `4`	Hawk View
`Ctrl` + `5`	Crisp
`Ctrl` + `6`	Hueprint
`Ctrl` + `B`	Toggle boundary

Canvas Aids

The three toggles in the Canvas Aids panel on the status bar. Ctrl is Cmd on Mac.

Key	Aid
`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `H`	Magnifier
`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `P`	Left-click drag pan
`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `X`	Full-screen crosshair

Canvas aids guide

Fill options

Applied to each area as you create it. Toggle from the canvas controls or with these keys.

Key	Action
`⇧S`	Solid Fill
`⇧G`	Seal Gaps
`⇧P`	Bounding Box Fill
`⇧D`	Door-aware Fill

Area tool options

Available while Expand Region (X) or Inclusive Region (I) is selected.

Key	Action
`⇧X`	Toggle CrossGuard

Moving between drawings

The arrows at the top right of the editor step through the drawing set. They follow whatever order the Drawing Navigator is sorted by, so changing the sort there changes what “next” means.

Key	Action
`Alt` + `←` (`Option` + `←`)	Previous drawing
`Alt` + `→` (`Option` + `→`)	Next drawing
`PageUp`	Previous drawing
`PageDown`	Next drawing
`N`	Open or close the Drawing Navigator
`Esc`	Close the Drawing Navigator

Unsaved work is handled the same way as leaving the editor: you are asked before the next drawing opens.

The app

Key	Action
`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `M` (`Cmd` + `Shift` + `M`)	Show or hide the performance indicator in the footer

Working

Key	Action
`Esc`	Cancel what you are drawing
`Enter`	Complete the current shape or path
`Delete` or `Backspace`	Delete the selection

While drawing a line, the dots on the line itself take gestures:

Gesture	Action
Click the end dot (E)	Preview line on or off
`Shift` + click the end dot (E)	Save the run
`Shift` + click the start dot (S)	Discard the run
`Shift` + click a middle dot	Trim the run back to that dot

Esc is the one to remember. Whatever you have half drawn, Esc backs out of it without leaving anything behind.

Press it again with nothing left to cancel and it returns you to the Region tool, which also closes whichever tool options panel was open. So Esc twice always gets you back to a clean slate.

Undo and redo

Key	Action
`Ctrl` + `Z` (`Cmd` + `Z` on Mac)	Undo
`Ctrl` + `Y` (`Cmd` + `Y` on Mac)	Redo

Work in progress groups also have their own Undo and Redo buttons, which step through operations on that group alone. Use those when you want to reverse something on one material without disturbing work done since.

Groups, work in progress and saved layers

Batch takeoff

Available while a region tool is active. Pressing the active mode’s key again turns batch off.

Key	Mode
`J`	Multi: one region per dot
`K`	Merge: one combined region
`U`	Unmerge: a separate region per piece crossed
`Enter`	Take off the picked points
`Esc`	Clear the picked points

A suggested order to learn them

You do not need all of these. In practice these six carry most of the benefit:

R for Region, the first tool you try on a plain area.
X for Expand Region, for the hatched and textured ones.
E for Eraser, since correcting is constant.
Esc to back out of anything.
Ctrl + Z to undo.
L or C depending on whether your jobs are length heavy or count heavy.

Add the eraser sub-modes once erasing becomes routine, since switching between Box and Region erasing by keyboard is much quicker than going back to the toolbar each time.