Keyboard Shortcuts

You can use your keyboard to quickly accomplish numerous tasks in Artboard. In order to find the shortcuts for common commands, look in the menus (or see the keyboard shortcuts listed below). In order to complete an action in the left column, press the keys indicated in the right column.

Show Hide Keyboard Shortcuts for Activating Drawing Tools

ACTION	SHORTCUT
Show Tools palette	⌘Command-2
Activate Select tool while using any other drawing tool	[s] or Esc
Temporarily activate the Pan tool while any other drawing tool is active	[spacebar]
Pan tool	[h]
Ruler tool	[m]
Zoom tool	[z]
Reverse zoom in tool to zoom out	Option-click (with Zoom In tool active)
Reverse zoom out tool to zoom in	Option-click (with Zoom Out tool active)
Rectangle tool	[r]
Oval tool	[o]
Irregular Polygon tool	[p]
Regular Polygon tool	[g]
Wedge tool	[w]
Arc tool	[a]
Straight Line tool	[l]
Bezier Path tool	[b]
Freehand Path tool	[f]
Path Cutter tool	[u]
Text Box tool	[t]
Text Path tool	[e]
Insert Path Point tool	[+]
Delete Path Point tool	[–]
Stamp tool	[y]
Style Dropper tool	[d]

Show Hide Keyboard Shortcuts for Manipulating Objects

ACTION	SHORTCUT
End path	Esc key (while drawing Irregular Polygon, Bezier Curve, Curved Track, and Polygonal Track)
Undo	⌘Command-Z
Redo	Shift-⌘Command-Z
Cut selected object(s)	⌘Command-X
Copy selected object(s)	⌘Command-C
Paste selected object(s)	⌘Command-V
Select all items in the active layer	⌘Command-A
Select others (all objects currently unselected)	Shift-⌘Command-A
Duplicate object once	⌘Command-D
Duplicate object and move it	Option- (press and drag object)
Duplicate object in place	Option- (click object)
Join endpoints of selected paths / tracks	⌘Command-J
Convert shape object to Path	Shift-⌘Command-P or double-click object
Convert path object to Shape	Shift-⌘Command-S or double-click object
Constrain lines to straight segments at 15-degree angled increments	Shift- draw paths and tracks
Constrain the aspect ratio of a shape	Shift- (draw shapes)
Copy style	Option-Shift-⌘Command-C
Paste style	Option-Shift-⌘Command-V
Pick up style from existing object while another drawing tool is active	⌘Command- (click on object with style to be picked up)
Bring forward	⌘Command- (up arrow key)
Send Backward	⌘Command- (down arrow key)

Show Hide Keyboard Shortcuts for Navigating Drawing & Palettes

ACTION	SHORTCUT
Zoom in	Shift-⌘Command- +
Zoom out	Shift-⌘Command- – (underscore)
Zoom to 100%	⌘Command-0
Zoom to fit	Shift-⌘Command-0
Constrain Guide placement on rulers to even, whole number increments	Shift-(drag Guide)
Minimize Window	⌘Command-M
Show Tools palette	⌘Command-2
Show Styles & Clip Art palette	⌘Command-3
Show Style Inspector	⌘Command-4
Show Library Manager	⌘Command-5
Show Colors panel	Shift-⌘Command-C
Copy ruler	Control-⌘Command-C
Paste ruler	Control-⌘Command-V

Show Hide Keyboard Shortcuts for Formatting Text

ACTION	SHORTCUT
Show Fonts panel	⌘Command-T
Insert next line in text box	Return
End text edit mode	Esc
Insert Special Characters	Option-⌘Command-T
Bold	⌘Command-B
Italicize	⌘Command-I
Underline	⌘Command-U
Make font size bigger	⌘Command- + (equals)
Make font size smaller	⌘Command- –
Edit text	⌘Command-E
Align text flush left	⌘Command- {
Align text center	⌘Command- \|
Align text flush right	⌘Command- }
Tighten text kerning / tracking	Option-⌘Command- ←
Loosen text kerning / tracking	Option-⌘Command- →

Show Hide Keyboard Shortcuts for Combining Objects through Boolean Operations

ACTION	SHORTCUT
Union (combine objects)	Shift-⌘Command-U
Intersect (combine objects)	Shift-⌘Command-I
Difference (combine objects)b	Shift-⌘Command-D
Append, or merge (combine objects)	Shift-⌘Command-M

Show Hide Keyboard Shortcuts for Working with Layers

ACTION	SHORTCUT
Add new drawing layer	Shift-⌘Command-N
Activate layer #	Option-⌘Command- 0 through # (zero is top layer and they are numbered consecutively downward)

Show Hide Keyboard Shortcuts for File Actions

ACTION	SHORTCUT
Open Preferences	⌘Command- , (comma key)
Hide application	⌘Command-H
Hide other applications	Option-⌘Command-H
Quit application	⌘Command-Q
Open new drawing	⌘Command-N
Open new drawing from template	Option-⌘Command-N
Open a file	⌘Command-O
Close file	⌘Command-W
Save file	⌘Command-S
Print file	⌘Command-P