Keyboard shortcuts and canvas interactions
The slides editor supports keyboard shortcuts, mouse gestures, and touch interactions to help you work faster. Here's a complete reference.
Note for Mac users: Replace Ctrl with Cmd for all shortcuts.
Sidebar shortcuts
Quickly open and close the sidebar tabs:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Shift+A | Open/close the Apps panel |
| Shift+T | Open/close the Templates panel |
| Shift+I | Open/close the Insert panel |
| Shift+D | Open/close the Draw panel |
Press the same shortcut again to close the panel.
Selecting objects
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Select an object | Click on it |
| Select multiple objects | Hold Shift and click each object, or drag a selection box around them |
| Select all objects on the slide | Ctrl+A (Cmd+A) |
| Deselect | Click on empty space, or press Escape |
| Cycle through objects | Tab moves to the next object, Shift+Tab moves to the previous |
Moving and positioning objects
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Move an object | Click and drag it |
| Move in a straight line | Hold Shift while dragging to constrain to horizontal or vertical movement |
| Nudge by 1px | Select an object and press an arrow key |
| Nudge by 10px | Hold Shift and press an arrow key |
| Snap to other objects | Drag an object near the edge or centre of another — snap guides (coloured lines) will appear to help you align precisely |
| Snap to grid | Enable the grid from the editor menu for regular spacing |
When you drag an object near other shapes, the editor shows snap guides — thin lines indicating alignment with edges, centres, and even spacing between objects. These make it easy to line things up without manual measurement.
Resizing and rotating objects
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Resize | Drag a corner handle on the selected object |
| Scale | Hold Shift while dragging a corner handle to give more or less space to object contents |
| Rotate | Drag the rotation handle near the corners of the selected object |
| Rotate in 15° increments | Hold Shift while rotating to snap to fixed angles |
Duplicating objects
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Duplicate in place | Ctrl+D (Cmd+D) |
| Duplicate by dragging | Hold Alt (Option on Mac) and drag the object — a copy is created and moves with your cursor. Hold shift as well to align to the same vertical or horizontal position as the original object |
| Copy and paste | Ctrl+C then Ctrl+V (Cmd+C then Cmd+V) |
Alt+drag is particularly handy for quickly creating rows or grids of similar objects — duplicate one, then duplicate the copy, and so on.
Multi-select and use any of the above methods to duplicate multiple objects at once.
Layer ordering
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Bring to front | Right-click → Reorder → Bring to front |
| Bring forward one layer | Right-click → Reorder → Bring forward |
| Send backward one layer | Right-click → Reorder → Send backward |
| Send to back | Right-click → Reorder → Send to back |
| Flip Horizontal | Right-click → Arrange → Flip H |
| Flip Vertical | Right-click → Arrange → Flip V |
Objects can never be sent behind the slide background.
Grouping and locking
Select objects to group via the three-lined menu (top-left) or the shortcuts below.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+G (Cmd+G, or right click and choose Group) | Group selected objects |
| Ctrl+Shift+G (Cmd+Shift+G, or right click and choose Ungroup) | Ungroup |
Locked objects can't be moved or resized, but interactive objects like apps can still be used while locked.
Drawing tool shortcuts
| Shortcut | Tool |
|---|---|
| V | Select tool |
| E | Eraser tool |
| D | Pencil (draw) tool |
| Modifier | Effect |
|---|---|
| Shift while drawing a shape | Constrain to perfect proportions (circle, square, etc.) |
| Shift while drawing a line | Constrain to horizontal, vertical, or 45° angles |
Text editing
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Double-click on slide | Create a new text box |
| Double-click on existing text | Edit it |
| Ctrl+B (Cmd+B) | Bold |
| Ctrl+I (Cmd+I) | Italic |
| Ctrl+U (Cmd+U) | Underline |
| Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter) | Finish editing text |
| Escape | Finish editing text |
Undo and redo
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z, or button in top bar) | Undo |
| Ctrl+Shift+Z (Cmd+Shift+Z, or button in top bar) | Redo |
| Delete or Backspace | Delete selected objects |
Undo and redo work within the current session — if you leave the editor and come back, previous changes can't be undone.
Canvas navigation
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Pan around | Hold Space and drag, or use scroll/trackpad |
| Pan with middle mouse | Hold the middle mouse button and drag |
| Zoom in/out | Ctrl+scroll wheel (Cmd+scroll), or pinch on trackpad |
| Zoom to fit slide | Click the fit-to-slide button in the bottom bar, or the zoom to slide button that appears at the top when the whole slide is not currently visible |
| Quick zoom | Press Z, then click where you want to zoom to |
Snap (alignment) guides
The canvas intelligently shows relevant snap guides as you drag objects and then hold the Alt (Option on Mac) key. For example, you can align an app exactly to the top left corner of a slide, then resize to fit exactly to, for example, half the slide width.
Snap guides appear at corners, edges, and centres of shapes.
Presentation mode
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Next slide | Right arrow, or back/forwards buttons at the bottom, or swipe/tap the right side zone (touch-enabled device) |
| Previous slide | Left arrow, or back/forwards buttons at the bottom, or swipe/tap the left side zone (touch-enabled device) |
| Exit presentation | Escape, or click the Exit button |
Tips
- Sidebar panel open toggle shortcuts use Shift (not Ctrl/Cmd) so they don't conflict with text editing
- Alt+drag to duplicate is one of the most useful interactions to learn — it's much faster than copy-paste for placing multiple similar objects
- Shift+drag to constrain works for moving, resizing, rotating, and drawing — hold Shift whenever you want precision