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Adobe InDesign Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows

Keyboard shortcuts for Adobe InDesign on Windows. Covers text frames, paragraph styles, and document navigation on Windows.
Key label style

Selection and navigation tools

Selection tool
V
or
Esc
Direct Selection tool
A
Toggle Selection and Direct Selection
Ctrl+Tab
Page tool
Shift+P
Gap tool
U
Hand tool
H
Temporarily select the Hand tool (no insertion point)
Space
Temporarily select the Hand tool (with text insertion point)
Alt+Drag
or
Alt+Space
Zoom tool
Z
Temporarily select Zoom In tool
Ctrl+Space
Temporarily select Zoom Out tool
Ctrl+Alt+Space
or
Alt
with the Zoom In tool
Zoom to 50%, 200%, or 400%
Ctrl+524

Drawing and text tools

Pen tool
P
Add Anchor Point tool
=
or
Num Equal
Delete Anchor Point tool
-
Convert Direction Point tool
Shift+C
Type tool
T
Type on a Path tool
Shift+T
Pencil tool
N
Line tool
\

Shape and frame tools

Rectangle Frame tool
F
Rectangle tool
M
Ellipse tool
L
Frame Grid tool (horizontal)
Y
Frame Grid tool (vertical)
Q

Transform tools

Rotate tool
R
Scale tool
S
Shear tool
O
Free Transform tool
E

Other tools

Eyedropper tool
I
Measure tool
K
Gradient Swatch tool
G
Gradient Feather tool
Shift+G
Scissors tool
C
Toggle Fill and Stroke
X
Swap Fill and Stroke
Shift+X
Toggle Formatting affects container / text
J
Apply Color
,
Apply Gradient
.
Apply None
/
Switch between Normal and Preview mode
W

Selecting and moving objects

Temporarily select the Selection tool or Direct Selection tool
Ctrl
with any tool except the selection tools
Temporarily select the Group Selection tool
Alt
or
Ctrl+Alt
with the Direct Selection or Pen / Add / Delete Anchor Point tool
Select the container of selected content
Esc
or
Double-click
Select the content of the selected container
Shift+Esc
or
Double-click
Add to or subtract from the selectionClick the object's center point to deselect it.
Shift+Click
with Selection / Direct Selection / Group Selection tool
Duplicate selection
Alt+Drag
with Selection / Direct Selection / Group Selection tool
Duplicate and offset selection
Alt+UpDownLeftRight
Duplicate and offset by 10×
Alt+Shift+UpDownLeftRight
Move selection
UpDownLeftRight
Move selection by 1/10th
Ctrl+Shift+UpDownLeftRight
Move selection by 10×
Shift+UpDownLeftRight
Select the parent page item from the document page
Ctrl+Shift+Click
with Selection / Direct Selection tool
Select the next object behind or in front
Ctrl+Click
or
Ctrl+Alt+Click
with Selection tool
Select all guides
Ctrl+Alt+G

Transforming objects

Duplicate and transform selection
Alt+Drag
with Transformation tool
Display the Transformation tool dialog box
Double-click+Scale toolRotate toolShear tool
with an object selected
Resize frame and content
Ctrl+Drag
with Selection tool
Resize the frame and content proportionately
Ctrl+Shift+Drag
with Selection tool
Constrain proportion
Shift+Drag
with Ellipse / Polygon / Rectangle tool
Switch between High Quality Display and Fast Display
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Z

Character formatting

Bold (fonts with bold face only)
Ctrl+Shift+B
Italic (fonts with italic face only)
Ctrl+Shift+I
Normal
Ctrl+Shift+Y
Underline
Ctrl+Shift+U
Strikethrough
Ctrl+Shift+/
All caps on/off
Ctrl+Shift+K
Small caps on/off
Ctrl+Shift+H
Superscript
Ctrl+Shift+=
Subscript
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+=
Reset horizontal/vertical scale to 100%
Ctrl+Shift+X
or
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+X

Type size and leading

Increase/decrease point size
Ctrl+Shift+.
or
Ctrl+Shift+,
Increase/decrease point size by 5×
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+.
or
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+,
Increase/decrease leading (horizontal text)
Alt+UpDown
Increase/decrease leading (vertical text)
Alt+RightLeft
Increase/decrease leading by 5× (horizontal text)
Ctrl+Alt+UpDown
Increase/decrease leading by 5× (vertical text)
Ctrl+Alt+RightLeft
Auto leading
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+A

Kerning and tracking

Increase/decrease kerning and tracking (horizontal text)
Alt+LeftRight
Increase/decrease kerning and tracking (vertical text)
Alt+UpDown
Increase/decrease kerning and tracking by 5× (horizontal text)
Ctrl+Alt+LeftRight
Increase/decrease kerning and tracking by 5× (vertical text)
Ctrl+Alt+UpDown
Clear all manual kerning and reset tracking to 0
Ctrl+Alt+Q

Paragraph formatting

Align left, right, or center
Ctrl+Shift+LRC
Justify all lines
Ctrl+Shift+F
or
Ctrl+Shift+J
Align to grid on/off
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+G
Auto-hyphenate on/off
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+H

Baseline shift

Increase/decrease baseline shift (horizontal text)
Alt+Shift+UpDown
Increase/decrease baseline shift (vertical text)
Alt+Shift+RightLeft
Increase/decrease baseline shift by 5× (horizontal text)
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+UpDown
Increase/decrease baseline shift by 5× (vertical text)
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+RightLeft

Navigating and selecting text

Move right/left one character
RightLeft
Move up/down one line
UpDown
Move right/left one word
Ctrl+RightLeft
Move to the start/end of the line
HomeEnd
Move to previous/next paragraph
Ctrl+UpDown
Move to the start/end of the story
Ctrl+HomeEnd
Select one word
Double-clickword
Select one character right/left
Shift+RightLeft
Select one line above/below
Shift+UpDown
Select to start/end of line
Shift+HomeEnd
Select one paragraphQuadruple-clicking the paragraph selects it too.
Triple-clickparagraph
Select one paragraph before/after
Ctrl+Shift+UpDown
Select current line
Ctrl+Shift+\
Select the start/end of the story
Ctrl+Shift+HomeEnd
Select all in the story
Ctrl+A

Tables

Insert or delete rows/columns while dragging
Dragborder,Alt
Resize rows/columns without changing table size
Shift+Draginterior border
Resize rows/columns proportionally
Shift+Dragthe right or bottom border
Move to next/previous cell
Tab
or
Shift+Tab
Move to the first/last cell in the column
Alt+Pg UpPg Dn
Move to the first/last cell in the row
Alt+HomeEnd
Move up/down one cell
UpDown
Select cell above/below
Shift+UpDown
Select the cell to the right/left
Shift+RightLeft
Start row on the next column
Num Enter
Start row on next frame
Shift+Num Enter

Viewing documents

Temporarily select the Hand tool
Space
or
Alt+Drag
Fit spread in the window
Double-clickthe Hand tool
Switch between the current and previous zoom levels
Ctrl+Alt+2
Redraw screen
Shift+F5
Open a new default document
Ctrl+Alt+N
Switch to the next/previous document window
Ctrl+`
or
Ctrl+Shift+F6
or
Ctrl+Shift+`
Scroll up/down one screen
Pg UpPg Dn
Go back/forward to the last viewed page
Ctrl+Pg UpPg Dn
Go to previous/next spread
Alt+Pg UpPg Dn
Activate the Go To command
Ctrl+J
Fit selection in the window
Ctrl+Alt+=
Cycle through units of measurement
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+U

Panels

Delete without confirmation
Alt+ClickDelete icon
Create an item and set options
Alt+ClickNew icon
Apply value and keep focus on the option
Shift+Enter
Activate the last option in the last panel
Ctrl+Alt+`
Select a range in the panel
Shift+Click
Select non-adjacent items in the panel
Ctrl+Click
Show/hide all panels with no insertion point
Tab
Show/hide all panels except the Tools and Control panels
Shift+Tab
Open/close all stashed panels
Ctrl+Alt+Tab

Specific panels

Activate the Control panel
Ctrl+6
Toggle Character / Paragraph mode ( Control panel)
Ctrl+Alt+7
Character panel
Ctrl+T
Paragraph panel
Ctrl+Alt+T
Paragraph Styles panel
F11
Character Styles panel
Shift+F11
Tabs panel
Ctrl+Shift+T
Layers panel
F7
Pages panel
F12
Color panel
F6
Swatches panel
F5
Stroke panel
F10
Drop Shadow panel
Ctrl+Alt+M

Styles

Make the character style definition match the text
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C
with text selected
Make paragraph style definition match text
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+R
with text selected
Change options without applying style
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Double-clickstyle
Remove style and local formatting
Alt+Clickparagraph style
Clear overrides from paragraph style
Alt+Shift+Clickparagraph style

Finding and changing text

Insert selected text into the Find What box
Ctrl+F1
Insert selected text into Find What and find next
Shift+F1
Find the next occurrence of Find What text
Shift+F2
or
Ctrl+Alt+F
Insert selected text into the Change To box
Ctrl+F2
Replace selection with Change To text
Ctrl+F3

XML

Expand/Collapse element
RightLeft
Expand/Collapse element and child elements
Alt+RightLeft
Extend XML selection up/down
Shift+UpDown
Move XML selection up/down
UpDown
Scroll the structure pane up/down one screen
Pg UpPg Dn
Select first/last XML node
HomeEnd
Extend selection to first/last XML node
Shift+HomeEnd
Go to previous/next validation error
Ctrl+LeftRight
Auto-tag text frames and tables
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F7

Indexing

Create index entry without dialog box (alphanumeric only)
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+[
Open the index entry dialog box
Ctrl+7
Create proper name index entry (last name, first name)
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+]

Color and swatches

Move color sliders in tandem
Shift+Dragslider
Select a color for non-active fill or stroke
Alt+Clickcolor bar
Switch between color modes
Shift+Clickcolor bar
Create a new swatch based on the current swatch
Alt+ClickNew Swatch icon
Create a spot color swatch based on the current swatch
Ctrl+Alt+ClickNew Swatch icon

Separations Preview

Turn on Overprint preview
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Y
Show all plates
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+`
Show Cyan plate
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+1
Show Magenta plate
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+2
Show Yellow plate
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+3
Show Black plate
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+4
Show 1st–3rd Spot plates
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+567

Intro

InDesign on Windows uses Ctrl as its primary modifier. The Place shortcut, Ctrl+D, is the anchor of the InDesign workflow on Windows, the same as Cmd+D on Mac. The full shortcut set is consistent between platforms with the modifier swap.

Windows-specific shortcut notes

Place. Ctrl+D opens the Place dialog for importing images, graphics, and text.

Page navigation. Page Up/Page Down for spreads. Navigation shortcuts for first/last page and linked text frame flow are in the table.

Paragraph and character styles. Apply named styles by keyboard. The shortcut is the style's assigned keyboard combination, configurable through Edit → Keyboard Shortcuts.

Find/Change. Ctrl+F opens InDesign's Find/Change dialog.

Story Editor. The keyboard shortcut to open Story Editor is in the table, useful for editing long text in a distraction-free plain-text view.

Frame fitting. Fit content to frame, fit frame to content, and center content, all have Ctrl-based shortcuts.

Panel management. Tab hides/shows all panels.

Printable PDF

The InDesign Windows shortcut list is available as a printable PDF.

FAQ

Need more than shortcuts?
Visit the Adobe InDesign app page for an overview and helpful links.

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