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Affinity Vector Studio Keyboard Shortcuts for Mac

Keyboard shortcuts for Affinity Vector Studio on Mac. Covers node editing, layer management, artboard navigation, and symbol tools on macOS.
Key label style

Vector Studio tools

Color Picker Tool
I
Contour Tool
O
Corner Tool
C
Fill Tool
G
Knife Tool
K
Move Tool
V
Node Tool
A
Path Brush Tool
B
Pen Tool
P
Pencil Tool
N
Point Transform Tool
F
Shape Builder Tool
S
Shape tools cycle (Rectangle, Ellipse, and Rounded Rectangle)
U
Stroke Width Tool
W
Text tools cycle (Artistic and Frame Text)
T
Transparency Tool
Y
Vector Flood Fill Tool
R
View Tool
H
Zoom Tool
Z

Slice Studio tools

Slice Tool
S
Slice Selection Tool
L

Curve drawing

Edit line or brush strokes as you draw/paint
Cmd
Create a straight line segment as you draw
Ctrl+Drag
Snap a line's control handle to 45° intervals
Shift+Dragcontrol handle
Convert a node to a sharp corner
Opt+Click
Convert a node to a sharp corner with mirrored control handle length
Opt+Drag
Create a new sharp node
Shift+Clickon any node
Reposition last drawn node without affecting control handle position (maintains curvature in and out of the node)
Space+Click,Drag

Curve editing with Node Tool

Convert to Smooth node
Ctrl+Click
Convert to Sharp node (cusp)
Opt+Click
or
Double-clickoff-curve control handle
Cycle between sharp and smooth node types
Double-clicka node
Select previous/next node on a curve
[]
Straighten a segment
Opt+Clicka segment
Delete a segment
Ctrl+Clicka segment
Delete a node (retaining curve's geometry)
Del
Delete a node (for 'best-fitting' reshaped curve)
Opt+Del

Painting

Paint a brush stroke along a straight line (45° intervals)
Shift,Drag
Pick up a new brush color
Opt+Drag
Toggle between standard brush cursor and crosshair cursor
CapsLock
Set selected layer's opacity
<0-9>
Set brush width (decrease/increase)
[]
Set nozzle width
Ctrl+Opt+Dragleft or right

Intro

The Vector studio is Affinity's vector design environment, formerly the standalone app Affinity Designer. Since Affinity's 2025 relaunch it is one of three studios (Vector, Pixel, and Layout) inside a single free Affinity app, and you switch between them from the studio switcher rather than opening a separate program. On Mac, the Vector studio uses Command (⌘) as its primary modifier, and single-key tool shortcuts activate without any modifier, the same convention as Illustrator and other Mac design tools.

Mac-specific shortcut notes

One app, three studios. Affinity is now a single application with Vector, Pixel, and Layout studios (plus the Canva AI studio). Switching to the Vector studio gives you the vector toolset and its shortcuts. There is no separate Designer app to launch.

Single-key tools. Press the key to activate a tool: selection, node tool, pen, text tools, shape tools, and view tools all have single-key shortcuts, with no Command modifier needed. The full tool list is in the table above.

Node editing. The node tool selects individual anchor points and path segments. Modifier keys during node editing control node behavior: adding, removing, converting, and breaking nodes.

Artboard management. Switching between artboards, selecting all content within an artboard, and creating new artboards have shortcuts covered in the table above.

Layer and object management. Cmd+G groups and Cmd+Shift+G ungroups. Stacking order uses Cmd+[ and Cmd+] (backward and forward), and Cmd+Shift+[ and Cmd+Shift+] (to back and front). Cmd+D duplicates.

Canvas navigation. Fit the canvas to the window, and Space+drag to pan.

Printable PDF

The Vector studio shortcut list for macOS is available as a printable PDF. The single-key tools and the layer and object management commands are the most useful to keep nearby when learning the vector workflow.

FAQ

Need more than shortcuts?
Visit the Affinity Vector Studio app page for an overview and helpful links.

Want to suggest a new app, report a bug, or get help? Email us at info@hkeys.app.

For anything else or just a quick hello, write to us at info@hkeys.app.