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1.4 Keyboard Shortcuts

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Frédéric Clavert edited this page Jul 26, 2026 · 8 revisions

Keyboard Shortcuts

Verified against the code for RC3.

This document lists all keyboard shortcuts available in ClioDeck.

Note: On macOS, use Cmd instead of Ctrl.

File

Shortcut Action Description
Ctrl+N New file Creates a new blank Markdown file
Ctrl+O Open file Opens an existing Markdown file
Ctrl+S Save Saves the current file
Ctrl+Shift+N New project Creates a new project
Ctrl+Shift+O Open project Opens an existing project
Ctrl+E Export PDF Opens the PDF export dialog
Ctrl+, Settings Opens the configuration panel

Editing

Shortcut Action Description
Ctrl+Z Undo Undoes the last modification
Ctrl+Y (Win/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+Z (macOS) Redo Redoes the last undone modification
Ctrl+X Cut Cuts selected text
Ctrl+C Copy Copies selected text
Ctrl+V Paste Pastes text from clipboard
Ctrl+A Select all Selects all content

Markdown Formatting

Shortcut Action Description
Ctrl+B Bold Inserts or formats text as bold
Ctrl+I Italic Inserts or formats text as italic
Ctrl+L Insert link Inserts a Markdown link [text](url)
Ctrl+' Insert citation Inserts a BibTeX citation [@key]
Ctrl+Shift+T Insert table Inserts a Markdown table
Ctrl+Shift+Q Insert blockquote Inserts a blockquote block

Advanced Editing

Shortcut Action Description
Ctrl+Shift+C Check Citations Lists citation keys missing from your bibliography. In a book, checks the whole manuscript and names the chapter of each missing key

Document statistics are always visible in the status bar, so the old Ctrl+Shift+S toggle was removed. Citation suggestions moved to the Similarity panel.

View

Shortcut Action Description
Alt+1 Projects panel Activates project management panel
Alt+2 Bibliography panel Activates bibliography panel
Alt+3 Chat panel Activates the assistant panel
Ctrl+J AI usage journal Opens the AI usage journal
Ctrl+0 Reset zoom Restores default zoom
Ctrl++ Zoom in Increases zoom level
Ctrl+- Zoom out Decreases zoom level
F11 (Win/Linux) / Ctrl+Cmd+F (macOS) Full screen Toggles full screen mode — Electron's togglefullscreen role default differs by platform, F11 is not the macOS binding
F12 / Ctrl+Shift+I (Win/Linux) / Cmd+Option+I (macOS) DevTools Opens developer tools — F12 works via Chromium's built-in binding; the menu's toggleDevTools role separately binds the platform-specific combo shown
Ctrl/Cmd+R Reload Reloads the app window — real, standard Electron shortcut; easy to trigger by accident while writing
Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+R Force reload Reloads ignoring cache

Bibliography

Shortcut Action Description
Ctrl+Shift+B Import BibTeX Opens BibTeX import dialog

Search

Shortcut Action Description
Ctrl+F Search In the editor, searches the current document

In a book project, a toolbar button searches the whole manuscript, grouping results by chapter. See Books and Chapters.

Research Tools

Shortcut Action Description
Ctrl+Shift+F Insert Footnote Inserts a reference and its definition, cursor in the definition

Window

Shortcut Action Description
Ctrl+W / Cmd+W Close window Closes the current window. Cmd+W was not bound on macOS before RC4
Cmd+M (macOS only) Minimize Minimizes window to dock
Ctrl+Q (Win/Linux) / Cmd+Q (macOS) Quit Quits the application

Tips

Quick Navigation Between Panels

Use Alt+1 through Alt+3 to move between the project, bibliography and assistant panels without touching the mouse.

Optimal Editing Workflow

  1. Ctrl+N - New file
  2. Write your content
  3. Ctrl+B / Ctrl+I - Quick formatting
  4. Ctrl+' - Insert citations
  5. Ctrl+S - Save regularly
  6. Ctrl+E - Export to PDF when done

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Ctrl+Shift+B - Import your BibTeX file
  2. Alt+2 - Switch to Bibliography panel
  3. Ctrl+F - Search for a citation
  4. Click "Insert" or use Ctrl+' in editor

RAG Chat

  • Alt+3 - Quickly access Chat panel
  • Type your question in the input field
  • Ctrl/Cmd+Enter sends; bare Enter inserts a newline (MessageInput.tsx) — the opposite of the usual chat-app convention, and there is no dedicated Shift+Enter handling since plain Enter already inserts a line break
  • Cancelling an ongoing generation is a toolbar button (⏹️) only — there is no Escape keyboard shortcut for it (ChatSurface.tsx/MessageInput.tsx wire onCancel to a click handler, not a keydown listener)

Customization

Keyboard shortcuts are defined in the src/main/menu.ts file. To modify them:

  1. Open src/main/menu.ts
  2. Modify the accelerator property of the desired menu item
  3. Rebuild the application with npm run build
  4. Restart the application

Shortcut Format

Shortcuts use Electron Accelerator format:

  • CmdOrCtrl - Cmd on macOS, Ctrl on Windows/Linux
  • Shift - Shift key
  • Alt - Alt key (Option on macOS)
  • Combine with +: CmdOrCtrl+Shift+B

Available Keys

You can use:

  • Letters: A-Z
  • Numbers: 0-9
  • Function keys: F1-F24
  • Special keys: Space, Tab, Enter, Escape, Backspace, Delete
  • Symbols: +, -, =, [, ], etc.

References

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