Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard Shortcuts

This page is the complete table of ChemDraft’s built-in shortcut registry for the standard ChemDraft shortcut scheme.

Cmd below means Command on macOS; its Windows equivalent is Ctrl. Some keys are context-sensitive: the hover rows act only when the pointer is over a native atom or bond. In text editing fields, normal text entry takes priority. Preferences can select a different keybinding scheme; this reference is for the default scheme.

File, edit, view, and document tabs

Command	macOS	Windows
New Document	Cmd+N	Ctrl+N
Open	Cmd+O	Ctrl+O
Save	Cmd+S	Ctrl+S
Save As	Shift+Cmd+S	Shift+Ctrl+S
Export	Shift+Cmd+E	Shift+Ctrl+E
Undo	Cmd+Z	Ctrl+Z
Redo	Shift+Cmd+Z	Shift+Ctrl+Z; Ctrl+Y
Cut	Cmd+X	Ctrl+X
Copy	Cmd+C	Ctrl+C
Paste	Cmd+V	Ctrl+V
Select All	Cmd+A	Ctrl+A
Copy As SMILES	Option+Cmd+C	Alt+Ctrl+C
Copy As CDXML Text	Cmd+D	Ctrl+D
Copy As MOL Text	Option+Cmd+O	Alt+Ctrl+O
Copy As MOL V2000 Text	Option+Shift+Cmd+O	Alt+Shift+Ctrl+O
Zoom In	Cmd++	Ctrl++
Zoom Out	Cmd+-	Ctrl+-
Preferences	Cmd+,	Ctrl+,
Show/Hide Rulers	Cmd+R	Ctrl+R
Show/Hide Crosshairs	Shift+Cmd+R	Shift+Ctrl+R
Close Document Tab	Cmd+W	Ctrl+W
Next Document Tab	Ctrl+Tab	Ctrl+Tab
Previous Document Tab	Ctrl+Shift+Tab	Ctrl+Shift+Tab

On Windows, F5, Ctrl+F5, Ctrl+R, and Ctrl+Shift+R must never reload the webview. ChemDraft suppresses browser refresh chords unless a ChemDraft command owns the chord; in the default scheme Ctrl+R belongs to Show/Hide Rulers. macOS does not have that WebView reload shortcut.

Tools

Tool	macOS	Windows
Selection Tool	V	V
Lasso Selection	L	L
Eraser Tool	E	E
Single Bond	M	M
Chain Tool	C	C
Cyclopentane Template	R	R
Text Tool	T	T
Positive Charge Tool	+	+
Negative Charge Tool	-	-

No default shortcut is registered for the wedge, hashed wedge, dashed, bold, flexible chain, atom-label, benzene, cyclohexane, chair, radical, lone-pair, bracket, symbol, or arrow tools. Use their toolbar or flyout.

Hover and editing actions

Action when its target is hovered	macOS	Windows
Add single bond	1	1
Set hovered bond to double	2	2
Set hovered bond to triple	3	3
Add carbonyl to hovered carbon	K	K
Delete selection or hovered target	Backspace	Backspace
Forward-delete selection or hovered target	Delete	Delete
Cyclic bond	0	0
Attach benzene	3	3
Sprout wedge	4	4
Sprout hashed wedge	5	5
Attach cyclohexane	6	6
Attach cyclopentane	7	7
Sprout methylidene	8	8
Sprout gem-dimethyl	9	9

When a native bond is hovered, the numeric ring-fusion rows are 4 cyclobutane, 5 cyclopentane, 6 cyclohexane, 7 cycloheptane, 8 cyclooctane, 9 chair cyclohexane A, and 0 chair cyclohexane B. The 2 and 3 rows are target-specific: over a bond they set bond order; over an atom the numeric drawing ladder can instead create the corresponding atom action. A failed valence check changes nothing and gives a status reason.

When a native atom is hovered, the default scheme also accepts its single-letter element typing for H, B, C, N, O, F, P, S, and I. These are hover typing actions rather than globally registered tool switches. The two-letter keyboard paths belong to the optional alternate scheme, so they are not listed as default bindings here.

Layout commands

Command	macOS	Windows
Align Left / Center / Right	Option+Shift+Cmd+L / C / R	Alt+Shift+Ctrl+L / C / R
Align Top / Middle / Bottom	Option+Shift+Cmd+T / M / B	Alt+Shift+Ctrl+T / M / B
Distribute Horizontally / Vertically	Option+Shift+Cmd+H / V	Alt+Shift+Ctrl+H / V
Group / Ungroup	Cmd+G / Shift+Cmd+G	Ctrl+G / Shift+Ctrl+G
Bring to Front / Forward	Shift+Cmd+] / Cmd+]	Shift+Ctrl+] / Ctrl+]
Send Backward / to Back	Cmd+[ / Shift+Cmd+[	Ctrl+[ / Shift+Ctrl+[
Clean up Structure 2D	Shift+Cmd+K	Shift+Ctrl+K

Next

• Drawing Basics
• Selection and Editing
• Toolbars and Palettes