VisualEditor/Portal/Keyboard shortcuts

This page outlines the various mouse and keyboard commands supported by VisualEditor. If you have ideas for new useful commands, or have noticed problems with the existing ones, please let us know on the Feedback Page.

For the full list of Wikipedia shortcuts, see: w:WP:Keyboard shortcuts.

Commonly-used shortcuts

PC shortcut	Action	Icon	Mac shortcut
Ctrl+B	Bold		⌘ Cmd+B
Ctrl+I	Italic		⌘ Cmd+I
Ctrl+K	Insert link		⌘ Cmd+K
Ctrl+⇧ Shift+K	Insert citation	Cite	⌘ Cmd+⇧ Shift+K
Ctrl+X	Cut		⌘ Cmd+X
Ctrl+C	Copy		⌘ Cmd+C
Ctrl+V	Paste		⌘ Cmd+V
Ctrl+⇧ Shift+V	Paste as plain text		⌘ Cmd+⇧ Shift+V
Ctrl+Z	Undo		⌘ Cmd+Z
Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Z	Redo		⌘ Cmd+⇧ Shift+Z
Tab ↹	Indent list		Tab ↹
⇧ Shift+Tab ↹	Outdent list		⇧ Shift+Tab ↹
Ctrl+\ or Ctrl+M	Clear formatting		⌘ Cmd+\ or ⌘ Cmd+M
Alt+s	Save	Publish changes…	Ctrl+⌥ Option+s

Template editor dialog shortcuts and keyboard interactions

These shortcuts only apply when editing a template instance in the pop-up dialog. Those marked with a * only apply in the cases of multi-part template content. The shortcuts can be used to turn a single template into multi-part template content by adding another template or a wikitext part.

PC shortcut	Action	Icon	Mac shortcut
Spacebar	Toggle a checkbox, adding or removing a parameter		Spacebar
↵ Enter	Add a parameter and immediately switch the focus to the input to start adding a value		↵ Enter
Ctrl+⇧ Shift+D	Add an undocumented parameter		⌘ Cmd+⇧ Shift+D
Ctrl+D	Add a template* (linked, not nested)		⌘ Cmd+D
Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Y	Add a wikitext part*		⌘ Cmd+⇧ Shift+Y
Ctrl+Del	Delete a part (template or wikitext) when selected in the sidebar*		⌘ Cmd+Del
Ctrl+⇧ Shift+↑	Move a part up when selected in the sidebar*		⌘ Cmd+⇧ Shift+↑
Ctrl+⇧ Shift+↓	Move a part down when selected in the sidebar*		⌘ Cmd+⇧ Shift+↓

Full list of mouse and keyboard interactions

Feature	Action
Move cursor with mouse	Clicking
Move cursor with keyboard	Direction keys
Select content with mouse	Dragging
Select content with mouse	Double and triple clicking
Select content with keyboard	Shift + (Direction keys)
Select word with mouse	Double click word
Select block with mouse	Triple click block
Adjust selection with mouse	Shift + Click
Load insertion formatting from content	Move cursor
Insert text with keyboard	Character and number keys
Insert special characters with keyboard	Multiple character or number keys using an input method editor
Delete with keyboard	← Backspace and Delete
Delete word with keyboard	Alt+← Backspace and Alt+Delete	⌥ Option+← Backspace and ⌥ Option+Delete
Delete line with keyboard	Ctrl+← Backspace and Ctrl+Delete	⌘ Command+← Backspace and ⌘ Command+Delete
Undo with keyboard	Ctrl+Z	⌘ Command+Z
Redo with keyboard	Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Z	⌘ Command+⇧ Shift+Z
Copy selection with keyboard	Ctrl+C	⌘ Command+C
Cut selection with keyboard	Ctrl+X	⌘ Command+X
Paste selection with keyboard	Ctrl+V	⌘ Command+V
Copy selection from menu	"Copy" in context or browser menu
Cut selection from menu	"Cut" in context or browser menu
Paste selection from menu	"Paste" in context or browser menu
Highlight object with mouse	Clicking
Toggle bold on selected content and in insertion formatting with mouse	Click bold tool in toolbar
Toggle italic on selected content and in insertion formatting with mouse	Click italic tool in toolbar
Toggle bold on selected content and in insertion formatting with keyboard	Ctrl+B	⌘ Command+B
Toggle italic on selected content and in insertion formatting with keyboard	Ctrl+I	⌘ Command+I
Split block with keyboard	↵ Enter
Merge blocks with keyboard	Backspace at beginning or delete at end of block boundary
Switch the direction you write in between right-to-left and left-to-right	Ctrl+⇧ Shift+X	⌘ Command+⇧ Shift+X