Keyboard Essentials

The small set of shortcuts worth learning first to work quickly on the canvas.

You can do everything in livediagram with the mouse, but a few keyboard shortcuts make working on the canvas much faster. This is the short list worth committing to memory. For the complete reference, see keyboard shortcuts.

Switching tools

The canvas tools each have a single-key shortcut, matching the conventions in tools like Figma and Excalidraw:

  • V: Select tool (click, shift-click, and marquee-select elements).
  • H: Hand tool (drag empty canvas to pan around).
  • K: Laser pointer (a glowing trail your collaborators see during a presentation).
  • E: Eraser (press, or hold and drag, to delete elements).
  • Z: Zen mode, which hides all the chrome for distraction-free work. See Zen mode.

Moving the view

You will pan and zoom constantly, and you do not need to leave the Select tool to do it:

  • Hold Space and drag to pan from any tool.
  • Middle-click and drag to pan as well.
  • Pinch on a trackpad or touch screen to zoom; the on-screen zoom buttons sit in the bottom-right of the canvas.

Everyday editing

A few shortcuts cover the actions you repeat most:

  • Undo and redo step back and forward through your changes. The same controls sit at the bottom of the Palette.
  • Double-click a shape or arrow to edit its text label.
  • Escape cancels an in-progress text edit or closes an open dialog.
  • Enter commits text, or confirms a dialog.

The editor has a built-in shortcuts dialog: open it from the button on the tab bar to see the full list any time without leaving your diagram.

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