Keyboard shortcuts

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HowTo [ID# 190105]  +/-

This page provides a listing of the agreed upon shortcuts for the system at large and for various controls within the activities, which should be referenced for consistency across them. For a high-level philosophical on the usage of various modifier keys, please refer to the HIG.

Please see cheat codes for a list of boot options.

  For the general public

Special keys

• the Ctrl key has a solid diamond on it (♦);
• the Alt key has an open diamond on it (◊);
• the Esc key has a white × inside a black circle ();
• the Tab key has double arrows on it (↹);
• the Tilde key has a tilde on it (~);
• the Frame key has an open rectangle on it (□);
• the F1 key is the same as the Neighborhood view key ();
• the F2 key is the same as the Group view key ();
• the F3 key is the same as the Home view key ();
• the F4 key is the same as the Activity view key ();
• the Delete key is the same as Fn-Erase.
• the Page Up key is the same as Fn-up-arrow (↑).
• the Page Down key is the same as Fn-down-arrow (↓).
• the Home key is the same as Fn-left-arrow (←).
• the End key is the same as Fn-right-arrow (→).

Keyboard shortcuts

Keystroke	Description
Sugar/System
Alt-Tab Ctrl-Tab	Cycle forward through running activities
Shift-Alt-Tab Shift-Ctrl-Tab	Cycle backward through running activities
Ctrl-Tilde (See discussion)	Cycle forward through running instances of the current activity
Shift-Ctrl-Tilde (See discussion)	Cycle backward through running instances of the current activity
Ctrl-c	Copy to clipboard
Ctrl-v	Paste from clipboard
Ctrl-x	Cut (and copy to clipboard)
Ctrl-a	Select all (current input/dialog/text box )
Ctrl-q	Quit activity
Ctrl-Esc	Quit activity
Alt-Enter	Toggle full-screen mode
Alt-Space	Toggle tray visibility (works in Browse but not in Record)
Ctrl-u	View source in Browse (opens copy of source in Write)
Fn-Space	View source (system wide, although not enabled in all applications yet)
Ctrl-Alt-Erase	Restart Sugar
Alt-1	Screen capture; saved to Journal as a PNG file named "Screenshot"
Ctrl-Alt-F1 (F1 is the Neighborhood key)	Console 1
Ctrl-Alt-F2 (F2 is the Friends key)	Console 2
Ctrl-Alt-F3 (F3 is the Home key)	X Window
Esc-Frame-RightArrow-Fn (the four corners keys on the keyboard)	Recalibrate touchpad (AKA Four finger salute); Fn should be pressed last.
Fn-UpArrow	Page Up
Fn-DownArrow	Page Down
Fn-LeftArrow	Home
Fn-RightArrow	End
Alt-BrightnessDown	Backlight off black & white mode
Alt-BrightnessUp	Full brightness color mode
Ctrl-VolumeDown	Mute
Ctrl-VolumeUp	Full volume

Not in terminal

A terminal window sends Ctrl+key combinations to the program you are running, so most of these key combinations don't work. In release 8.1.0 and subsequent releases, to copy or paste in the Terminal Activity, press Shift-Ctrl-c or Shift-Ctrl-v.

Using modifier keys in combination

Note about the use of modifier keys: there are several (slightly) different ways in which key combinations are indicated in the wiki. Whenever you see combinations separated by either a - or + this means to press these keys together, starting with the modifier keys. The last key in the sequence should be pressed while holding down the modifier key(s). For example:

Shift-A (or Shift+A) means hold the Shift key down and then press the A key while holding down the Shift key. This will create a capital letter A. (The order is important: if you press the A key first, the result will be a lower case a.)

Ctrl-Alt-Erase (or Ctrl+Alt+Erase) means hold down both the Ctrl and Alt keys and then press the Erase key. This will restart Sugar/X Windows. (Again, the order is important: if you press the Erase key first, the result will be a backspace.)