Keyboard shortcuts

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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 (Esc.png);
  • 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 (Mesh key f1 small.png);
  • the F2 key is the same as the Group view key (Friends key f2 small.png);
  • the F3 key is the same as the Home view key (Home key f3 small.png);
  • the F4 key is the same as the Activity view key (Activity key f4 small.png);
  • 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 short cuts

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
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 Windows
Esc-Frame-RightArrow-Fn (the four corners keys on the keyboard) Recalibrate touchpad (AKA Four finger salute); Fn should be pressed last. Four finger salute.jpg
Fn-UpArrow Page Up
Fn-DownArrow Page Down
Fn-LeftArrow Home
Fn-RightArrow End
Ctrl-BrightnessDown Backlight off black & white mode
Ctrl-BrightnessUp Full brightness color mode
Ctrl-VolumeDown Mute
Ctrl-VolumeUp Full volume

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.)