Adobe InDesign CS3 Keyboard Shortcuts

Note: This table isn't a complete list of keyboard shortcuts. It lists only those shortcuts that aren't displayed in menu commands or tool tips.

List of shortcut keys

Shortcut	Command	How useful(?)
Keys for tools Adobe InDesign CS3
V, Esc	Selection tool	+ –
A	Direct Selection tool	+ –
Shft+A	Position tool	+ –
Ctrl+Tab	Toggle Selection and Direct Selection tool	+ –
P	Pen tool	+ –
=	Add Anchor Point tool	+ –
-	Delete Anchor Point tool	+ –
Shft+C	Convert Direction Point tool	+ –
T	Type tool	+ –
Shft+T	Type On A Path tool	+ –
N	Pencil tool (Note tool)	+ –
\	Line tool	+ –
F	Rectangle Frame tool	+ –
M	Rectangle tool	+ –
L	Ellipse tool	+ –
R	Rotate tool	+ –
S	Scale tool	+ –
O	Shear tool	+ –
E	Free Transform tool	+ –

I	Eyedropper tool	+ –
K	Measure tool	+ –
G	Gradient tool	+ –
B	Button tool	+ –
C	Scissors tool	+ –
H	Hand tool	+ –
Spacebar (Layout mode), Alt (Text mode), or Alt+Spacebar (both)	Temporarily selects Hand tool	+ –
Z	Zoom tool	+ –
Ctrl+Spacebar	Temporarily selects Zoom In tool	+ –
X	Toggle Fill and Stroke	+ –
Shft+X	Swap Fill and Stroke	+ –
J	Toggle between Formatting Affects Containerand Formatting Affects Text	+ –
, [comma]	Apply Color	+ –
. [period]	Apply Gradient	+ –
/	Apply No Color	+ –
W	Switch between Normal View and Preview Mode	+ –
Shft+G	Gradient Feather tool	+ –


Keys for selecting and moving objects Adobe InDesign CS3
Any tool (except selection tools)+Ctrl	Temporarily select Selection or Direct Selectiontool (last used)	+ –
Direct Selection tool+Alt; or Pen, Add Anchor Point, or Delete Anchor Point tool+Alt+Ctrl	Temporarily select Group Selection tool	+ –
of multiple objects Selection, Direct Selection, or Group Selection tool+Shft-click (to desele	Add to or subtract from a selection of multipleobjects	+ –
Selection, Direct Selection, or Group Selection tool+Alt-drag	Duplicate selection	+ –
Alt+Left Arrow, Right Arrow, Up Arrow, or Down Arrow key	Duplicate and offset selection	+ –
Alt+Shft+Left Arrow, Right Arrow, Up Arrow, Down Arrow key	Duplicate and offset selection by 10 times (Amount is set in Edit > Preferences > Units & Increments)	+ –
Left Arrow, Right Arrow, Up Arrow, Down Arrow key	Move selection (Amount is set in Edit > Preferences > Units & Increments)	+ –
Ctrl+Shft+Left Arrow, Right Arrow, Up Arrow, Down arrow key	Move selection by 10th (Amount is set in Edit > Preferences > Units & Increments)	+ –
Shft+Left Arrow, Right Arrow, Up Arrow, Down Arrow key	Move selection by 10 times (Amount is set in Edit > Preferences > Units & Increments)	+ –
Selection or Direct Selection tool+Ctrl+Shft-click	Select master page item from document page	+ –
Selection tool+Ctrl-click, or Selection tool+Alt+Ctrl-click	Select next object behind or in front	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+Page Down/Page Up	Select next or previous frame in story	+ –
Shft+Alt+Ctrl+Page Down/Page Up	Select first or last frame in story	+ –


Keys for transforming objects Adobe InDesign CS3
Transformation tool+Alt-drag*	Duplicate and transform selection (After you select a transformation tool, hold down the mouse button, and then hold down Alt key and drag. Press Shift to constrain movement to 45º angles.)	+ –
Select object+double-click Scale tool, Rotate tool, or Shear tool in Toolbox	Display Transform tool dialog box	+ –
Ctrl+,	Decrease size/scale by 1%	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+,	Decrease size/scale by 5%	+ –
Ctrl+.	Increase size/scale by 1%	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+.	Increase size/scale by 5%	+ –
Selection tool+Ctrl-drag	Resize frame and content	+ –
Selection tool+Shft	Resize frame and content proportionately	+ –
Ellipse tool, Polygon tool, or Rectangle tool+Shft-drag	Constrain proportion	+ –
Shft+Esc	Switch image from High Quality Display to FastDisplay	+ –


Keys for editing paths and frames Adobe InDesign CS3
Direct Selection tool+Alt+Ctrl, or Pen tool+Alt	Temporarily select Convert Direction Point tool	+ –
Alt	Temporarily switch between Add Anchor Pointand Delete Anchor Point tool	+ –
Scissors tool+Alt	Temporarily select Add Anchor Point tool	+ –
Pen tool+Shft	Keep Pen tool selected when pointer is over pathor anchor point	+ –
Pen tool+spacebar	Move anchor point and handles while drawing	+ –
F10	Display the Stroke panel	+ –


Keys for tables Adobe InDesign CS3
Begin dragging row or column border, and then hold down Alt as you drag	Insert or delete rows or columns while dragging	+ –
Shft-drag interior row or column border	Resize rows or columns without changing thesize of the table	+ –
Shft-drag right or bottom table border	Resize rows or columns proportionally	+ –
Tab/Shft+Tab	Move to next/previous cell	+ –
Alt+Page Up/Page Down	Move to first/last cell in column	+ –
Alt+Home/End	Move to first/last cell in row	+ –
Page Up/Page Down	Move to first/last row in frame	+ –
Up Arrow/Down Arrow	Move up/down one cell	+ –
Left Arrow/Right Arrow	Move left/right one cell	+ –
Shft+Up Arrow/Down Arrow	Select cell above/below the current cell	+ –
Shft+Right Arrow/Left Arrow	Select cell to the right/left of the currentcell	+ –
Enter (numeric keypad)	Start row on next column	+ –
Shft+Enter (numeric keypad)	Start row on next frame	+ –
Esc	Toggle between text selection and cell selection	+ –


Keys for finding and changing text Adobe InDesign CS3
Ctrl+F1	Insert selected text into Find What box	+ –
Shft+F1	Insert selected text into Find What box and findsnext	+ –
Shft+F2 or Alt+Ctrl+F	Find next occurrence of Find What text	+ –
Ctrl+F2	Insert selected text into Change To box	+ –
Ctrl+F3	Replace selection with Change To text	+ –


Keys for working with type Adobe InDesign CS3
Shft+Ctrl+B	Bold	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+I	Italic	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+Y	Normal	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+U	Underline	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+/	Strikethrough	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+K	All caps (on/off)	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+H	Small caps (on/off)	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+(+) [plus sign]	Superscript	+ –
Shft+Alt+Ctrl+(+) [plus sign]	Subscript	+ –
Alt+', Ctrl+Alt+'	Straight quotes (single and double) without turningoff smart quotes	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+Xor Shft+Alt+Ctrl+X	Resethorizontal or vertical scale to 100%	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+L, R, or C	Align left, right, or center	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+F (all lines) or J (all but last line)	Justify all lines	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+> or <	Increase or decrease point size (Press Shift to increase or decrease kerning between words by five times).	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+Alt+> or <	Increase or decrease point size by five times (Press Shift to increase or decrease kerning between words by five times).	+ –
Alt+Up Arrow/Down Arrow	Increase or decrease leading (horizontal text) - (Press Shift to increase or decrease kerning between words by five times).	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+Up Arrow/Down Arrow	Increase or decrease leading by five times (horizontaltext) (Press Shift to increase or decrease kerning between words by five times).	+ –
Shft+Alt+Ctrl+" [quote]	Select or deselect preferences setting for typographer'smarks	+ –
Shft+Alt+Ctrl+A	Auto leading	+ –
Shft+Alt+Ctrl+G	Align to grid (on/off)	+ –
Shft+Alt+Ctrl+H	Auto-hyphenate (on/off)	+ –
Alt+Left Arrow/Right Arrow	Increase or decrease kerning and tracking (horizontaltext)	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+Left Arrow/Right Arrow	Increase or decrease kerning and tracking byfive times (horizontal text)	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+\	Increase kerning between words (Press Shift to increase or decrease kerning between words by five times).	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+Backspace	Decrease kerning between words (Press Shift to increase or decrease kerning between words by five times).	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+Q	Clear all manual kerning and reset tracking to0	+ –
Shft+Alt+Up Arrow/Down Arrow	Increase or decrease baseline shift (horizontaltext) - (Amount is set in Edit > Preferences > Units & Increments).	+ –
Shft+Alt+Ctrl+Up Arrow/Down Arrow	Increase or decrease baseline shift by five times(horizontal text)	+ –
Shft-click loaded text icon	Automatically flow story	+ –
Alt-click loaded text icon	Semi-automatically flow story	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+/	Recompose all stories	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+N	Insert current page number	+ –


Keys for navigating through and selecting text Adobe InDesign CS3
Right Arrow/Left Arrow	Move to right or left one character	+ –
Up Arrow/Down Arrow	Move up or down one line	+ –
Ctrl+Right Arrow/Left Arrow	Move to right or left one word	+ –
Home/End	Move to start or end of line	+ –
Ctrl+Up Arrow/Down Arrow	Move to previous or next paragraph	+ –
Ctrl+Home/End	Move to start or end of story	+ –
Double-click word	Select one word	+ –
Shft+Right Arrow/Left Arrow	Select one character right or left	+ –
Shft+Up Arrow/Down Arrow	Select one line above or below	+ –
Shft+Home/End	Select start or end of line	+ –
Triple-click or quadruple-click paragraph, depending on Text Preferences setting	Select one paragraph	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+Up Arrow/Down Arrow	Select one paragraph before or after	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+\	Select current line	+ –
Shft-click	Select characters from insertion point	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+Home/End	Select start or end of story	+ –
Ctrl+A	Select all in story	+ –
Shft+Alt+Ctrl+Page Up/Page Down	Select first/last frame	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+Page Up/Page Down	Select previous/next frame	+ –
Ctrl+Backspaceor Delete	Deleteword in front of insertion point (Story Editor)	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+Shft+/	Update missing font list	+ –


Keys for viewing documents and document workspaces Adobe InDesign CS3
Spacebar (with no text insertion point), Alt-drag (with text insertion point), or Alt+spacebar (in b	Temporarily select Hand tool	+ –
Ctrl+spacebar	Temporarily select Zoom In tool	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+spacebar or Alt+Zoom In tool	Temporarily select Zoom Out tool	+ –
Ctrl+5, 2, or 4	Zoom to 50%, 200%, or 400%	+ –
Shft+F5	Redraw screen	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+N	Open new default document	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+2	Switch between current and previous zoom levels	+ –
Ctrl+~ [tilde]/Shft+Ctrl+F6 or Ctrl+Shft+~ [tilde]	Switch to next/previous document window	+ –
Page Up/Page Down	Scroll up/down one screen	+ –
Ctrl+Page Up/Page Down	Go back/forward to last-viewed page	+ –
Alt+Page Up/Page Down	Go to previous/next spread	+ –
Double-click Hand tool	Fit spread in window	+ –
Ctrl+J	Activate the Go To command	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+(+)[plus sign]	Fitselection in window	+ –
Ctrl+J, type prefix of master, press Enter	Go to master page while \ panel is closed	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+5 (main keyboard)	Select magnification box in document window	+ –
Shft+Alt+Ctrl+U	Cycle through units of measurement	+ –
Shft-drag guide	Snap guide to ruler increments	+ –
Ctrl-drag guide	Switch between page and spread guides (creationonly)	+ –
Ctrl-drag from zero point	Create vertical and horizontal ruler guides forthe spread	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+G	Select all guides	+ –
Right-click zero point and choose an optn	Lock or unlock zero point	+ –
Alt-drag guide	Use current magnification for view thresholdof new guide	+ –
Press first letter of button name, if underlined	Select buttons in alert dialog boxes	+ –
Ctrl+Help > About Design	Show information on installed plug-ins and InDesigncomponents	+ –


Keys for working with XML Adobe InDesign CS3
Right Arrow/Left Arrow	Expand/Collapse element	+ –
Alt+Right Arrow/Left Arrow	Expand/Collapse element and child elements	+ –
Shft+Up Arrow/Down Arrow	Extend XML selection up/down	+ –
Up Arrow/Down Arrow	Move XML selection up/down	+ –
Page Up/Page Down	Scroll structure pane up/down one screen	+ –
Home/End	Select first/last XML node	+ –
Shft+Home/End	Extend selection to first/last XML node	+ –
Ctrl+Left Arrow/Right Arrow	Go to previous/next validation error	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+Shft+F7	Automatically tag text frames and tables	+ –


Keys for indexing Adobe InDesign CS3
Shft+Ctrl+Alt+[	Create index entry without dialog box	+ –
Ctrl+U	Open index entry dialog box	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+Alt+]	Create proper name index entry (last name, firstname)	+ –


Keys for panels Adobe InDesign CS3
Alt-click Delete icon	Delete without confirmation	+ –
Alt-click New button	Create item and set options	+ –
Shft+Enter	Apply value and keep focus on option	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+~ [tilde]	Activate last-used option in last-used panel	+ –
Shft-click	Select range of styles, layers, links, swatches, orlibrary objects in a panel	+ –
Ctrl-click	Select nonadjacent styles, layers, links, swatches,or library objects in a panel	+ –
Tab	Apply value and select next value	+ –
Esc	Move focus to selected object, text, orwindow	+ –
Tab	Show/Hide all panels, Toolbox, and Control panel(with no insertion point)	+ –
Shft+Tab	Show/Hide all panels except the Toolbox andControl panel (docked or not)	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+Tab	Open or close all stashed panels	+ –
Alt+drag any panel tab (in the group) to edge of screen	Stash a panel group	+ –
Alt+Ctrl-click in list, and then use keyboard to select item by name	Select item by name	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+M	Open the Drop Shadow panel	+ –


Keys for the Control panel Adobe InDesign CS3
Ctrl+6	Toggle focus to/from Control panel	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+7	Toggle Character/Paragraph text attributes mode	+ –
Any key on the numeric keypad or keyboard numbers	Change reference point when proxy has focus	+ –
Alt+Down Arrow	Display the pop-up menu that has focus	+ –
Alt-click Kerning icon	Open Units & Increments Preferences	+ –
Alt-click Number Of Columns icon	Open the Text Frame Options dialog box	+ –
Alt-click X or Y icon	Open the Move dialog box	+ –
Alt-click Angle icon	Open the Rotate dialog box	+ –
Alt-click X or Y Scale icon	Open the Scale dialog box	+ –
Alt-click Shear icon	Open the Shear dialog box	+ –
Alt-click Superscript, Subscript, or Small Caps button	Open Text Preferences	+ –
Alt-click Underline button	Open the Underline Options dialog box	+ –
Alt-click Strikethrough button	Open the Strikethrough Options dialog box	+ –
Alt-click Align To Baseline Grid, or Do Not Align To Baseline Grid button	Open the Grids Preferences	+ –
Alt-click Drop Cap Number Of Lines, or Drop Cap One Or More Characters icon	Open the Drop Caps & Nested Styles dialog box	+ –
Alt-click Leading icon	Open the Justification dialog box	+ –


Keys for the Character and Paragraph panels Adobe InDesign CS3
Alt+Ctrl+Shft+J	Open Justification dialog box	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+J	Open Paragraph Rules dialog box	+ –
Alt+Ctrl+K	Open Keep Options dialog box	+ –
Ctrl+T	Activate Character panel	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+T	Activate Paragraph panel	+ –


Keys for the character and paragraph styles Adobe InDesign CS3
Select text and press Shft+Alt+Ctrl+C	Make character style definition match text	+ –
Select text and press Shft+Alt+Ctrl+R	Make paragraph style definition match text	+ –
Shft+Alt+Ctrl-double-click style	Change options without applying style	+ –
Alt-click paragraph style name	Remove style and local formatting	+ –
Alt+Shft-click paragraph style name	Clear overrides from paragraph style	+ –
F11, Shft+F11	Show/hide Paragraph and Character Styles panels,respectively	+ –


Keys for the Tabs panel Adobe InDesign CS3
Shft+Ctrl+T	Activate Tabs panel	+ –
Alt-click tab	Switch between alignment options	+ –


Keys for the Layers panel Adobe InDesign CS3
Alt-click layer	Select all objects on layer	+ –
Alt-drag small square to new layer	Copy selection to new layer	+ –


Keys for the Pages panel Adobe InDesign CS3
Alt-click master	Apply master to selected page	+ –
Alt-click the master you want to base the selected master on	Base another master page on selected master	+ –
Ctrl-click Create New Page button	Create master page	+ –
Alt-click New Page button	Display Insert Pages dialog box	+ –
Shft+Ctrl+P	Add new page after last page	+ –


Keys for the Links panel Adobe InDesign CS3
Alt-double-click link file name	Go to the linked item	+ –
Ctrl-double-click link file name	Select all file names	+ –


Keys for the Color panel Adobe InDesign CS3
Shft-drag slider	Move color sliders in tandem	+ –
Alt-click color bar	Select a color for the nonactive fill orstroke	+ –
Shft-click color bar	Switch between color modes (CMYK, RGB, LAB)	+ –


Keys for using the Separations Preview panel Adobe InDesign CS3
Ctrl+Alt+Shft+Y	Turn on Overprint preview	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+Shft+~ [tilde]	Show all plates	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+Shft+1	Show Cyan plate	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+Shft+2	Show Magenta plate	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+Shft+3	Show Yellow plate	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+Shft+4	Show Black plate	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+Shft+5	Show 1st Spot plate	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+Shft+6	Show 2nd Spot plate	+ –
Ctrl+Alt+Shft+7	Show 3rd Spot plate	+ –


Keys for the Swatches panel Adobe InDesign CS3
Alt-click New Swatch button	Create new swatch based on the current swatch	+ –
Alt+Ctrl-click New Swatch button	Create spot color swatch based on the currentswatch	+ –
Shft+Alt+Ctrl-double-click swatch	Change options without applying swatch	+ –


Keys for the Transform panel Adobe InDesign CS3
Alt+Enter	Apply value and copy object	+ –
Ctrl+Enter	Apply width, height, or scale value proportionally	+ –