Top 20 Keyboard Shortcuts

All new users I work with invariably ask me a question followed by a request. Is there a list of all the keyboard shortcuts? Yes; go to Work Environments, Shortcut Schemes, Keyboard Shortcuts, click Show Shortcut List in Browser. Once they see the seven pages of keyboard shortcuts, the following request is made: You should make a list of the most important shortcuts. Three years later… done. Some of these are old shortcuts that I’ve brought forward from as far back as version 9, others are customized, and some are native to the latest versions. I honestly don’t remember which is which. But whether or not you have the same shortcuts as me (if you’re my coworker @ SALA Architects, these are your shortcuts), this list will be useful. You’ll notice that most of the shortcuts fit into physical groupings on the keyboard (J K L ; ‘ are adjacent and are all annotation tools) rather than the shortcut signifying the tool, e.i. P standing for Pineapple and O for Octopus (if like in Revit, we had a pineapple and an octopus tool). Shortcuts are more about muscle memory than anything else. Save your brain space for other things.

Here’s the list:

F4 – SHOW SELECTION/MARQUEE IN 3D
cmd+1 – ARROW TOOL / LAST TOOL TOGGLE
cmd+2 – MARQUEE TOOL
cmd+3 – SEND BACKWARDS
cmd+4 – SEND FORWARDS
cmd+5 – DOWN A STORY
cmd+6 – UP A STORY
cmd+8 – UNIFY
cmd+9 – ELEVATE
cmd+- – ADJUST
cmd+= – EXPLODE
cmd+opt+I – SPLIT
cmd+I – INTERSECT
cmd+T – SELECTION SETTINGS
shift+` – FAVORITES PALETTE
ctrl+X – QUICK LAYERS
J – DIMESION
K – TEXT
L – POLYLINE (not line)
‘ – FILL

There are probably another 20 or so shortcuts I use regularly, but lists generally decrease in usefulness as their lengths increase (beyond a given point–in this case 20). It’s worth pointing out that I work on a Mac, so most of these shortcuts use the command key (cmd). If you’re on a PC, you could just as easily use control, alt, or some other key.

Update 02/08/2013:

Want to know how to customize your own keyboard shortcuts? I recorded a short video that will walk you through the process.

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16 Responses to "Top 20 Keyboard Shortcuts"

Nick Cornia says:

December 21, 2011 at 3:38 pm

Jared,

This is great! Always love your posts. I like #3 and #4 and I am going to mimic them. The one that I might reconsider is #2. If you hit the W key it toggles between the Arrow tool and the current tool being used. One finger instead of two and two options instead of just one. ; )

Some others I like:

opt+cmd+o – Open Object
opt+cmd+a – Filter Elements in 3D
opt+cmd+y – Edit 3D Cutting Planes (in 3D view only)
cmd+y – Activate / de-activate 3D Cutting Planes (in 3D view only)

Best Regards,

Nick

Reply
1. Jared Banks says:
  
  December 21, 2011 at 3:50 pm
  
  Nick, thanks for your comments and glad you like the posts. It’s always nice to hear from people with @graphisoft.com in their e-mail address! I just changed my cmd+1 key command to be toggle between arrow and current tool. I’ve known of that option, but can’t believe I never thought to swap out the commands. I can already tell I’m going to really like the change. And although it’s still 2 keys, the muscle memory is already there.
  
  I updated my top 20 list as well. Thanks!
  
  Reply
Jan says:

December 21, 2011 at 4:47 pm

Mostly used by me:
cmd+t / Parametr settings
cmd+D
cmd+opt+D
….. (All these which rotate, mirror, moving or making copies)

cmd+w
o / orbit

Reply
niko says:

May 15, 2012 at 10:43 am

Hi, what is CMD???

Reply
1. Jared Banks says:
  
  May 15, 2012 at 10:56 am
  
  cmd is the command key on a mac. I just updated the post to mention I use a Mac. Thanks for noticing and asking.
  
  Reply
Mike says:

May 15, 2012 at 10:57 pm

sound good.
I just started using Archicad and trying to combine you guys’ shortcuts with mine in max and cad and revit. have no idea if it’s possible.

Reply
1. Jared Banks says:
  
  May 16, 2012 at 9:29 am
  
  Mike, yes and no. Most of ArchiCAD’s keyboard shortcuts are highly customizable. Under Work Environments you can change, add, or remove almost all the keyboard shortcuts. HOWEVER… trying to merge or mimic the workflow of another program is a slippery slope and I’d strongly advise against it. If you start copying keyboard shortcuts from another program you will force yourself into a corner as standard workflows collide. Each program works in sometimes obvious and sometimes subtly different ways. Looking for ways to make ArchiCAD more Revit or Max or CAD like will not help you in the long run (either in learning the program or becoming efficient).
  
  Reply
niko says:

May 16, 2012 at 3:55 am

thanks. but how it works on windows? control key or something else?

Reply
1. Jared Banks says:
  
  May 16, 2012 at 9:22 am
  
  Niko, yes. You’ll have to replace the cmd key for another one, perhaps the windows key. If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to use alt, control, or the shift key.
  
  The lack of a cmd key on a PC makes mapping keyboard shortcuts from mac to pc not a simple 1 to 1 transfer.
  
  Reply
Jaclyn Ward says:

February 5, 2013 at 6:41 pm

Is there a keyboard shortcut for Pan?

Reply
1. Jared Banks says:
  
  February 6, 2013 at 8:42 am
  
  Jaclyn, by default there isn’t a keyboard shortcut for pan, but you can easily make one of your own.
  
  Reply
Creating keyboard shortcuts in ArchiCAD, a quick and helpful video | Shoegnome says:

February 8, 2013 at 10:09 am

[...] My Top 20 Shortcuts [...]

Reply
Clayton says:

February 8, 2013 at 11:03 am

Jared- I am a keyboard shortcut fanatic, and have found it to be an advantage matching keyboard shortcuts across programs. I came to ArchiCAD with many years of Adobe Creative Suite, whose standard commands are deeply embedded into my muscle memory. By mapping keyboard shortcuts in ArchiCAD the same as similar commands in Photoshop and Illustrator (for example Shit+] for Bring To Front), I can remember many more ArchiCAD specific shortcuts. I also prefer the “single letter” approach of Adobe, so M=Marquee, L=line, A=Arrow, etc. It works very well for me.

Reply
1. Jared Banks says:
  
  February 8, 2013 at 11:07 am
  
  Cool. There is definitely a nice synergy about matching shortcuts across platforms. Imagine if you had to learn a different shortcut for copy+paste for each app?! Yeah single letter shortcuts are very nice. It was a big shift for me when Graphisoft changed their keyboard shortcut scheme between 9 and 10 or maybe it was 10 and 11. Suddenly 1,2,3,4… were no longer arrow, marquee, etc. I had to remap everything and switch to cmd+1, cmd+2, etc. I think I resisted at first, but it seemed like a seachange within the program and best not to fight. Though still many of my basic modeling and annotation tools are single letters.
  
  Reply
Domi says:

February 17, 2013 at 1:42 pm

Hi,
is there a possibility to show selection from the 3D window in 2D ?

Reply
1. Jared Banks says:
  
  February 17, 2013 at 1:56 pm
  
  Unfortunately not. There is nothing like “select in 3D and show in 2D”. There is of course select in 2D and show in 3D… There are a few indirect tricks, depending on what you’re looking for. Such as: You could turn off all the other layers but the selected elements, then look at that in 2D. Or you could find out some information about the element, like the ID and then use find and select in the floor plan. All of these are just work-arounds, but there might be one that is fast and accurate. I’ll have to think of a more direct solution.
  
  Reply

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