Keyboard shortcuts are keyboard alternatives you can use to initiate actions (commands or tools) normally accessed with the mouse. For example, to open the Select From Scene dialog, you can press the H key, or you can change the active viewport to a view from the bottom by pressing B. Keyboard shortcuts let you work faster and more efficiently.
Many keyboard shortcuts are already set for most commonly used actions. Throughout this reference, command descriptions include the default shortcut, if there is one: look for the path annotation (with a gray background) at the top of the page.
To modify or add new shortcuts, use the Keyboard panel of the Customize User Interface dialog. Keyboard shortcuts are separated by Groups or Categories of groups and they organize Actions.
Groupsorganize the Actions for which you can set shortcuts. Default=Main UI.
Categoriesoffer a further breakdown of the Actions in a Group to specific categories. This lets you quickly find an Action so you can assign or adjust a shortcut.
In most cases you can close a dialog with the same command used to open it. In general this applies to any combination of input methods, including menu, toolbar button, and keyboard shortcuts. For more information, see Toggling Dialogs.
Viewing the Assigned Shortcuts
To see the currently assigned keyboard shortcuts, you can create a text (TXT) file of all the actions and their shortcuts. Go to the Keyboard panel of the Customize User Interface dialog, and then click Write Keyboard Chart. All actions that can have a shortcut assigned to them are listed. For actions with no default shortcut assigned, the Shortcut column entry is blank.
If you click Reset on the Keyboard panel before you click Write Keyboard Chart, the text files shows the default keyboard shortcut assignments. However, this loses any custom shortcuts you might have created before.
The Keyboard Shortcut Override Toggle lets you toggle between using only the "Main User Interface" shortcut keys and using both the main shortcuts and shortcut keys for groups such as Edit/Editable Mesh, Track View, NURBS, and so on.
