Keyboard shortcuts

Modifiers are written for macOS. On Windows read Cmd as Ctrl and Alt as Alt.

What editing is blocked while on air, and why, is in The model, in one page.

File and project

Key	Action
`Cmd+N`	New project
`Cmd+O`	Open project
`Cmd+S`	Save project
`Cmd+Shift+S`	Save As...
`Cmd+W`	Close project
`Alt+A`	Import audio...
`Alt+V`	Import video...
`Cmd+E`	Export EDL

Cmd+N and Cmd+W are also refused while a PDF export is running — see Cue sheets.

Editing

Key	Action
`Cmd+Z`	Undo
`Cmd+Shift+Z`	Redo
`Cmd+X`	Cut selection
`Cmd+C`	Copy selection
`Cmd+V`	Paste at playhead
`Cmd+A`	Select all
`Cmd+D`	Duplicate selected cues
`Backspace`	Delete selection
`Delete` (forward delete)	Delete selection
`Alt+M`	Add marker at the playhead
`Cmd+T`	New timeline
`Alt+Enter`	Timeline settings for the active timeline

Delete is not the same key as Backspace

Only Backspace is registered as an application-wide command. Forward Delete — the one on a full-size keyboard, or fn+delete on a laptop — is handled by the timeline itself, so it works only while the timeline has keyboard focus. If Delete seems dead, click on the timeline once and try again, or use Backspace.

One Cmd+Z undoes a whole batch: deleting, cutting, pasting or duplicating a multi-selection is a single transaction, not one step per cue.

Transport

Key	Action
`Space`	Play / pause
`L`	Shuttle forward, 1x -> 2x -> 4x -> 8x
`J`	Shuttle backward, -1x -> -2x -> -4x -> -8x
`K`	Stop shuttling, back to 1x
`K`+`L`	Slow shuttle forward, 0.25x
`K`+`J`	Slow shuttle backward, -0.25x
`Home`	Jump to the start of the timeline
`End`	Jump to the end of the timeline
`Left` / `Right`	Step one frame back / forward
`Shift+Left` / `Shift+Right`	Step one second back / forward

Arrow keys move the programme in Live

The arrow keys move the playhead in Live as well, and moving the playhead in Live moves the programme. Treat them as a live control, not as a navigation key.

Cameras and sources

Key	Action
`1`...`9`	Camera 1 to 9
`0`	Camera 10
`Alt+1`...`Alt+9`	Camera 11 to 19
`Alt+0`	Camera 20
`B`	Black
`W`	White

Two constraints, both easy to mistake for a broken keyboard:

A number key does nothing above the configured Camera Count (default 8), which lives in the Mixer settings — see Connect a mixer. B and W are not subject to it.
The keys must be pressed with no Shift. Shift+3 is not camera 3.

What the key does depends on the selection: with no cue selected it inserts a cue at the playhead; with a cue selected it retargets that cue. Details in Your first timeline.

View and zoom

Key	Action
`Cmd+=` / `Cmd++` / bare `+` / bare `=`	Zoom in
`Cmd+-` / bare `-`	Zoom out
`Cmd+0`	Zoom to fit
`Cmd+1`	Camera panel
`Cmd+2`	Sync panel
`Cmd+3`	Project panel
`Cmd+4`	Monitors panel
`Cmd+Shift+F`	Open or close the output display
`Cmd+Shift+L`	Open the log
`Cmd+,`	Settings

The rail icons on the left are not in shortcut order: Cmd+3 opens the top one. The Markers panel is the only one without a shortcut.

Cmd+Shift+L opens the Settings window on its Log page. If you want a record of a show, turn Save logs to file on before you go live — see Rehearse.

With the output display focused, Cmd+Shift+F closes it from the inside — useful when it covers the monitor you were working on.

Escape does four different things

Escape is handled in priority order. Only the first applicable one fires:

An open flyout panel is showing -> it closes.
The FAILOVER banner is pinned -> it is dismissed. The SPLIT BRAIN banner is deliberately excluded: it closes only when the condition clears (Redundancy).
You are in Live -> you enter Break. You are in Break -> you leave Break and return to Live. Leaving Break re-runs every go-live precondition, so it can be refused (Running the show).
Otherwise -> the selection is cleared.

There is no arming step on the Escape route into Break, unlike GO LIVE. That is the point of it: it is the key you press without looking.

Timecode and dual M/E

Key	Action
`Cmd+Opt+L`	Arm or release the lock to external timecode
`Tab`	Switch the active M/E lane

Cmd+Opt+L does nothing when the sync source is Off, because the lock button it triggers is not on screen. Select MTC or LTC first — see Timecode sync.

Tab only does something with dual M/E enabled, and only while the timeline has keyboard focus. Switching lane clears the selection. See Dual M/E.

Mouse, with modifiers

Gesture	Action
`Cmd` + scroll wheel	Zoom centred on the pointer
Pinch on a trackpad	Zoom centred on the pointer
Scroll wheel	Scroll the timeline
Drag on empty timeline	Rubber-band selection — only while stopped
`Cmd` + rubber-band drag	Add to the selection instead of replacing it
`Cmd` + click a cue	Add or remove that cue from the selection
`Shift` + click a cue	Select the range up to that cue
Drag a cue	Move or resize it
Drag near the playhead	Scrub
Click a lane header	Make that M/E lane active

Inside dialogs

Confirming a dialog is not uniform, and the reason is that some of them contain multi-line text where Enter has to mean "new line".

Dialog	Confirm	Cancel
Cue Edit, Note Edit	`Cmd+Enter` or `Alt+Enter`	`Escape`
Project Info, Show Info	`Cmd+Enter` only	`Escape`
Timeline Edit, Status Block, PDF Export, M/E Import, Add From Pool, Duplicate Show, Timeline Fork, ISO Session	`Enter`	`Escape`
Settings	Neither — click Apply or OK	Closing the window discards

Alt+Enter therefore means two different things depending on where you are: the timeline settings window when nothing modal is open, and OK inside Cue Edit or Note Edit. Why the Settings window refuses Enter on purpose is in Settings.

Things that look like shortcuts and are not

ISO Review has no shortcut. It is Window > ISO Review... only — ISO recording.
The Markers panel has no Cmd+n; the other four flyouts do.
HotPunch sends nothing back to a MIDI surface, so no key here lights a button on your controller. Remote control is a separate subject: Remote control.