Keyboard shortcuts in Slides

Slides gives you a keyboard shortcut for every tool and most editing actions, so you can build a deck without reaching for the toolbar. This page covers how to find text across a presentation, and lists every shortcut grouped so you can look one up fast.

Shortcuts are written for macOS and for Windows and Linux. On a Mac, ⌘ is the Command key and ⇧ is Shift. On Windows and Linux, use Ctrl where the Mac uses ⌘.

Find text in a presentation

Press ⌘F (or Ctrl+F) to open the find bar. It searches the text in every object on every slide, not just the one you're looking at, so a term on slide 7 still turns up while you're editing slide 1. Each result is labelled by slide, for example Slide 3, and every slide that holds a match is ringed in the rail so you can see where the hits are at a glance. Press ⌘G for the next match and ⌘⇧G for the previous one, and Slides jumps to that slide and selects the object. Press Esc to close the bar.

Keyboard shortcuts

Tools

Press a letter or the matching number to pick a tool. The Image tool has no shortcut, because you add an image by uploading or pasting it.

Action	Mac	Windows/Linux
Select	V or 1	V or 1
Rectangle	R or 2	R or 2
Diamond	D or 3	D or 3
Ellipse	O or 4	O or 4
Arrow	A or 5	A or 5
Line	L or 6	L or 6
Draw	P or 7	P or 7
Text	T or 8	T or 8
Eraser	E or 0	E or 0
Keep the tool active after drawing	Q	Q

By default a tool goes back to Select once you've drawn a shape. Press Q to lock the tool on, so you can draw several of the same shape in a row.

Editing

Action	Mac	Windows/Linux
Copy	⌘C	Ctrl+C
Cut	⌘X	Ctrl+X
Paste	⌘V	Ctrl+V
Duplicate the selection	⌘D	Ctrl+D
Select everything on the slide	⌘A	Ctrl+A
Delete the selection	Delete or Backspace	Delete or Backspace
Undo	⌘Z	Ctrl+Z
Redo	⌘⇧Z or ⌘Y	Ctrl+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y
Nudge the selection by 1px	Arrow keys	Arrow keys
Nudge the selection by 5px	⇧ + arrow keys	Shift + arrow keys
Finish a multi-point arrow or line	Enter	Enter
Cancel the arrow or line you're drawing	Esc	Esc

When you draw an arrow or line by clicking point to point, press Enter (or double-click) to finish it, or Esc to cancel it.

Arrange

These change the stacking order of the selected objects, front to back.

Action	Mac	Windows/Linux
Send backward	⌘[	Ctrl+[
Bring forward	⌘]	Ctrl+]
Send to back	⌘⇧[	Ctrl+Shift+[
Bring to front	⌘⇧]	Ctrl+Shift+]

Find and select

Action	Mac	Windows/Linux
Open the find bar	⌘F	Ctrl+F
Next match	⌘G	Ctrl+G
Previous match	⌘⇧G	Ctrl+Shift+G
Close the find bar	Esc	Esc
Cancel the current action, or clear the selection	Esc	Esc

Press Esc once to cancel a shape you're drawing or a selection you're dragging. Press it again to clear the selection, and again to return to the Select tool.

Present mode

Start a presentation with the Present button, then use these keys to move through the deck. A presentation clicker sends the same keys.

Action	Key
Next slide	→, ↓, Page Down, or Space
Previous slide	←, ↑, or Page Up
Leave present mode	Esc