Awesome Excalidraw Keyboard Shortcuts (With Printable Pdf)

✔︎ Last updated on November 25th, 2023

Using vector programs like Excalidraw can be a bit of a hassle without keyboard shortcuts. Clicking and dragging the mouse to select and draw things can get tiring after a while. What takes the mouse a few seconds to do can be done instantly with a keyboard shortcut.

So, it’s a good idea to learn the keyboard shortcuts for the program you use regularly. To make things easier, here’s a list of all the keyboard shortcuts for Excalidraw for both Windows as well as Mac.

Excalidraw Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows

Excalidraw comes with all the built-in hotkeys you’d expect from a whiteboarding program.

You can use the Hand (panning tool) by pressing H, which allows you to move around the canvas effortlessly. The Selection tool, triggered by V or 1, enables you to select objects quickly. Creating various shapes is also a breeze with Excalidraw shortcuts; press R for a Rectangle, O for an Ellipse, and A for an Arrow. The Text tool is accessible with T, perfect for adding annotations or labels. If you need to insert an image, simply press 9. For erasing mistakes, the Eraser is available with E.

Also read: The Ultimate Excalidraw Tutorial for Beginners

Excalidraw also includes hotkeys for essential editing and viewing commands. To edit line or arrow points, use Ctrl + Enter, and to finish editing text, Esc or Ctrl + Enter will do the trick.

You can zoom in and out of your canvas with Ctrl + + and Ctrl + –, respectively. To align objects perfectly, use Ctrl + Shift + followed by the arrow keys. When you need to duplicate an element, Ctrl + D or Alt + drag are your go-to commands. Lastly, to undo or redo an action, Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Y or Ctrl + Shift + Z are the shortcuts you’ll need.

Lastly, if you forget any of the keyboard shortcuts, you can also pull up this list with the hotkey Shift + /.

👉 The above keyboard shortcuts are for Windows. If you are on a Mac, use Command in place of Ctrl and Option in place of the Alt key. The full list of these keyboard shortcuts is also given below for both Windows as well as Mac, along with a printable PDF.

Excalidraw has divided these keyboard shortcuts into various categories. Here’s a list of them:

Tools

View

Editor

Excalidraw Keyboard Shortcuts for Mac

Tools

View

Editor

Printable PDF of Excalidraw hotkeys

You can also download these shortcuts in a printable PDF for quick reference:

Wrapping up

Using keyboard shortcuts can make using Excalidraw much faster. The shortcuts allow you to do things with a couple of key presses instead of clicking around with the mouse. This saves a lot of time and effort.

This article listed many useful Excalidraw shortcuts for both Windows and Mac computers. Things like zooming in and out, copying, pasting, and aligning objects can all be done using the keyboard within a second. The printable PDF lets you print out the shortcuts to keep next to your computer.

Also, remember that you can’t learn all the shortcuts but it’s worth learning some of the major ones. With some practice, you can use Excalidraw much faster using the keyboard. Refer back to the lists here and in the PDF to start using shortcuts for your diagrams and drawings. It will speed up your work and allow you to get more done.

I hope the pdf file containing the Excalidraw Keyboard shortcuts helped you in some way. If it did, don’t forget to share that with others.

Thanks for reading.

Further reading on Excalidraw:

1. 17+ Awesome Excalidraw Tips for Insane Productivity
2. Creating Hand-drawn Flowcharts with ChatGPT and Excalidraw
3. How to Set an Aspect Ratio in Excalidraw?