Guide/Part Ten · Settings & help
Keyboard shortcuts
This page lists the most-used keyboard shortcuts for Windows and macOS. In the app, Help ▸ Keyboard Shortcuts lists every shortcut for the machine you're on. It opens on the screen you're on, and the switch at the top shows the shortcuts for Home, Draft, or Review.
Most shortcuts follow one rule: where Windows uses Ctrl, macOS uses ⌘. Ctrl+S / ⌘S saves on either machine. The rest of this page writes Windows first, macOS second.
Files
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| New / Open / Save / Save As | Ctrl+N / ⌘N · Ctrl+O / ⌘O · Ctrl+S / ⌘S · Ctrl+Shift+S / ⌘⇧S |
| Export PDF / DOCX / Print | Ctrl+Shift+E / ⌘⇧E · Ctrl+Shift+D / ⌘⇧D · Ctrl+P / ⌘P |
| Close document | Ctrl+W / ⌘W |
| Preferences | Ctrl+, / ⌘, |
Editing
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Undo | Ctrl+Z / ⌘Z |
| Redo | Ctrl+Y / ⌘⇧Z |
| Cut / Copy / Paste | Ctrl+X / ⌘X · Ctrl+C / ⌘C · Ctrl+V / ⌘V |
| Paste text only | Ctrl+Shift+V / ⌘⇧V |
| Select all | Ctrl+A / ⌘A |
| Find | Ctrl+F / ⌘F |
| Find and replace | Ctrl+H / ⌥⌘F |
| Bold / Italic / Underline | Ctrl+B / ⌘B · Ctrl+I / ⌘I · Ctrl+U / ⌘U |
| Superscript / Subscript | Ctrl+Shift+. / ⌘⇧. · Ctrl+Shift+, / ⌘⇧, |
| Clear formatting | Ctrl+\ / ⌘\ |
| Page break | Ctrl+Enter / ⌘Enter |
| Link / Special character | Ctrl+K / ⌘K · Ctrl+Shift+C / ⌘⇧C |
| Next / previous table cell | Tab · Shift+Tab / ⇧Tab |
| Add comment (Review Mode) | Ctrl+Shift+M / ⌘⇧M |
| Suggest a first-line indent / flush left (Review Mode) | Tab · Shift+Tab / ⇧Tab |
Moving around
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| By word | Ctrl+← / ⌥← · Ctrl+→ / ⌥→ |
| By paragraph | Ctrl+↑ / ⌥↑ · Ctrl+↓ / ⌥↓ |
| Line start / end | Home / ⌘← · End / ⌘→ |
| Document start / end | Ctrl+Home / ⌘↑ · Ctrl+End / ⌘↓ |
| Page up / down | Page Up / fn+↑ · Page Down / fn+↓ |
Hold Shift / ⇧ with any of these to extend the selection instead of moving.
View & tools
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Word count | Ctrl+Shift+W / ⌘⇧W |
| Contents / Productivity | Ctrl+Shift+N / ⌘⇧N · Ctrl+Shift+P / ⌘⇧P |
| Formatting marks | Ctrl+Shift+8 / ⌘⇧8 |
| Zoom in / out / reset | Ctrl+= / ⌘= · Ctrl+- / ⌘- · Ctrl+0 / ⌘0 |
| Spelling and grammar (Review Mode) | F7 |
| Fullscreen | F11 / ⌃⌘F |
Keyboard access
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Menu bar (Windows) | Alt or F10 |
| Right-click menu at the cursor | Shift+F10 / ⇧F10 · the Menu key on Windows |
| Next / previous area (page, toolbar, panel, status bar) | F6 · Shift+F6 / ⇧F6 |
See Accessibility for how the menus work from the keyboard.
Where macOS genuinely differs
These shortcuts don't simply swap Ctrl for ⌘. The Windows shortcut either doesn't exist on a Mac keyboard or already does something else there, so GLASS uses the usual Mac shortcut instead.
| Action | Shortcut | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|
| Redo | Ctrl+Y / ⌘⇧Z | ⌘Y isn't a Mac shortcut, so macOS uses ⌘⇧Z and GLASS doesn't use ⌘Y at all. On Windows, Ctrl+Shift+Z also works. |
| Find and replace | Ctrl+H / ⌥⌘F | macOS reserves ⌘H for hiding the app, so Find and replace uses ⌥⌘F. |
| Line start / end | Home / ⌘← · End / ⌘→ | A Mac laptop has no Home or End key, so line start and end use ⌘← and ⌘→. |
| Document start / end | Ctrl+Home / ⌘↑ · Ctrl+End / ⌘↓ | Same reason: document start and end use ⌘↑ and ⌘↓. |
| By word and by paragraph | Ctrl+← / ⌥← · Ctrl+↑ / ⌥↑ | On macOS, ⌘ with the arrow keys is taken by the two rows above, so moving by word or paragraph uses ⌥. |
| Fullscreen | F11 / ⌃⌘F | F11 shows the desktop on macOS, so GLASS doesn't use it there. Use the system's ⌃⌘F, or View ▸ Enter Full Screen. |
On a Mac laptop the function keys need fn unless you've turned that off in System Settings ▸ Keyboard. So the Spelling and Grammar check is fn+F7 by default, and the same goes for F6 and F10.