Keyboard Shortcuts

Real editor shortcuts, backed by the shared registry and driven by what is active, not by which panel holds focus.

The editor moves fast once you stop treating every action like a mouse problem.

How Shortcuts Are Organized

Use the reference below as a map. General commands (save, undo, redo, help, zoom) work anywhere in the editor. The rest are grouped by the part of the editor they act on: canvas, image edit, spread bar, and spread overview.

Keyboard Shortcuts Reference

Switch between Mac and Windows labels, then scan the shortcuts by the part of the editor that currently has focus.

Shortcut behavior changes with focus. The list below keeps that context visible.

General

Works anywhere in the editor, so the basics stay within reach.

5shortcuts

Save changes⌘S

Undo⌘Z

Redo⇧⌘Z

Open command palette⌘K

Show keyboard shortcuts?

Canvas

These take over once the spread canvas has focus and a photo is in play.

15shortcuts

Select next photoTab

Select previous photo⇧Tab

Select first photoHome

Select last photoEnd

Enter image edit modeEnter

Remove selected photoDelete / Backspace

Clear selectionEsc

Pan canvasSpace + Drag

Zoom canvas in=

Zoom canvas out-

Fit spread to viewport0

Move selected photoArrow Keys

Rearrange spread around photoShift + Arrow Keys

Move selected photo to other pageM

Swap the two pagesS

Image Edit

These show up when you are adjusting one photo inside its frame.

9shortcuts

Pan image inside frameArrow Keys

Zoom image in=

Zoom image out-

Rotate clockwiseR

Rotate counter-clockwiseShift + R

Reset image transform0

Apply editEnter

Cancel editEsc

Delete edited photoDelete / Backspace

Spread Bar

Use these while the thumbnail rail has focus and you are moving spread to spread.

5shortcuts

Open previous spread←

Open next spread→

Open first spreadHome

Open last spreadEnd

Open focused spreadEnter

Spread Overview

These help when you are scanning the bigger story and choosing which spread to open next.

6shortcuts

Focus previous spreadArrow Left / Arrow Up

Focus next spreadArrow Right / Arrow Down

Focus first spreadHome

Focus last spreadEnd

Open focused spread in canvasEnter

Return to canvas workspaceEsc

This reference now reads from the same shared shortcut registry as the editor help modal, so the docs page and the product stop drifting apart.

Arrow Keys Follow What Is Active

Arrow keys do different jobs depending on the editor's current state, not on which element happens to hold focus.

With a photo selected, each arrow moves that one photo in the direction you press. The other photos keep their arrangement. Press the opposite arrow to walk it back step by step. In Per Page mode the photo travels within its own page and the other page stays exactly where it is.
With a photo selected, hold Shift and press an arrow to rearrange into a rich layout (2x2, 1,1,2, hero, columns) with that photo anchored to the side you pressed. Press again to cycle the distinct layouts. The other photos move here, because dense grids need everyone to rearrange. In Spread mode this rearranges the whole spread. In Per Page mode it rearranges only the page that holds the selected photo.
With nothing selected, Left and Right switch to the previous and next spread, and Up and Down cycle through many distinct full-spread layouts of the current photos (hero, columns, mixed rows, grids), drawn from every layout profile.
In image edit mode, the arrow keys pan inside the photo frame.
Text fields, menus, sliders, dialogs, and other native controls always keep their own arrow behavior.

Spread switching and Smart Layout cycling work no matter which part of the editor has focus, so you no longer have to click the spread bar first.

Moving a Photo Travels, Then Breaks Out

Moving a selected photo with the arrow keys is not a pixel nudge. One press slides the photo to the far side of its row or group in the pressed direction (in grids it hops to the neighbouring cell). When it is already at that edge, the next press breaks it out into its own band on that side (a full-height column, or a full-width row for up and down). The rest of the photos keep their layout the whole time, so only the selected photo moves. Pressing a big photo toward a stack of others turns it straight into a side band rather than swapping it into the middle of the stack.

The progression is reversible: press the opposite arrow to retrace it one step at a time, and at either extreme the same direction simply stops. Every press is one clean undo step, and the photo you moved stays selected so you can keep steering it. This works in both Spread and Per Page modes. In Per Page mode the move stays inside the photo's own page and never reaches across the spine.

Crossing The Spine In Per Page Mode

Per Page mode adds two cross-page commands so you can rework a layflat without the mouse. These only act in Per Page mode.

With a photo selected, press M to move it to the other page. It leaves its current page, lands on the opposite one, and both pages re-solve around the change. Press M again to send it back. The matching top-bar arrow button runs the same command without dropping the current selection.
Press S to swap the two pages. The left page becomes the right page and the right page becomes the left page in a single step. This needs no selection, and it moves both pages at once. The matching top-bar swap button runs the same command.

Both commands have matching buttons next to the Per Page / Spread toggle in the top bar.

What This Page Is For

speed up repetitive work once albums get dense
move between spreads without breaking flow
rearrange photos without hunting through panels
learn which shortcuts are global and which depend on the active part of the editor

Registry Source Of Truth

If a shortcut feels missing in the live product, that is a real issue. This page and the runtime help modal read from the same shared shortcut registry.