Keyboard shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcuts are available in Construct 3.

Note that on macOS the Command key is used instead of Control for most keyboard shortcuts. However since it is the only exception, for brevity the keyboard shortcuts below refer to Ctrl.

General

Ctrl + X Cut

Ctrl + C Copy

Ctrl + V Paste

Ctrl + Drag with mouse left button Duplicate

Ctrl + Z Undo

Ctrl + Y Redo

Ctrl + A Select all

Ctrl + D Unselect all

Ctrl + F Find by text

Ctrl + Shift + F Focus the Project Bar search field

Alt + N New project

Ctrl + O Open project from local file

Ctrl + S Save project

Alt + W Close current editor tab

F4 Preview project from first layout

F5 Preview current layout

Shift + F4 Debug from first layout

Shift + F5 Debug current layout

Alt + Preview button to start an additional preview

Alt + 4 Start additional preview from first layout

Alt + 5 Start additional preview from current layout

F6 Export project

F9 Reload all script files from disk (only available when saved as project folder)

Delete Delete selected item(s)

F2 Rename selected item

Enter Edit selected item

Ctrl + click Add or remove clicked item from selection

Shift + click Select everything in between the last selected item and the clicked item

Escape Cancel drag or placement or event search

Ctrl + Shift + 🡑 Move to top

Ctrl + Shift + 🡓 Move to bottom

Alt + Shift + 🡐 / B Back

Alt + Shift + 🡒 / N Next

Ctrl + Shift + 🡐 Go to next tab to right

Ctrl + Shift + 🡒 Go to next tab to left

Shift + S Go to associated view (switches between Layout View and Event Sheet View)

Layout view

See also: Layout View

Ctrl + Mouse Wheel Up or Ctrl + + Zoom in

Ctrl + Mouse Wheel Down or Ctrl + - Zoom out

Hold Shift to increase the zoom rate.

Ctrl + 0 Return to 100% zoom

Middle mouse button drag or Hold space and move mouse Pan the view

Ctrl + E or Shift + S Go to associated event sheet

Arrow keys Nudge selected objects 1 pixel. Hold Shift to nudge 10 pixels.

Hold Shift while resizing objects for proportional resize

Hold Shift while rotating objects to lock to 5 degree increments

Hold Shift while dragging objects for axis-lock (move along diagonals only)

Hold Tab and click a selected object to select the next object underneath in the Z order

Hold Alt while moving selection to disable resize handles, rotation and grid snapping while held.

Hold Alt when selecting an instance to bypass any container selection.

Hold Control while resizing selection to resize relative to the object origin

Hold Tab while right clicking to show the context menu on the current selection rather than the top instance

Ctrl + Shift + 🡑 Send to front of layer

Ctrl + Shift + 🡓 Send to back of layer

C Center horizontally in viewport

T Align to top of viewport

Enter Wrap selection (to rotate or stretch the selection as a whole)

W Select container and wrap. For example, select one object in a container of eight objects, press W, then all eight objects are selected and wrapped.

To paste objects in-place (so they paste at their original positions, instead of relative to the mouse), hold Shift while placing a paste. The full process is: Ctrl + C to copy an object; press Ctrl + V to turn the mouse to a crosshair, hold Shift and click, all objects paste at their original positions (instead of by the mouse) and the mouse returns to a normal cursor.

Ctrl + R Start all Live Previews Paid plans only

Ctrl + Shift + R Stop all Live Previews Paid plans only

When editing tilemaps using the Tilemap Bar:

1 - 6 Switch current tool

X Flip horizontal

Y Flip vertical

Z Rotate 90 degrees clockwise

A Rotate 90 degrees anti-clockwise

R Reset transformations

Shift + right click Select a patch of tiles from the tilemap

Ctrl or Alt Gr + [ Use the replace whole hierarchy option on the current selection of templates and/or replicas

Ctrl or Alt Gr + ] Use the modify existing hierarchy option on the current selection of templates and/or replicas

When editing timelines using the Timeline Bar:

Hold Ctrl when dragging a cubic bezier anchor point to also modify the adjacent anchor point if there is any.

Event Sheet View

See also: Event Sheet View

Ctrl + + Increase text size

Ctrl + - Decrease text size

Ctrl + L or Shift + S Go to associated layout (if any - event sheets only used via includes have no associated layout)

Ctrl + Home Go to top of sheet

Ctrl + End Go to bottom of sheet

F2 Toggle bookmark at selected event

Ctrl + F2 Go to next bookmark in project

Shift + F2 Go to previous bookmark in project

F3 Toggle breakpoint

🡑 and 🡓 Move the selection up and down the event sheet

🡐 and 🡒 Move the selection sideways between Events, Conditions and Actions

- Insert event above

+ Insert event below

A Add action

B Add blank subevent

C Add condition

D Toggle selected items disabled

E Add event below

Shift + E Add event above

F Add function

G Add group

I Invert selected conditions

J Add script (script block if event selected, or script action if action selected)

Shift + J Add script action (regardless of selection)

N Add include

P Add parameter to function

R Replace object

Q Add comment (block comment if event selected, or action comment if action selected)

Shift + Q Add action comment (regardless of selection)

S Add subevent

V Add variable

X Add 'Else' event following selected event

Y Toggle 'Or' block

In the Parameters Dialog, press F4 to toggle the Expressions Dictionary.

Animations Editor

See also: Animations Editor

B Brush tool

E Eraser tool

F Fill tool

I Color picker tool

L Line tool

N Pencil tool

R Rectangle tool

S Rectangle select tool

T Ellipse tool

Shift + I Image points tool

Shift + P Collision polygon tool

C Clear image

Ctrl + E Export image

Ctrl + M Mirror image

Ctrl + F Flip image

Ctrl + R Rotate image clockwise

Ctrl + L Rotate image anti-clockwise

Alt + C Crop image

Alt + R Resize image

Ctrl + B Toggle background color

Ctrl + G Toggle grid

Shift + O Toggle onion skin Paid plans only

Ctrl + 1 Zoom to fit

Quick assign origin and image points:

Num pad 1 or End Bottom left

Num pad 2 Bottom

Num pad 3 or Page down Bottom right

Num pad 4 Left

Num pad 5 Center

Num pad 6 Right

Num pad 7 or Home Top left

Num pad 8 Top

Num pad 9 or Page up Top right

Arrow keys Nudge 1 pixel

Hold Shift to apply the origin/image point to the entire animation. Shift + Click also applies that positioning to the entire animation.

Shift + Crop button or Alt + Shift + C Crop entire animation

Shift + Mirror button or Ctrl + Shift + M Mirror entire animation

Shift + Flip button or Ctrl + Shift + F Flip entire animation

Shift + Rotate Clockwise button or Ctrl + Shift + R Rotate entire animation clockwise

Shift + Rotate Anticlockwise button or Ctrl + Shift + L Rotate entire animation anticlockwise

Animations only:

Ctrl + Up Previous animation

Ctrl + Down Next animation

Ctrl + Left Previous animation frame

Ctrl + Right Next animation frame

Ctrl + P Start / restart preview animation

Ctrl + Shift + P Close animation preview

Timeline Bar

See also: Timeline Bar

E Toggle timeline edit mode

S Set or update master keyframes and property keyframes at the current time marker position

Ctrl + D Disable the current selection of timeline elements

Ctrl + E Enable the current selection of timeline elements

M Add missing property keyframes at the current time marker position using the current instance values (a master keyframe must exist at the position for this shortcut to work)

Ctrl + M Add missing property keyframes at the current time marker position using values which seamlessly fit in the timeline (a master keyframe must exist at the position for this shortcut to work)

Space Preview/pause the current timeline

Ctrl + Space Stop the current timeline if it is being previewed

Shift + , Move the play head to the first master keyframe

, Move the play head to the previous master keyframe

. Move the play head to the next master keyframe

Shift + . Move the play head to the last master keyframe

Hold Ctrl while dragging the current time marker to move the marker without previewing the timeline

Hold Shift while dragging keyframes to duplicate the dragged selection into the new position

Ctrl + X Cut the current keyframe selection

Ctrl + C Copy the current keyframe selection

Ctrl + P Paste keyframes using the current time marker as reference.

If no tracks are selected at the moment of pasting, the keyframes will be added in their respective tracks.

If there are tracks selected at the moment of pasting, an attempt is made to paste the keyframes into the tracks they would fit best. If there are keyframes in the selection which can't be fit anywhere, they are ignored.

Esc Clear highlighting on all timeline elements

Ctrl + Mouse Wheel to scale the timeline UI

Alt + T Add position property tracks in the current timeline

Alt + S Add size property tracks in the current timeline

Alt + Z Add a Z elevation property track in the current timeline

Alt + A Add an angle property track in the current timeline

Alt + O Add an opacity property track in the current timeline

Alt + C Add a colour property track in the current timeline

Tilemap bar

See also: Tilemap Bar

Esc or 1 Restore normal layout editing

2 - 6 Switch tilemap tool

X Mirror tile or patch

Y Flip tile or patch

Z Rotate tile or patch clockwise

A Rotate tile or patch anti-clockwise

R Reset all transforms

Hold Shift with any tile drawing tool to temporarily switch to the Select tool. Releasing Shift returns to the previous tool.

Hold Ctrl with pencil tool to erase tiles

Hold Ctrl with eraser tool to erase single tiles

Hold Ctrl with rectangle tool to erase tiles in the drawn rectangle

Ease editor

See also: Ease Editor

Hold Ctrl when dragging an anchor point to also modify the adjacent anchor point if there is any.

Flowchart View

See also: Flowchart View

Ctrl + A Select all nodes.

Ctrl + Mouse Wheel Up Zoom in.

Ctrl + Mouse Wheel Down Zoom out.

Middle mouse button drag or Hold space and move mouse Pan the view

Hold Shift while selecting nodes and outputs to add them to the same selection to be able to drag or delete them at the same time.

Backspace or Delete to delete the current selection of nodes, outputs or links.

Construct Animate Manual 2024-11-26