Did you know that there are ways you can speed up the website building process? And we are not talking about the latest plugin that can magically create a website for you. We are talking about the WordPress keyboard shortcuts.
Instead of using your mouse to build a website, we advise you to move to the keyboard and keep your hands there. And trust us, you won’t lose the ability to design every element of your website!
In this guide post, we will list the most useful WordPress keyboard shortcuts that can save you time (both on Windows and Mac). By the end of this short article, we guarantee you will be a fan of using keyboard shortcuts, especially when you get the hang of them.
The most common WordPress keyboard shortcuts
As you probably know, WordPress is a website builder that uses the Site Editor as an all-composing interface that you need to use to build a website. The reason why WordPress is so easy to use is because the shortcuts you would use in your Microsoft Word (or Google Documents, for example) also work with WordPress.
Here are the most common, well-known keyboard shortcuts that also work on WP.
WordPress keyboard shortcuts for Windows users:
- Ctrl + C ー Copy
- Ctrl + V ー Paste
- Ctrl + Shift + V ー Paste the selected text without formatting
- Ctrl + B ー Bold
- Ctrl + I ー Italic
- Ctrl + X ー Cut
- Ctrl + A ー Select All
- Shift + Left/Right ー Select one letter to the right/left
- Ctrl + Shift + Right/Left ー Select one word to the right/left
- Ctrl + Shift + Up/Down ー Select one line above/below
- Shift + Home ー Select all text until the beginning of the current line
- Shift + End ー Select all text until the end of the current line
- Ctrl + Z ー Undo
- Ctrl + Y ー Redo
- Ctrl + S ー Save changes
- Ctrl + P ー Print
- Ctrl + U ー Underline
- Ctrl + K ー Turn the selected text into a link
- Alt + Shift + X ー Display the selected text in a monospaced font
- Alt + Shift + L ー Align left
- Alt + Shift + R ー Align right
- Alt + Shift + J ー Justify
- Alt + Shift + C ー Align center
- Alt + Shift + D ー Apply strikethrough
- Alt + Shift + A ー Insert a link
- Alt + Shift + O ー Start an ordered list
- Alt + Shift + U ー Start an unordered list
- Alt + Shift + S ー Remove a link
WordPress keyboard shortcuts for Mac users:
- Command + C ー Copy
- Command + V ー Paste
- Command + Shift + V ー Paste the selected text without formatting
- Command + B ー Bold
- Command + I ー Italic
- Command + X ー Cut
- Command + A ー Select All
- Shift + Left/Right ー Select one letter to the right/left
- Command + Shift + Right/Left ー Select one word to the right/left
- Command + Shift + Up/Down ー Select one line above/below
- Shift + Home ー Select all text until the beginning of the current line
- Shift + End ー Select all text until the end of the current line
- Command + Z ー Undo
- Command + Y ー Redo
- Command + S ー Save changes
- Command + P ー Print
- Command + U ー Underline
- Command + K ー Turn the selected text into a link
- Option + Control + X ー Display the selected text in a monospaced font
- Option + Ctrl + L ー Align left
- Option + Ctrl + R ー Align right
- Option + Ctrl + J ー Justify
- Option + Ctrl + C ー Align center
- Option + Ctrl+ D ー Apply strikethrough
- Option + Ctrl + A ー Insert a link
- Option + Ctrl + O ー Start an ordered list
- Option + Ctrl + U ー Start an unordered list
- Option + Ctrl + S ー Remove a link
Keyboard shortcuts for the WordPress Editor
WordPress block editor is an editor oriented around blocks一units that contain some sort of media (like a text, an image, a button, etc.). And although the Editor supports the previously mentioned, standard shortcuts, there are multiple shortcuts that are specific to the Editor.
Here’s a list of those shortcuts:
Editor keyboard shortcuts for Windows users:
- Enter ー Add a new block
- Ctrl + Shift + D ー Duplicate the selected block(s)
- Alt + Shift + Z ー Remove the selected block(s)
- Ctrl + Alt + T ー Insert a new block before the selected block(s)
- Ctrl + Alt + Y ー Insert a new block after the selected block(s)
- / ー Change the block type after adding a new paragraph
- Esc ー Clear selection
- Ctrl + Shift + Z ー Redo your last undo
- Ctrl + Shift + , ー Show/hide the Settings bar
- Alt + Shift + O ー Open the block navigation menu
- Alt + Shift + N ー Navigate to the next part of the Editor
- Alt + Shift + P ー Navigate to the previous part of the Editor
- Alt + Shift + M ー Open the Add Media screen
- Alt + Shift + W ー Enable Distraction Free Writing mode
- Alt + Shift + T ー Insert a More tag
- Alt + Shift + P ー Insert a page break
- Alt + Shift + Z ー Expand the WordPress Editor formatting bar
- Alt + Shift + Q ー Create a quote
- Alt + Shift + X ー Add a code tag
- Shift + Enter ー Move down in the Editor one line without inserting a full line break
- Alt + F10 ー Navigate to the nearest toolbar
- Ctrl + Shift + Alt + M ー Switch between Visual and Code Editor
Editor keyboard shortcuts for Mac users:
- Enter ー Add a new block
- / ー Change the block type after adding a new paragraph
- Command + Shift + D ー Duplicate the selected block(s)
- Control + Option + Z ー Remove the selected block(s)
- Command + Option + T ー Insert a new block before the selected block(s)
- Command + Option + Y ー Insert a new block after the selected block(s)
- Esc ー Clear selection
- Command + Shift + Z ー Redo the last undo
- Command + Shift + , ー Show or hide the settings bar
- Option + Ctrl + O ー Open the block navigation menu
- Option + Ctrl + N ー Navigate to the next part of the Editor
- Option + Ctrl + P ー Navigate to the previous part of the Editor
- Option + Ctrl + M ー Open the Add Media screen
- Option + Ctrl + W ー Enable Distraction Free Writing mode
- Option + Ctrl + T ー Insert a More tag
- Option + Ctrl + P ー Insert a page break
- Option + Ctrl + H ー Open the help screen
- Option + Ctrl + Z ー Expand the WordPress Editor formatting bar
- Option + Ctrl + Q ー Create a quote
- Option + Ctrl + X ー Add a code tag
- Shift + Enter ー Move down in the Editor one line without inserting a full line break
- fn + Option + F10 ー Navigate to the nearest toolbar
- Command + Option + Shift + M ー Switch between Visual and Code Editor
Note: If you are interested in previewing keyboard shortcuts within the Site Editor, use the shortcut Alt + Shift + H (or Option + Ctrl + H for Mac).
WordPress formatting shortcuts
Truthfully, formatting shortcuts are not keyboard shortcuts per se but they can help you format a text quickly.
When using the formatting shortcuts, you don’t have to simultaneously press as many keys on the keyboard. Actually, all you need to do to activate these formatting shortcuts is type symbols within the Editor. Here are the formatting shortcuts you should give a try:
- * ー Start an unordered list
- 1. ー Start an ordered list
- ## ー Apply H2 formatting
- ### ー Apply H3 formatting
- > ー Creates a blockquote
- — ー Create a horizontal line
Please note that you will need to hit Space or Enter after typing any of these shortcuts to apply the formatting.
Shortcuts you can apply on the Comments screen
If you are running a blog (or other types of website, for that matter), and you get a lot of website comments daily, you should know that there are shortcuts that can help you manage comments.
To enable these keyboard shortcuts, do the following:
- Navigate to Users → Profile in your WordPress Admin panel.
- Enable the Keyboard Shortcuts checkbox.
- Click the Update Profile button.
- Go back to the comments screen in the Admin area. You have enabled the following shortcuts:
- J ー Next comment
- K ー Previous comment
- A ー Approve a comment
- U ー Unapprove a comment
- D ー Delete a comment
- R ー Reply a comment
- Q ー Quick edit a comment
- Z ー Restore a comment from Trash
- X + J ー Select multiple comments (moving to the next comments)
X + K ー Select multiple comments (moving to the previous comments) - Shift + A ー Approve selected comments
- Shift + D ー Delete selected comments
- Shift + U ー Unapprove selected comments
- Shift + T ー Move selected comments to Trash
- Shift + Z ー Restore selected comments from Trash
Final thoughts
We hope this post helped you understand how valuable shortcuts can be and encouraged you to use them when building a website. We have to admit that it will take you some time to memorize all these shortcuts, but the more you use them, the more they will become a part of your muscle memory.
If you have questions about creating a site using your Themes Kingdom theme, feel free to contact us一our support agent will get back to you ASAP.