Keyboard shortcuts help to speed up your workflow. Many people prefer to use them for frequent commands rather than clicking through menus.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Mac

Basic Operation

• ⌘N to create a new sheet
• ⌃⌥⌘N to create a new material sheet
• ˆ⌘M to use a sheet as material/regular sheet
• ⌘⌫ to move a sheet to the trash
• ⇧⌘B to split a sheet at the current cursor location
• ⇧⌘N to create a new group
• ⌃⌘N to create a new filter
• Items will always be created in the vicinity of the current selection.
• Sheets will be created below the currently selected sheet, or either at the top or bottom of the Sheet List. You can set your preferred New Sheet location by dragging a newly created sheet to either the top/bottom/middle of the Sheet List. Afterward, all newly created sheets will be placed accordingly.
• Groups and filters will be created inside the currently selected group.
• If there is no selection, or if the selection can’t accept new content, items will be created in the “Inbox” of the topmost category (e.g., iCloud).
• Click to select
• Double-click to edit

General Navigation

• → and ←  to navigate through the columns (Library, Sheet List, Editor, Dashboard)
• ↑ and ↓  to navigate between groups and sheets
• ↩︎ to navigate deeper
  • If you’re in the library, pressing ↩︎ will move focus to the sheet list
  • Pressing ↩︎ again will begin editing
• ⌘↩︎ to navigate back up one level
  • Pressing ⌘↩︎ will end editing and return the focus to the sheet list.
  • Pressing ⌘↩︎ again will move focus to the library.
  • If you happen to be in a project, you can press ⌘↩︎ again to close the project.
• Or alternatively, if the focus is within a sheet:
  • ⌥⌘↑ to move one sheet up
  • ⌥⌘↓ to move to the next sheet

Views and Frequently Used Features

• ⌘1 to switch focus to/toggle the library
• ⌘2 to switch focus to/toggle the sheet list
• ⌘3 to switch focus to/toggle the editor-only view
• ⌘4 to switch focus to/toggle the dashboard
• ⌘6 to show Quick Export
• ⌘7 to show Statistics
• ⌘8 to show the Navigation menu
  • Use arrow keys to navigate between headings.
  • Start typing to filter the listed headings.
• ⌘9 to open the markup panel
  • When showing the markup panel (⌘9), you can click on any listed markup to apply it to the current selection.
  • This works with multiple selections (⌘-Click to select different parts of your text).

History

• ⌘[ to go back in the sheet history
• ⌘] to go forward in the sheet history

Dashboard

• ⌃⌘1 to open the dashboard’s Overview
• ⌃⌘2 to open the dashboard’s Progress view
• ⌃⌘3 to open the dashboard’s Outline view
• ⌃⌘4 to open the dashboard’s Attachments view
• ⌃⌘5 to open the dashboard’s Annotations view
• ⌃⌘6 to open the dashboard’s Suggestions view

Quick Open

• ⌘O to look for a sheet in the whole library
• ⇧⌘O to look for a sheet in the current library section (iCloud, On My Mac, etc.)
• ⌥⌘O to look for a sheet in the currently selected group

Global Search

• ⇧⌘F to switch focus to group search
• esc to leave group search

Editor Find & Replace

• ⌘F to show the Find panel
• ⌥⌘F to show the Find & Replace panel
• esc to close the Find/Replace panel

Favorites

• ⌃⌘U to add a sheet to or remove it from Favorites
• You can also use a sheet’s context menu for that.

Editor Smart Paste

• ⇧⌘V to invoke Smart Paste or
• Hold ⌘V to invoke Smart Paste:
  • Paste options will vary based on clipboard content and current markup.
  • Arrow left/right to preview available paste options
  • ↩︎  to confirm and paste

Appearances

• ⌥⌘L to toggle Dark Theme
• ⌥⌘X to toggle Always Use Light Theme
• ⌃⌘F to toggle Full-Screen
• ⌘. to toggle Hide Interface

Split View, Multiple Windows

• ⌥⌘3 to toggle second editor
• You can also right-click on a sheet in the sheet list for that.
• ⌘⌥→ and ⌘⌥← to switch between the two editors
• Hold ⌥ while scrolling to scroll both editors simultaneously.
• You can also have multiple windows open at the same time (⌥⌘N).

Tabs

• ⌘T to open a new tab
• ⌃⇥ to switch to the next tab
• ⌃⇧⇥ to switch to the previous tab 
• Drag a tab out to turn it into a separate window.
• To turn all open windows into tabs of a single window, select “Merge All Windows” from the “Window” menu.

View Options

The View menu holds several options for personalizing the editor and the sheet list:

• Show Line Marker
• Highlight
  • Line
  • Sentence
  • Paragraph
• Fixed Scrolling
  • Off
  • Top
  • Center
  • Bottom
  • Variable
• Enable the display of paragraph numbers
• Set the “Sheet Preview” to anything between 1 and 6 lines

You can set up custom keyboard shortcuts for these items.

Text Zoom

• ⌘+ to increase font size
• ⌘- to decrease font size
• ⌘0 to reset font size to the default value

Markup

• ⌘⧵ for headings
• ⌘I for emphasize
• ⌘B for strong
• ⌘K for links
• ⌘L for removing any sort of markup
• ⌘9 to show the Markup Panel, in case you can’t remember any of this

End Tag Completion

• Press esc to automatically enter an end tag placeholder.
• To accept the end tag, do any of the following:
  • Press ↩︎ 
  • Press → 
  • Press ↓ (if at the very end of a sheet)
  • Type in the end tag
• To dismiss the end tag, press esc.

Lists

• ⇥ to increase list indentation
• ⇧⇥ to decrease list indentation

Smart Lists

• If enabled, hitting ↩︎ will automatically add another list item, while  ⌥↩︎  will just create a new paragraph.
• Enable Smart Lists via Edit › Substitutions.

Media

• Drag’n’drop images and PDFs into the editor to create a text object that holds the item.

Tables

• ⌃⌘↑or⌃⌘↓ to move selected rows up/down
• ⌃⌘←or⌃⌘→ to move selected columns left/right
• ⌥↑or⌥↓  to add row above/below selected row
• ⌥←or⌥→  to add column to the left/right of the selected column
• ⌫  to clear contents of selected cells
• ⌘⌫ to delete selected rows/columns
• ⌘A to select all cells

Links

• ⌘K to create a link
• Click to edit the displayed text.
• Double-click to edit the URL or linked heading.

Text Objects

• ⌘-Click to select
• Double-click to open the text object popover.

Text Object Popovers

• ⌘↩︎ to close and move the insertion point forward
• esc to close and keep the object selected
• ⇥ to switch between input fields
• Drag any popover to tear it off and place it anywhere on the screen.

Copy & Move in Sidebars

• By default, dragging groups and sheets to and from iCloud or “On My Mac” always moves them, transferring their contents to the new location.
• Dragging to and from External Folders will always copy the contents, i.e., they will live in both locations afterward.
• Hold ⌥ while dragging to force copying of groups and sheets.
• Hold ⌘ while dragging to force the moving of groups and sheets.

Export Preview

• ⇧⌘P to preview the current sidebar selection (can be groups)
• Choose an export style to be used for preview.
• You can export directly from the preview window.

Misc.

• ⌘S will create a new version of the current sheet. Select “Browse All Versions…” from the “File” menu to see how often you invoked that command.
• ⌘W will close  the current window or tab (for example the preview window).
• Double-clicking a sheet in the sheet list lets you jump to the location of your last edit.
   

Keyboard Shortcuts for iPad

Of course, you can use a mouse, trackpad, or external keyboard with Ulysses on your iPad. Ulysses not only supports typing on an external keyboard, but it also offers advanced functionality through keyboard shortcuts.

Here’s a list of functional shortcuts for when a hardware keyboard is attached. If you’re familiar with Ulysses for Mac, you should feel right at home.

Views

• ⌘1  to toggle the library
• ⌘2  to toggle the sheet list
• ⌘3  to toggle the editor
• ⌘4  to toggle the dashboard
• ⌘6  to toggle the export preview
• ⌘7  to toggle the dashboard’s Progress view
• ⌘8  to toggle the outline navigator
• ^⌘1 to ^⌘4 to switch between the dashboard’s various views

Sheets & Groups

• ⌘N to create a new sheet
• ^⌥⌘N to create a new material sheet
• ^⌘M to use a sheet as material/regular sheet:
• ⌘↩︎ to begin/end editing
• ⌘Z for undo
• ⇧⌘Z for redo 
• ⇧⌘N to create a new group
• ^⌘N to create a new filter
• ⌘D to duplicate a sheet or group
• ⌃⌘U to mark/unmark a sheet as a favorite
• ⇧⌘U to go to your favorite group

General Navigation

• → and ←  to navigate through the columns (Library, Sheet List, Editor, Dashboard)
• ↑ and ↓  to navigate between groups and sheets
• ↩︎ to navigate deeper
  • If you’re in the library, pressing ↩︎ will move focus to the sheet list.
  • Pressing ↩︎ again will begin editing.
• ⌘↩︎ to navigate back up one level
  • Pressing ⌘↩︎ will end editing and return the focus to the sheet list.
  • Pressing ⌘↩︎ again will move focus to the library.
  • If you happen to be in a project, you can press ⌘↩︎ again to close the project.
• Or alternatively, if the focus is within a sheet:
  • ⌥⌘↑ to move one sheet up
  • ⌥⌘↓ to move to the next sheet
• In the exporter:  Space,  ⇧Space, ↓ and ↑ to navigate

Tables

• ⇧⌥→ to select a cell
• ⇧⌘→ or ⇧⌘← to select all cells to the right/left of the selected cell
• ⇧⌘↓ or ⇧⌘↑ to select all cells to the below/above of the selected cell
• ⌘A to select all cells

Markup

• ⌘⧵ or ⌘# to increase heading levels
• ⇧⌘⧵ or ⇧⌘# to decrease heading levels
• ⌘K to create a [link]
• ⌘I for _emphasis_
• ⌘B for **strong**
• ⌘L to clear all markup
• ⇥ to indent
• ⇧⇥ to outdent
• ⇧⌘B to split a sheet at the current cursor location

Search & Find

• ⌘O to look for a sheet in the whole library (Quick Open)
• ↓ and ↑ to navigate results
• ↩︎ to open a selected result
• ⌘↩︎ to reveal a result in its parent group
• esc or ⌘O to close Quick Open
   
• ⌘F to open editor search (Find)
• ⌘G to step to the next search match
• ⇧⌘G to step to the previous search match
• esc or ⌘F to close the search

History

• ⌘[ to go back in the sheet history
• ⌘] to go forward in the sheet history

Keywords

• ⇧⌘K to edit keywords

Copy & Paste

• ⇧⌘C to open the smart copy options menu
• ⌥⌘C to copy selected text with the last used smart copy option
• ⇧⌘V to open the smart paste options menu
• ⌥⌘V to paste text with the last used smart paste option 

Export

• ⇧⌘P to open the Export preview
• ⌥⌘P to open the Publish preview

View Options

• ⇧⌘R to toggle Revision Mode
• ⌥⌘T to toggle Typewriter Mode
• ⌥⌘L to toggle Dark Mode
• ⌘. to toggle Hide Interface

Text Zoom

• ⌘+ to increase font size
• ⌘- to decrease font size
• ⌘0 to reset font size to the default value

Keyboard Shortcuts for iPhone

Here’s a list of functional shortcuts for when a hardware keyboard is attached. If you’re familiar with Ulysses for Mac, you should feel right at home.

Views

• ⌘1  to toggle the library
• ⌘2  to toggle the sheet list
• ⌘3  to toggle the editor
• ⌘6  to toggle the export preview
• ⌘7  to toggle the Progress view

Sheets & Groups

• ⌘N to create a new sheet
• ^⌥⌘N to create a new material sheet
• ^⌘M to use a sheet as material/regular sheet:
• ⌘Z for undo
• ⇧⌘Z for redo 
• ⇧⌘N to create a new group
• ^⌘N to create a new filter
• ⌘D to duplicate a sheet or group
• ⌃⌘U to mark/unmark a sheet as a favorite
• ⇧⌘U to go to your favorite group

General Navigation

• → and ←  to navigate through the columns (Library, Sheet List, Editor, Dashboard)
• ↑ and ↓  to navigate between groups and sheets
• ↩︎ to navigate deeper
  • If you’re in the library, pressing ↩︎ will move focus to the sheet list.
  • Pressing ↩︎ again will begin editing.
• ⌘↩︎ to navigate back up one level
  • Pressing ⌘↩︎ will end editing and return the focus to the sheet list.
  • Pressing ⌘↩︎ again will move focus to the library.
  • If you happen to be in a project, you can press ⌘↩︎ again to close the project.
• Or alternatively, if the focus is within a sheet:
  • ⌥⌘↑ to move one sheet up
  • ⌥⌘↓ to move to the next sheet
• In the exporter:  Space,  ⇧Space, ↓ and ↑ to navigate

Tables

• ⇧⌥→ to select a cell
• ⇧⌘→ or ⇧⌘← to select all cells to the right/left of the selected cell
• ⇧⌘↓ or ⇧⌘↑ to select all cells to the below/above of the selected cell
• ⌘A to select all cells

Markup

• ⌘K to create a [link]
• ⌘I for _emphasis_
• ⌘B for **strong**
• ⌘L to clear all markup
• ⇥ to indent
• ⇧⇥ to outdent
• ⇧⌘B to split a sheet at the current cursor location

Search & Find

• ⌘O to look for a sheet in the whole library (Quick Open)
• ↓ and ↑ to navigate results
• ↩︎ to open a selected result
• ⌘↩︎ to reveal a result in its parent group
• esc or ⌘O to close Quick Open
   
• ⌘F to open editor search (Find)
• ⌘G to step to the next search match
• ⇧⌘G to step to the previous search match
• esc or ⌘F to close the search

History

• ⌘[ to go back in the sheet history
• ⌘] to go forward in the sheet history

Keywords

• ⇧⌘K to edit keywords

Copy & Paste

• ⇧⌘C to open the smart copy options menu
• ⌥⌘C to copy selected text with the last used smart copy option
• ⇧⌘V to open the smart paste options menu
• ⌥⌘V to paste text with the last used smart paste option 

Export

• ⇧⌘P to open the Export preview
• ⌥⌘P to open the Publish preview

View Options

• ⇧⌘R to toggle Revision Mode
• ⌥⌘T to toggle Typewriter Mode
• ⌥⌘L to toggle Dark Mode
• ⌘. to toggle Hide Interface

Text Zoom

• ⌘+ to increase font size
• ⌘- to decrease font size