Keyboard shortcuts

PlexiDesk has keyboard shortcuts for the things you do most: finding anything, talking to Plexii, moving around a desk, adding widgets, and working through mail, meetings and Attention. This page lists them all in one place, for the Mac and for Windows.

You never need a shortcut to use PlexiDesk. Every one of them does something you can also do with the mouse. Learn the few you use every day and come back here for the rest.

Before you start

• Plan: shortcuts work the same on every plan. A few open features that belong to particular plans, and those are marked.
• Mac and Windows: on a Mac, shortcuts use ⌘ (Command). On Windows, press Ctrl instead. ⇧ is the Shift key. Where a shortcut exists on only one of the two, the tables say so.
• Typing comes first. Single keys, arrow keys and most desk shortcuts only work when you are not typing in a box. If a shortcut does nothing, click an empty part of the screen or press Esc, then try again.

See every shortcut in the app

PlexiDesk has its own list of shortcuts, one key press away.

1. Press ⌘ / on a Mac or Ctrl / on Windows.
2. The Keyboard shortcuts panel opens. It has three parts:
   • Everywhere: the shortcuts that work on every screen.
   • On the canvas: the shortcuts for moving around a desk.
   • Canvas quick-add: the single letters that add a widget to a desk. You can change these letters here. See Add widgets with a single key.
3. To close the panel, press Esc, click the close button, click outside it, or press ⌘ / (Ctrl /) again.

Inside a document, a spreadsheet or a presentation, the same key shows that editor's own list of commands instead. See Keyboard shortcuts in Office Coming soon.

The quick-add letters are the only shortcuts you can change. Every other shortcut on this page is fixed.

Everywhere

These work on every screen.

Good to know:

• Undo and redo take back changes to your rooms, desks and widgets, such as adding, moving or deleting a widget. While you are typing in a box, or working in a document, spreadsheet or presentation, they undo and redo your typing instead. See Undo and redo.
• Back and forward step through the screens you have visited, like a web browser. On a Mac, ⌘ ← and ⌘ → still move the cursor to the start or end of the line while you are typing in a box.
• Text size changes every menu, label and button together. The same commands are in the View menu as Zoom In, Zoom Out and Actual Size. Use Actual Size to go back to the normal size. On Windows, press Alt to show the menu bar. See Use the desk with a keyboard or screen reader.
• Talking to Plexii: when you let go, your words appear in Plexii's message box for you to check, and nothing is sent until you press Enter. If you were typing in a box when you started, your words are typed into that box instead. Press Esc while Plexii is listening to cancel. Talking needs speech-to-text set up first. See Talk to Plexii: hold to talk Coming soon and Choose how speech is transcribed: Cloud or Local Coming soon.

On a desk

These work while a desk is open and you are not typing in a box. For more on each one, see Move around the canvas and Select, move and arrange widgets.

Good to know:

• Select all and Shift-click leave out widgets inside a section and widgets pinned to a corner of the screen.
• The arrow keys belong to a widget while you are working inside it, for example to move between a table's cells. Press Esc first to use them on the desk again.
• To see everything at once or go back to 100%, use Home and Reset view on the tool rail at the right of the desk, or right-click an empty part of the desk. See The tool rail on the right of a desk.

Add a widget with one key

Press a single letter, with no other key held down, to add a widget to the middle of what you can see. Click an empty part of the desk first, so you are not typing anywhere.

These are the starting letters. To change one, or to turn one off, see Add widgets with a single key.

Menus, the palette and focus mode

Right-click menus

When a right-click menu opens, it takes the keyboard straight away.

See Right-click menus for what the menus contain.

The command palette

See The command palette.

The Add widget menu

Press Esc to close the Add widget menu in the header without adding anything. See Add a widget to a desk.

When the Add widget menu opens, the cursor is already in Search widgets…. Type part of a widget's name, what it does or its group, then press Enter to add the first match.

The minimap's jump list

Double-click or right-click a name in the list above the minimap to rename it. Press Enter to keep the new name, or Esc to leave it as it was. See The minimap and the jump list.

Focus mode

When a widget is open full screen in focus mode:

See Open widgets full screen and side by side.

Build with AI

In the Build with AI window, press ⌘ Enter on a Mac or Ctrl Enter on Windows to generate suggestions, and Esc to close the window. See Set up a desk with AI.

Plexii

Good to know:

• In Auto mode, a row of choices under the message box shows what Enter will do with what you typed, such as asking Plexii or searching the web. Tab moves to the next choice. See Ask Plexii a question Coming soon.
• To make the Plexii panel wider or narrower from the keyboard when it is docked at the side, press Tab until its left edge is selected (it is called Resize Plexii), then press ← to widen it or → to narrow it. See Open, move and resize the Plexii panel.
• In Brain's Search, press ↓ and ↑ to move through the results, Enter to open one, and ⌘ Enter (Ctrl Enter on Windows) to ask for an answer. See Search everything and ask for an answer Coming soon.
• For the Autonomous agent, see Give Plexii a goal with the Autonomous agent Coming soon.

Open Mail, Chat and more from the palette

You can reach every part of PlexiDesk from the command palette without using the mouse.

1. Press ⌘ K on a Mac or Ctrl K on Windows.
2. Type a few letters of the command, such as messages.
3. Press ↓ until the command is highlighted, then press Enter.

When you type ordinary words, the first row is often Search the web, so check which row is highlighted before you press Enter.

For every other command, see The command palette.

Mail

In Mail, when you are not typing in a box:

Press the letter on its own, without Shift. A reminder of these keys sits at the top of the message list.

When you write a message, press ⌘ Enter on a Mac or Ctrl Enter on Windows to send it. The first press shows who the message is going to and turns the Send button into Confirm send. Press the keys again, or click Confirm send, to send it. If you change the recipients, the subject or the message, you are asked to confirm again.

See Read, reply and send email Coming soon.

Meetings

In the new meeting window

In the guests box, Enter adds a guest instead of starting the meeting:

• Enter, Tab or a comma adds the person you typed, or the highlighted suggestion.
• ↓ and ↑ move through the suggestions.
• Backspace in an empty guests box removes the last guest you added.

In the agenda, press Shift Enter to start a new line. See Start or schedule a meeting Coming soon.

During a meeting

See In a meeting Coming soon.

Chat

See Write, react and manage messages Coming soon.

Attention and focus

Capture something

Press ⌘ K (Ctrl K on Windows), type @attention and what you want to remember, then press Enter. The Capture window opens with your words in it. This works while Attention is turned on. See Capture something into Attention Coming soon.

In the Capture window:

When you check how it will be filed, and you are not typing in a box:

Work with Attention items

• Edit an item: in the Edit item window, press ⌘ Enter (Ctrl Enter on Windows) to save, or Esc to close it without saving.
• Select several items: on the Attention page, hold Shift and drag a box over the rows you want.

See Close, snooze, archive and edit an item Coming soon.

Focus sessions

When a focus session ends and PlexiDesk asks what you want to do next, Esc chooses Done for now. See Start a focus session Coming soon.

Common questions

A shortcut does nothing when I press it. You are probably typing in a box, or working inside a widget. Click an empty part of the screen, or press Esc, and try again. Single letters on a desk also do nothing while a menu or window is open.

How do I go back on Windows? Click the back arrow at the left of the header, or press your mouse's back button. ⌘ ← and ⌘ → are Mac shortcuts.

Can I change a shortcut? You can change the single letters that add widgets on a desk, in the Keyboard shortcuts panel. See Add widgets with a single key. The other shortcuts are fixed.

I pressed a letter on a desk and it typed into a widget. Single letters add widgets only when you are not typing. Press Esc or click an empty part of the desk, then press the letter.

Where are the shortcuts for documents, spreadsheets and presentations? Open the document and press ⌘ / (Ctrl / on Windows) to see that editor's own list. See Keyboard shortcuts in Office Coming soon.

Are there shortcuts for tables? Yes. You can move between a table's cells from the keyboard and copy or paste blocks of cells, as you would in a spreadsheet. See Move around a table and copy cells.

Related tasks

• The command palette
• Add widgets with a single key
• Keyboard shortcuts in Office Coming soon
• Right-click menus
• Move around the canvas
• Undo and redo