Tutorials WordPress

WordPress Keyboard Shortcuts for Writing

Updated

Apr 21, 2016

Written by

Dave Warfel

Reading Time

4 minutes

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WordPress was created first and foremost as a publishing platform. While it can now be utilized for just about any type of web content or application, at it’s core, all great publishing platforms must have a great writing experience. WordPress’ content editor is powerful, yet not bloated with erroneous buttons. Out-of-the-box, it falls in-between the simple & complex.

WordPress keyboard shortcuts make it easy to customize styles, alignment, headings & navigate the content editor—and they can save you loads of time if you write a lot of content. We’ve compiled a list of keyboard shortcuts for both Mac & PC. Please take a few minutes to learn them, and then practice. The more you use them, the quicker they’ll become second-nature.

You can access a similar list of keyboard shortcuts by using the icon on your content editor toolbar (when in “Visual” mode).

WordPress keyboard shortcuts help icon — How to access the help icon & open a list of keyboard shortcuts.

WordPress Keyboard Shortcut Hotkeys — List of WordPress keyboard shortcuts & hotkeys

If we’ve left anything out, please let us know so we can keep this list current.

List of WordPress Keyboard Shortcuts

Your cursor must be active inside of the WYSIWYG editor. If it’s blinking, that means it’s active. Otherwise, your browser’s default shortcuts will be activated instead.

Key
cmd = command
ctrl = control

Action	Mac Shortcut	Windows Shortcut
Basic Styling Select text first, then apply styling
Bold	cmd + b	ctrl + b
Italic	cmd + i	ctrl + i
Underline	cmd + u	ctrl + u
~~Strikethrough~~	alt + shift + d	alt + shift + d
More Styling Select text first, then apply styling
Unordered List (bullet points)	alt + shift + u	alt + shift + u
Ordered List (1, 2, 3…)	alt + shift + o	alt + shift + o
Quote / Blockquote	alt + shift + q	alt + shift + q
Address	cmd + 9	ctrl + 9
Convert Back to Paragraph <p>	cmd + 7	ctrl + 7
Alignment Select one or more entire paragraphs, or an image, then change alignment
Align Left	alt + shift + l	alt + shift + l
Align Center	alt + shift + c	alt + shift + c
Align Right	alt + shift + r	alt + shift + r
Justify Text	alt + shift + j	alt + shift + j
Insert / Remove
Insert New Paragraph	enter	enter
Insert Line Break (single-spaced)	shift + enter	shift + enter
Insert Link Select text (or image) first, then insert link	alt + shift + a	alt + shift + a
Remove Link Cursor must be placed within the text (or image) that is currently linked	alt + shift + s	alt + shift + s
Insert Image Will be added wherever your cursor is located on the editing screen	alt + shift + m	alt + shift + m
Insert <!–more–> tag	alt + shift + t	alt + shift + t
Insert page break tag To split content into multiple pages	alt + shift + p	alt + shift + p
Headings Select text first, then apply heading tag
H1	cmd + 1	ctrl + 1
H2	cmd + 2	ctrl + 2
H3	cmd + 3	ctrl + 3
H4	cmd + 4	ctrl + 4
H5	cmd + 5	ctrl + 5
H6	cmd + 6	ctrl + 6
Select / Editing
Select All	cmd + a	ctrl + a
Cut	cmd + x	ctrl + x
Copy	cmd + c	ctrl + c
Paste	cmd + v	ctrl + v
Undo	cmd + z	ctrl + z
Redo	cmd + y	ctrl + y
Save (Draft only. Will not publish.)	cmd + s
Navigate
Top of Page	cmd + ↑
Bottom of Page	cmd + ↓
Miscellaneous
Check Spelling	alt + shift + n	alt + shift + n
Help	alt + shift + h	alt + shift + h
Show/Hide Kitchen Sink	alt + shift + z	alt + shift + z
Fullscreen Writing Mode	alt + shift + w	alt + shift + w
Fullscreen Writing Mode These shortcuts only work when in fullscreen writing mode.
Wider Screen	cmd +	ctrl +
Narrower Screen	cmd –	ctrl –
Default Width	cmd 0	ctrl 0

Issues with Headings (cmd + 1,2,3,etc)

If your cursor is not active inside of the WYSIWYG editor, then your browser’s shortcuts will be activated. For Firefox & Chrome (on Mac), cmd + 1, cmd + 2, etc. switches between tabs. This is easily fixed by just clicking inside of your WYSIWYG again to activate the cursor.

Problem with Safari

Unfortunately, Safari has a different behavior for cmd + 1, cmd + 2, etc. They open a website from your Favorites Bar. There is no default way to turn off this functionality, and even deleting all your favorites doesn’t work. Open source to the rescue. There’s a plugin you can add to Safari to change the default behavior to switching tabs. I haven’t tested to see if this will allow the Headings shortcuts to work or not, so if you use Safari & are willing to give this a shot, please let us know.

If you know of any WordPress keyboard shortcuts that we left out, please let us know in the comments.

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Dave Warfel

LinkedIn • X (Twitter)Dave has been working with WordPress since 2011. He's built 100s of client sites and almost a dozen of his own. He's tested almost every plugin you can think of, hosted with at least 10 different companies, and gone down every SEO rabbit hole you can imagine. When's he's not tinkering with new software, you'll find him in the mountains of Colorado, trail running, summiting peaks, and rippin' downhills on his mountain bike. 🏔️🏃🚴🤸

7 responses to “WordPress Keyboard Shortcuts for Writing”

David Wang

Jan 1, 2014

The Headings shortcuts always switch tabs instead of applying the heading styles for me. Any workarounds? :)

Reply
1. Dave Warfel
  
  Jan 1, 2014
  
  David,
  
  Is your cursor active inside of the WYSIWYG editor? If it’s blinking, that means it’s active.
  
  If the cursor is not active, then your browser’s shortcuts will kick in. In Chrome & Firefox (on Mac), cmd + 1,2,3,etc switches between tabs. In Safari on Mac, cmd + 1,2,3,etc actually opens websites from your Favorites Bar. There is a plugin you can install to make Safari switch between tabs instead, but I have not tried it. Unfortunately, even when your cursor is active in the WYSIWYG, Safari will still open a site from your Favorites. Even if you delete all your Favorites, the keyboard shortcuts for headings still don’t work. But I tested most of the other shortcuts, and they all seem to work fine.
  
  See this thread on Apple Support.
2. David Wang
  
  Jan 1, 2014
  
  Thank you sir, for being so detailed in your investigation. You are right, I am using Safari and it was the favorites that kept getting loaded. I tried it in Chrome and it works fine. Cheers!
AudioBuy Australia

Jun 9, 2016

ok ,

in windows : alt+shift+Q
this does not do short cut for creating bullets

Audiobuy needs this!

Reply
1. Dave Warfel
  
  Jun 17, 2016
  
  alt+shift+Q is for blockquote, not bullets.
  
  But the easier way to do bullets is to be in “Visual” mode and just use an asterisk (*) at the beginning of the line. WordPress will automatically create a bulleted list for you.
John @ androidtips.co

Jan 20, 2017

Hey thanks for these shortcuts. I am currently facing one problem can u please help.

ctrl+s is supposed to save the draft in wordpress and ctrl+p is supposed to publish the post or update the post.

But in my system it ctrl+p opens the print menu.

Reply
1. Dave Warfel
  
  Jan 20, 2017
  
  Hey John — Neither one of those shortcuts (ctrl+s or ctrl+p) are listed in WordPress’ official list, however, I have used Ctrl+S before, and can confirm that it does save what you are working on.
  
  However, I have never heard of Ctrl+P being used for publishing or updating the post. I don’t think that is a supported shortcut. Do you mind sharing where you got that information?
  
  Ctrl+P brings up the print dialog for me, as well.