Yesterday I mentioned a useful tip for using physical keyboards with iPads in my guide to unlocking the full potential of the iPad Pro. The tip actually works with all iOS 9 iPads connected to external keyboards over Bluetooth, Lightning, or the Smart Connector: hold Command (⌘) to see a list of supported keyboard shortcuts for the Home screen or app you’re in.
This works in most of Apple’s built-in apps and plenty of popular third-party apps as well, but it can be monotonous prompting that sheet in each app to get a sense of what keyboard shortcuts work. Instead, I’ve compiled a cheat sheet of which keyboard shortcuts work in all the system apps and several popular third-party apps. Whether you’re using Apple’s Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro, Magic Keyboard, Logitech’s excellent K811, or any other physical keyboard, these will make you more efficient when working on your iPad.
Enter the shortcuts by holding down the ⌘ (command) and, if applicable, shift or option keys together, then hitting the letter, number, or symbol. So for ⌘ shift H, hold down ⌘ and shift, then hit H to execute the shortcut.
App Switching + Search
- ⌘
shiftH — Go to Home Screen (iOS 9.3 removed the need for shift) - ⌘ space — Search
- ⌘ tab — Switch App
Calendar
- ⌘ N — New Event
- ⌘ F — Search
- ⌘ T — Show Today
- ⌘ R — Refresh Calendars
- ⌘ 1 — Go to Day View
- ⌘ 2 — Go to Week View
- ⌘ 3 — Go to Month View
- ⌘ 4 — Go to Year View
Camera
- Volume +/- to take a photo or start/stop a video recording
Contacts
- ⌘ N — Create a New Contact
- ⌘ F — Search for a Contact
- ⌘ R — Reply
- ⌘ shift R — Reply All
- ⌘ shift F — Forward
- ⌘ shift J — Mark as Junk
- ⌘ shift L — Flag
- ⌘ shift U — Mark as Unread
- ⌘ up arrow — Go to Previous Message
- ⌘ down arrow — Go to Next Message
- delete — Delete Message
- ⌘ shift N — Get All New Mail
- ⌘ option F — Mailbox Search
- ⌘ N — New Message
Maps
- ⌘ 1 — Switch to standard
- ⌘ 2 — Switch to Transit
- ⌘ 3 — Switch to Satellite
- ⌘ F — Begin Search
Messages
- return — Send
- ⌘ N — New Message
Notes
- ⌘ B — Bold
- ⌘ I — Italics
- ⌘ U — Underline
- ⌘ option T — Title
- ⌘ option H — Heading
- ⌘ option B — Body
- ⌘ option L — Checklist
- ⌘ shift U — Mark as Checked
- ⌘ N — New Note
- ⌘ F — Find Note
Reminders
- ⌘ N — Create New Reminder
- ⌘ control I — Show Reminder Details
Safari
- ⌘ R — Reload Page
- ⌘ [ — Back
- ⌘ ] — Forward
- ⌘ F — Find…
- ⌘ L — Open Location…
- ⌘ T — New Tab
- ⌘ W — Close Tab
- control shift tab — Show Previous Tab
- control tab — Show Next Tab
- control shift \ — Show All Tabs
- ⌘ F — Find
- ⌘ shift W — Show Word Count
- ⌘ N — Create Document
- ⌘ N — Create Presentation
- ⌘ F — Find
- ⌘ shift K — Add Comment
- ⌘ option P — Play Slideshow
- ⌘ option A — Show Transitions and Builds
- ⌘ option N — Show Presenter Notes
- ⌘ N — Create Spreadsheet
- ⌘ F — Find
- ⌘ option C — Copy Style
- ⌘ shift N — Insert Sheet
You may discover that additional keyboard shortcuts you’re familiar with from the Mac also work, including ⌘ plus X/C/V for cut, copy, and paste, while some shortcuts within apps only work in certain parts of those apps. Several popular apps from the App Store also support external keyboard shortcuts. Just hold the Command ⌘ key for a few seconds in each app to find out, or try out shortcuts you know from other apps if you don’t see a list. Here are some examples from popular apps:
- ⌘ N — New Message
- return — Line Break
- ⌘ return — Send
- left arrow — Previous
- right arrow — Next
- up arrow — Earlier
- down arrow — Later
- ⌘ return — Accept
- esc — Cancel
- ⌘ N — New Event
- ⌘ S — Save
- ⌘ delete — Delete
- ⌘ F — Search
- ⌘ R — Reminders
- ⌘ I — Get Info
- ⌘ , — Preferences
- ⌘ shift F — Full Screen
- ⌘ T — Go to Today
- ⌘ K — Toggle Type
- ⌘ T — New Tab
- ⌘ shift N — New Incognito Tab
- ⌘ shift T — Reopened Closed Tab
- ⌘ L — Open Location…
- ⌘ W — Close Tab
- ⌘ D — Bookmark This Page…
- ⌘ F — Find in Page…
- ⌘ R — Reload
- ⌘ left arrow — Back
- ⌘ right arrow — Forward
- ⌘ Y — History
- ⌘ shift . — Voice Search
- ⌘ F — Search chat history
- ⌘ option 1 — Chat tab
- ⌘ option 2 — Info tab
- ⌘ option 3 — Files tab
- ⌘ option 4 — Links tab
- esc — Dismiss
- ⌘ up arrow — Select Previous Message
- ⌘ down arrow — Select Next Message
- ⌘ R — Reply
- ⌘ shift R — Reply All
- ⌘ J — Forward
- ⌘ 1 — Switch to Mail
- ⌘ 2 — Switch to Calendar
- ⌘ 3 — Switch to Files
- ⌘ 4 — Switch to People
- ⌘ 5 — Switch to Settings
- ⌘ N — Create New Message
- ⌘ shift N — Create New Event
- up arrow —Move Up
- down arrow — Move Down
- option up arrow — Jump to previous channel
- option down arrow — Jump to next channel
- option shift up arrow — Jump to previous unread channel
- option shift down arrow — Jump to next unread channel
- option ` — Toggle the channel list
- ⌘ K — Show the Quick Switcher
- ⌘ T — Show the Quick Switcher (two ways!)
- ⌘ F — Perform a search
- ⌘ W — Close window
- ⌘ 1 — Timeline
- ⌘ 2 — Mentions
- ⌘ 3 — Messages
- ⌘ 4 — Stats
- ⌘ 5 — Search
- ⌘ 6 — Faves
- ⌘ 7 — Profile
- ⌘ 8 — Lists
- ⌘ 9 — Mutes
- ⌘ N — Compose
Does your favorite app support keyboard shortcuts with iOS 9 on iPads? If you know about additional keyboard shortcuts hidden in iOS, let us know in the comments.
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Thank you for this elaborate list of shortcuts. I just bought my iPad Pro and waiting for my keyboard to arrive. :-)
Nice
Does the Command + Delete = Forward Delete on this keyboard, since there’s no FN key? Or, is there another key combo performs that function?
*which performs that function?*
Unfortunately, no. Which is frustrating. While there are several shortcuts I miss, this is a big one (another one I wish for if there was a key combo for volume… in fact, I don’t know why there isn’t the option to create our own key combos).
John Gubers iPad Pro review discusses keyboard shortcuts in a lot of detail. He critical, and rightly so, that a number of useful keyboard shortcuts are missing. Apple have a lot to do here since moving your hand between the keyboard and screen is ergonomically awkward, still this is a good start.
Thanks for the list
iOS 9.2 beta 4 still has the awful space bar page jumping in Safari. Hope that’s fixed soon.
Would LOVE to see some sort of shortcut for enabling “dictation” when the smart keyboard is attached! Has anyone found one?
I was asking myself the same question, plus what’s the shortcut to call SIRI?
“Hey Siri!”
Here is a work around for dictation.
1. Press the emoji keyboard button in the bottom left corner of the Smart Keyboard that looks like a globe icon.
2. Tap the “space” command at the lower right of the keyboard. Third command from the right.
3. Immediate press the “delete” command (looks like a left arrow with an x in it) directly to the right of the “space” command to return your curser to the beginning of your desired dictation placement.
4. Then press the “ABC” command on the bottom left.
Now your soft keyboard should stay active so you can press the microphone icon and begin dictation.
Not optimal by any means, but at least it’s a way to activate dictation. Hope this helps.
“Hey Siri” only works with the iPad plugged in to power and doesn’t work for general dictation.
Thanks for the list Zac, I already copied and pasted it into a Note for use on my iPad Pro.
Actually there are more shortcuts available. The list generated by holding down the command key is contextual. For example, in Numbers with a spreadsheet cell selected, there are additional shortcuts for adding additional rows and columns. So this method may be more helpful rather than perusing menus in a desktop app. Consider Zac’c list as a starting point and be prepared to discover new shortcuts based on what actions you are retaking.
Everything except the app switcher works on the iPhone as well. CMD + Tab.
Does anyone know how to do it on the iPhone if it works at all?
Are they only available for iPad Pro? There’s no reason not to bring them to the other iPads models.
All iPads with iOS 9
Here’s where this will become most useful: AppleTV OS — wonder how long it will take to enable this there? I’ve not looked at the OS differences, but would hope keyboard support is relatively simple if not already built in with the common OS.
Chrome for iOS also has shortcuts that don’t appear in the HUD:
Tab and window shortcuts:
⌘+N – Opens a new tab.
Press ⌘+Option and the right arrow together – Switches to the next tab.
Press ⌘+Option and the left arrow together – Switches to the previous tab.
⌘+n (1 – 8) – Shows the n-th tab (1 – 8)
⌘+9 – Shows the last tab
Press ⌘ and the left arrow together
⌘+[ – Goes back.
⌘+] – Goes forward.
Google Chrome feature shortcuts:
⌘+, – Opens the Settings page.
⌘+? – Opens the Help page.
Press Esc – Dismisses the possibly presented modals, or the highlight on the URL.
Webpage shortcuts:
⌘+. – Stops the loading of your current page.
Great very helpful
In Chrome, Command + any number will jump to that tab number. Wish there were a way to switch back and forth between the next tab though.
I’m interested in a shortcut for taking a screen capture when the iPad Pro is connected to the keyboard. You can still use the traditional HOME and Power button, but would be interested in a shortcut like on a Mac – COMMAND + SHIFT + 3 or something. When using power point, if you’re in presentation mode, you can use the apple pencil to make notes on the slides themselves… But all is lost when you leave the presentation view. It would be helpful to be able to capture the notes written on the slide. Does anyone have any other options or ideas? It is just awkward to use the traditional method when working with the keyboard. Thanks for the help.
Not yet but hopefully this will be added soon.
I am using the Apple keyboard. Very frustrated that when the keyboard is deployed, I cannot access the microphone (for voice recognition) that is displayed on the on screen keyboard. Therefore, with keyboard deployed, I cannot utilize the dictation feature.
You can try hitting the eject button on your apple keyboard, then it shows the soft keyboard, from there you know what to do :)
Here’s another OS-level one which took me frustratingly long to find: Fn + Space to change the language of the hardware keyboard. E.g., to switch from English Qwerty to German Qwertz.
Before it was COMMAND+SPACEBAR. Now it’s CTRL-SPACEBAR or the Fn key by itself, which makes it (the Fn key) useless.
Now we can’t use the Fn key to change the behavior of the Functions keys when using LogmeIn or any other Remote Control app.
That was plain stupid from their part, rendering useless 13 keys.
I don’t see anything about shortcuts accents for foreign languages. On iOS devices and the MAC keyboard you can at least hold down a letter and choose from the accent symbols that pop up. When I write in French, there are none on the English keyboards. And the French Awerty keyboard is useless unless you have a diagram next to you to know which keys to hit for which letters and punctuation. So, it seems better to use the software keyboard for this purpose, unless I’m missing something, but then again, so was Apple when I called to ask and they didn’t know either. I submitted my concerns to Apple Feedback.
How can I use voice detection when I use the Apple keyboard on my iPad Pro
Option+arrow up/arrow down shifts the page you’re on in Safari down 80% to the next view.
I just cxonnected a magic keyboard and straightly use this list: wonderful!
Makes my iPad Pro even ebtter!
Rainer , Hamburg, Germany
Is there a short cut for screen capture / screen shot??
Still, I don’t find any way to do BACKSPACE.
I would add cmd + option + left and right arrows to navigate in Chrome tabs.