Keyboard Shortcuts

42 votes

I'm not entirely sure what keyboard shortcuts are available aside from the save and zoom. Some functionality I was really hoping for without a mouse:

- Going up or down to the next/previous scene/etc
- Create stuff and move stuff to the trash (what's selected in the outline panel is familiar UX)
- Toggle panel visibility rather than needing to move the mouse to unhide them
- Navigate the outline and plot grid with arrow keys

There are probably other places in the app that could use some keyboard navigation that either I forgot or haven't been implemented. Also some of this might even be possible but I just don't know how.

Under consideration User Interface Suggested by: GK Sudo (18 Oct, '18) • Upvoted: 06 Apr • Comments: 11

Comments: 11

27 Jul, '19
kim
navigating by keyboard would be nice, as well as toggling panels -- but most important to me would be creating new chapters/folders/scenes/notes/etc. all that mousing can become literally painful. i haz a mighty sad that this doesn't have more upvotes
29 Jul, '19
Jacob from Dabble Admin
We don't prioritize only based on the number of votes. It is only one form of input that lets us know what people ask for the most. There are many quality-of-life features like this one that people don't think to ask for but would love if it existed. We take that into consideration.
08 Dec, '20
StephanieF
I'd also like this feature very much--when adding cards on the plot grid, it would be super-helpful to be able to tab from the card title to the card body, and then to tab or something else out of the card.

If it affects your consideration, right now the plot grid functionality, and anything else that requires a mouse, is inaccessible to someone with a disability that forces them to rely on keyboard navigation. If my wrist RSI were acting up, adding and editing cards on the plot grid would be painful, even with my trackball. As is, it's merely annoying. (I also just spent months at work getting our website up to WCAG2.0 standards so accessibility is fresh in my mind. And take it from my hard-learned experience: baking accessibility in from the start is much easier than having to put it in later on down the road!)
25 Jan, '21
J S
I'm particularly interested in shortcut keys to quickly add a chapter or scene. My manuscript is divided into parts and I'm having to scroll all the way to the top just to add a new chapter.
07 Jun, '21
D A
I would love this too! I'm very much an old-school keyboard guy. If I could go an entire writing session without ever touching the mouse, that would be AMAZING.
18 Jun, '21
A T
I would love to see shortcuts for
- adding a new Story Note (created in the same folder of the note I'm currently selected on)
- adding a new Folder in Story Notes (created at the same level as the folder i'm currently in)
- adding a chapter (or just add the Add New Chapter to the Chapter Actions menu instead of the book actions menu)
- adding a new scene to my current chapter

Those 4 things would take care of a huge amount of scrolling back and forth and mouse clicking for me! Thank you!
19 Jul, '21
Stormy Rain Stevens
It would be fantastic if we could create typing shortcuts as well, for instance, one of my characters' names has the ó in it. I would love to create a typing shortcut like alt + o = ó or alt + shift + o = Ó. I have tried to figure out how to add typing shortcuts in Windows itself like you have on a Mac, where you can create them, but am having no luck so far.
04 Aug, '21
Timm
I love Dabble! But as a programmer turned writer, I understand the utility of keyboard shortcuts. Dabble is VERY mouse intensive and lacks even basic keyboard shortcuts like cursor keys to navigate the tree, F2 to rename an item, Del to delete an item, and shortcuts to create scenes, notes, folders, etc. Please consider adding these features, which will make your awesome service even more efficient and enjoyable to use. Thank you.
11 Oct, '21
Christopher
Yes! Keyboard shortcuts.

e.g.
ADD New Chapter
...New Scene
...Plot Point in Current Column
...Plot Point in Book Scenes Column
...Plot Line Title

OPEN Manuscript Card View
...Instruction View
...Plot View (primary plot gird for current book)
...Story Notes first page View
...Scene Note Card for current Scene

CLOSE Scene Note Card for current Scene
...etc.

GO TO Next Chapter
...Next Scene
...Next Scene Note Card
...Next Story Note Folder
...Next Story Note
...Next Plot Grid Plot Point Card in Column
...Next Plot Grid Plot Point Column

RENAME (F2) Selected Chapter
...Selected Scene
...Selected Folder
...Selected Note
...Selected Plot Line
...Selected Plot POint Title

e.g. Add a New Scene
Use: A user Selects a Chapter and hits/taps the Add New Scene key sequence and a new scene is added to the selected Chapter.

Whatever the shortcut sequences are they should be thought out ahead of time as much as possible so that future shortcut key keys make sense with other related shortcuts.
09 Jun, '22
SG
Even just CTRL + N for new Chapter or CTRL+SHIFT+N for a new scene would be so helpful!
25 Jun, '23
Ashley
Would love to see a shortcut for the indent feature. CMD + " and CMD + '