Inkscape Keyboard Shortcuts Cheatsheet

Inkscape is a powerful drawing program that allows you to create raster-based graphics in Linux. It features the ability to draw simple lines and 2D shapes and generate perspective drawings of 3D objects.

While most Inkscape users prefer a stylus and a drawing pad, its developers still provide several keyboard shortcuts for most of its features. This makes the program easier to work with, especially during long drawing sessions.

This cheatsheet will show you some of Inkscape’s most essential keyboard shortcuts. Not only that, but it will also highlight some of the program’s little-known features by showing you their quick access keys.

Also Helpful: We have a GIMP cheatsheet for photo editing and other tools.

Shortcut	Function
File Management	
Ctrl + N	Create a new Inkscape document.
Ctrl + S	Save the currently open Inkscape document.
Ctrl + Shift + S	Open the “Save As…” dialog box for the current document.
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + S	Create a duplicate of the currently open file within the same directory.
Ctrl + Shift + E	Save the currently open Inkscape document as a PNG image.
Ctrl + O	Open an existing Inkscape document.
Ctrl + I	Open an image as an graphics object in the currently open document.
Ctrl + Q	Close the currently open document.
File Properties
Ctrl + F	Open the Find and Replace prompt on the current document.
Ctrl + Shift + H	Print a history of all the undo actions for the current document.
Ctrl + Shift + D	Print all the available properties for the current document.
Ctrl + Shift + O	Print all the available properties for the currently selected object.
Ctrl + Shift + P	Open Inkscape’s “Preferences” window.
Ctrl + Shift + L	Open a dialog box that contains all the active layers in the document.
Ctrl + Shift + X	Open a dialog box that shows the underlying XML for the current document.
Window Manipulation
F10	Toggle Inkscape’s Menu Bar.
F11	Switch the current display to Fullscreen mode.
Shift + F11	Toggle the display of all the toolbars in the current session.
Ctrl + F11	Toggle the display of all the toolbars and switch the display to fullscreen.
Ctrl + E	Show the guide rulers in the current document.
Ctrl + B	Disable the scrollbars in the current document.
Alt + Shift + P	Disable the Pallete subwindow in the current document.
Ctrl + Tab	Go to the next document in the current session.
Ctrl + Shift + Tab	Go back to the previous document in the current session.
Layer Manipulation
Ctrl + Shift + N	Create a new drawing layer on the current document.
Shift + Page Up	Move the currently selected object one layer up.
Shift + Page Down	Move the currently selected object one layer down.
Ctrl + Shift + Page Up	Move the entire layer one level up.
Ctrl + Shift + Page Down	Move the entire layer one level down.
Ctrl + Shift + Home	Move the entire layer to the top of the document stack.
Ctrl + Shift + End	Move the entire layer to the bottom of the document stack.
Object Manipulation
Ctrl + Z	Undo the last change made on the currently selected object.
Ctrl + Y	Redo the last undo made on the currently selected object.
Ctrl + Insert	Copy the currently selected object into the system clipboard.
Shift + Del	Cut the currently selected object into the system clipboard.
Shift + Insert	Paste the most recent object from the system clipboard.
Ctrl + Alt + V	Paste the object from the system clipboard on the original copy location.
Ctrl + Shift + V	Paste the style of the object in the clipboard on the currently selected object.
Alt + D	Create a clone of the currently selected object.
Alt + Shift + D	Remove the link between the cloned object and its original.
Shift + D	Highlight the original object.
Group and Alignment
Ctrl + G	Create a new object group using all the currently selected objects.
Ctrl + U	Remove the group of the currently selected object.
Ctrl + Alt + H	Vertically center the currently selected group.
Ctrl + Alt + T	Horizontally center the currently selected group.
Dialog Manipulation
Ctrl + Shift + T	Open the “Text and Fonts” dialog box on the current document.
Ctrl + Shift + W	Open the “Swatches” dialog box on the current document.
Ctrl + Shift + F	Open the “Fill and Stroke” dialog box on the current document.
Ctrl + Shift + A	Open the “Align and Distribute” dialog box on the current document.
Ctrl + Shift + M	Open the “Transform” dialog box for the currently selected object.
Dialog Navigation
Ctrl + F	Search through the open dialog boxes in the current session.
Ctrl + W	Close the currently open dialog box.
Tab	Move to the next element in the current dialog box.
Shift + Tab	Move back to the previous element in the current dialog box.
Ctrl + Page Up	Move to the next dialog box in the current session.
Ctrl + Page Down	Move back to the preivous dialog box in the current session.
Editing Tools
S	Go to Inkscape’s selection tool mode.
N	Toggle the currently selected object’s node points.
Z	Zoom in on the currently active document.
Shift + Z	Zoom out of the currently active document.
M	Measure the distance between active objects in the current document.
Drawing Tools
R	Draw a rectangle object on the current document.
E	Draw a circle object on the current document.
I	Draw a spiral line on the current document.
X	Render a 3D perspective box on the current document
Asterisk (*)	Draw a star object on the current document.
P	Toggle the freehand Pencil tool.
B	Toggle the point to point Pen tool.
C	Toggle the freehand Calligraphy tool.
A	Toggle the freehand Spraypaint tool.
U	Toggle the Paint Bucket tool.
G	Toggle the Gradient tool.
D	Toggle the Eyedropper tool.
Shift + E	Enable the Eraser tool on the current document.
Pencil Tool
Left Click	Create a non-freehand line between two points.
Ctrl + Left Click	Create a single dot.
Ctrl + Shift + Left Click	Create a dot twice the diameter of the single dot.
Ctrl + Alt + Left Click	Create a dot with a random diameter.
Pen Tool
Left Click	Create a new single node on the current document.
Shift + Left Click	Create a new node on the current document and add it to a path.
Alt + Up Arrow	Move the currently selected node by one pixel up.
Alt + Down Arrow	Move the currently selected node by one pixel down.
Alt + Left Arrow	Move the currently selected node one pixel to the left.
Alt + Right Arrow	Move the currently selected node one pixel to the right.
Alt + Shift + Up Arrow	Move the currently selected node by ten pixels up.
Alt + Shift + Down Arrow	Move the currently selected node by ten pixels down.
Alt + Shift + Left Arrow	Move the currently selected node by ten pixels to the left.
Alt + Shift + Right Arrow	Move the currently selected node by ten pixels to the right.
Shift + U	Convert the last pen segment into a curve.
Shift + L	Convert the last pen segment into a line.
Enter	Finalize the current node path.
Esc	Cancel the current node path.
Calligraphy Tool
Up Arrow	Increase the angle of the brush.
Down Arrow	Decrease the angle of the brush.
Left Arrow	Resize the brush’s current width by one pixel less.
Right Arrow	Resize the brush’s current width by one pixel more.
Home	Set the current brush width to its minimum size.
End	Set the current brush width to its maximum size.
Esc	Cancel the current brush stroke.
Spraypaint Tool
Shift + J	Place the copied object anywhere inside the spray paint’s spray radius.
Shift + K	Increase the number of object duplicates.
Up Arrow	Increase the amount of object duplicates.
Down Arrow	Fill the entire region with the bucket’s contents and add it to the current selection.
Left Arrow	Reduce the width of the spray radius by one unit.
Right Arrow	Increase the width of the spray radius by one unit.
Home	Reduce the width of the spray radius to its minimum size.
End	Increase the width of the spray radius to its maximum size.
Paint Bucket Tool
Left Click	Fill the entire region with the contents of the bucket.
Shift + Left Click	Fill the entire region with the contents of the bucket and add it to the current selection.
Ctrl + Left Click	Change the style of an object using the bucket’s current properties.
Ctrl + Shift + Left Click	Change the style of either a line or a stroke using the bucket’s current properties.
Gradient Tool
Double Left Click	Create a basic gradient on the current object.
Ctrl + Alt + Left Click	Add an abrupt step on the gradient of the current object.
Delete	Remove the currently selected abrupt step.
Left Arrow	Move the selected gradient nodes one step to the left.
Right Arrow	Move the selected gradient nodes one step to the right.
Up Arrow	Move the selected gradient nodes one step up.
Down Arrow	Move the selected gradient nodes one step down.
Ctrl + Left Arrow	Move the selected gradient nodes one pixel to the left.
Ctrl + Right Arrow	Move the selected gradient nodes one pixel to the right.
Ctrl + Up Arrow	Move the selected gradient nodes one pixel up.
Ctrl + Down Arrow	Move the selected gradient nodes one pixel down.
Shift + R	Reverse the gradient step on the current object.
Eyedropper Tool
Left Click	Copy the color of an object and set it as the document’s foreground color.
Shift + Click	Copy the color of an object and set it as the document’s stroke color.
Alt + Click	Copy the color of an object, invert it and set it as the document’s foreground color.
Ctrl + C	Copy the color of an object and place its RGB value in the clipboard.

_{Image credit: Unsplash. All alterations by Ramces Red.}