Keyboard Shortcuts

QLab and its manual are written in American English using a US-standard QWERTY keyboard layout. Apple sells Macs with a wide variety of keyboard layouts for many different languages, alphabets, and cultures. There is, unfortunately, no simple way to plan for keyboard shortcuts which transcend these boundaries. If you are using a keyboard layout other than US QWERTY, and/or a language other than US English on your Mac, you may find that some of the keyboard shortcuts do not work as listed. You may find that the key in the corresponding position as the listed key on a US keyboard will work, but will simply have the wrong label. We did not cause this problem, and we cannot solve it, but we are nevertheless sorry if it causes you trouble.

Key Symbols

Symbol Meaning
command
shift
control
option
delete

Default Keyboard Controls

Most of these keyboard shortcuts can be edited in the Controls → Keyboard section of Workspace Settings.

Command Key Note
GO space When the workspace is set to always audition, this keyboard shortcut invokes Audition GO instead of GO.
Preview Selected V When the workspace is set to always audition, this keyboard shortcut invokes Audition Preview Selected instead of Preview Selected.
Audition GO ⌥space
Audition Preview Selected ⌥V
Load Last Selected L If multiple cues are selected, only the most recently selected cue will be loaded. The playhead will also jump to that cue.
Panic Selected S Double-tap this keyboard shortcut to hard stop the selected cues.
Pause/Resume Selected P
Pause All [
Resume All ]
Panic All escape Double-tap this keyboard shortcut to hard stop all cues. This shortcut cannot be changed.
Edit cue number N
Edit cue name Q
Edit cue notes O
Edit cue target T
Edit cue pre-wait duration E
Edit cue action duration D
Edit cue post-wait duration W
Cycle cue continue mode C
Flag/unflag F

QLab

Command Key
Hide QLab ⌘H
Hide Others ⌥⌘H
Quit QLab ⌘Q

File

Command Key Note
New Workspace ⌘N *
New From Template… ⇧⌘N *
Open Workspace… ⌘O
Connect to Workspace… ⇧⌘K
Close ⌘W
Save ⌘S
Save As… ⇧⌘S
Workspace Settings Window ⌘,

* These keyboard shortcuts can be co-opted by the Light Dashboard and by some sections of the Workspace Settings window. Co-opted shortcuts are always noted visibly on screen when this is the case.

Edit

Command Key Note
Undo ⌘Z
Redo ⇧⌘Z
Cut ⌘X
Copy ⌘C
Paste ⌘V
Paste Cue Properties… ⇧⌘V
Paste and Match Style ⌥⇧⌘V
Delete ⌘⌫ *
Select All ⌘A
Find… ⌘F
Find Next ⌘G *
Find Previous ⇧⌘G
Show Fonts ⌥⇧⌘T
Bigger ⌘+
Smaller ⌘-
Show Colors ⌥⇧⌘C
Copy Style ⌥⌘C
Paste Style ⌥⌘V

* These keyboard shortcuts can be co-opted by the Workspace Settings window. Co-opted shortcuts are always noted visibly on screen when this is the case.

Cues

Note: You can reassign keyboard shortcuts for cues by re-arranging them in the toolbox.

Command Key
Group ⌘0
Audio ⌘1
Mic ⌘2
Video ⌘3
Camera ⌘4
Text ⌘5
Light ⌘6
Fade ⌘7
Network ⌘8
MIDI ⌘9

Tools

Command Key Note
Load to time… ⌘T
Renumber selected cues… ⌘R *
Delete numbers of selected cues… ⌘D
Jump to selected cues’ targets ⇧⌘J
Turn on/off always audition ⇧⌘A
Turn on/off live fade preview ⇧⌘P

* This keyboard shortcut can be co-opted by the Light Dashboard window. Co-opted shortcuts are always noted visibly on screen when this is the case.

When a Fade cue is selected, the following Tools are also available:

Command Key
Set Audio Levels From Target ⇧⌘T
Set Video Geometry From Target ⌃⌥⌘V
Revert Fade Action ⇧⌘R

When the Light Dashboard is the front-most window, the following Tools are available instead of the standard ones:

Command Key
New Cue with Changes ⌘N
New Cue with All ⇧⌘N
Update Latest Cue ⌘U
Update Selected Cue(s) ⇧⌘U
Update Originating Cue(s) ⌥⌘U
Revert Changes ⌘R

View

Command Key Note
Enter/Exit Full Screen ⇧⌘F
Inspector ⌘I *
Inspector for selected cue ⇧⌘I
Toolbox ⌘K
Lists / Carts & Active Cues ⌘L
Toggle Between Lists / Carts & Active Cues ⇧⌘L
Warnings ⌘B
Select cue… ⌘J Within the Select cue panel, ⌘P selects the cue currently at the playhead.
Select next ⌘↓
Select previous ⌘↑
Select next tab ⌘→
Select previous tab ⌘←
Move playhead to cue… ⇧⌘J
Move playhead to next cue ⇧⌘↓
Move playhead to previous cue ⇧⌘↑
Move playhead to next sequence =
Move playhead to previous sequence -
Enter Edit Mode ⇧⌘[
Enter Show Mode ⇧⌘]

* This keyboard shortcut can be co-opted by the Workspace Status window. Co-opted shortcuts are always noted visibly on screen when this is the case.

Window

Command Key
Minimize ⌘M
Workspace Status ⇧⌘W
Override Controls ⇧⌘O
Light Dashboard ⇧⌘D

While in the cue list…

Command Key
Expand all Group cues >
Collapse all Group cues <

While focused on the waveform view of the Time & Loops tab…

Command Key
Set start time to current time ⇧I
Set end time to current time ⇧O
Add slice at current time M
Zoom in ⌘+ / ⌘=
Zoom out ⌘-

While editing the integrated fade curve in the Time & Loops tab…

Command Key
Select previous control point
Select next control point
Move selected control point up ⌥↑
Move selected control point down ⌥↓
Move selected control point left ⌥←
Move selected control point right ⌥→
Move selected control point up a small amount ⇧⌥↑
Move selected control point down a small amount ⇧⌥↓
Move selected control point left a small amount ⇧⌥←
Move selected control point right a small amount ⇧⌥→

While focused on the Timeline tab of Timeline Group cues…

Command Key
Zoom in horizontally ⌘=
Zoom out horizontally ⌘-
Zoom in vertically ⇧⌘=
Zoom out vertically ⇧⌘-
Nudge selected cues +0.1 second ⌥→
Nudge selected cues -0.1 second ⌥←
Nudge selected cues +0.01 second ⇧⌥→
Nudge selected cues -0.01 second ⇧⌥←

While editing a 2D fade path…

Command Key
Hold to toggle the active tool.
Hold to disable snapping.
Hold to reverse the direction of the rotate tool.
Zoom in and out. ⌥ + scroll
Select adjacent point. ← / →
Nudge single selected point. ⌥ + ← / ↑ / ↓ / →
Nudge multiple selected points. ← / ↑ / ↓ / →
Coarse adjustments. ⇧ + nudge
Lock to single axis in 90 degree increments. ⇧ + drag
Lock to aspect ratio. ⇧ + resize
Scale from center. ⌥ + resize
Select all points. ⌘A
Insert a point on a path. ⌥ + click
Draw a circle from the center. ⌥ + circle tool

Still have a question?

Our support team is always happy to help.

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M-F 9am-7pm (ET)
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