User Guide Cancel

Keyboard shortcuts

  1. Acrobat User Guide
  2. Introduction to Acrobat
    1. Access Acrobat from desktop, mobile, web
    2. Introducing the new Acrobat experience
    3. What's new in Acrobat
    4. Keyboard shortcuts
    5. System Requirements
  3. Workspace
    1. Workspace basics
    2. Opening and viewing PDFs
      1. Opening PDFs
      2. Navigating PDF pages
      3. Viewing PDF preferences
      4. Adjusting PDF views
      5. Enable thumbnail preview of PDFs
      6. Display PDF in browser
    3. Working with online storage accounts
      1. Access files from Box
      2. Access files from Dropbox
      3. Access files from OneDrive
      4. Access files from SharePoint
      5. Access files from Google Drive
    4. Acrobat and macOS
    5. Acrobat notifications
    6. Grids, guides, and measurements in PDFs
    7. Asian, Cyrillic, and right-to-left text in PDFs
  4. Creating PDFs
    1. Overview of PDF creation
    2. Create PDFs with Acrobat
    3. Create PDFs with PDFMaker
    4. Using the Adobe PDF printer
    5. Converting web pages to PDF
    6. Creating PDFs with Acrobat Distiller
    7. Adobe PDF conversion settings
    8. PDF fonts
  5. Editing PDFs
    1. Edit text in PDFs
    2. Edit images or objects in a PDF
    3. Rotate, move, delete, and renumber PDF pages
    4. Edit scanned PDFs
    5. Enhance document photos captured using a mobile camera
    6. Optimizing PDFs
    7. PDF properties and metadata
    8. Links and attachments in PDFs
    9. PDF layers
    10. Page thumbnails and bookmarks in PDFs
    11. PDFs converted to web pages
    12. Setting up PDFs for a presentation
    13. PDF articles
    14. Geospatial PDFs
    15. Applying actions and scripts to PDFs
    16. Change the default font for adding text
    17. Delete pages from a PDF
  6. Scan and OCR
    1. Scan documents to PDF
    2. Enhance document photos
    3. Troubleshoot scanner issues when scanning using Acrobat
  7. Forms
    1. PDF forms basics
    2. Create a form from scratch in Acrobat
    3. Create and distribute PDF forms
    4. Fill in PDF forms
    5. PDF form field properties
    6. Fill and sign PDF forms
    7. Setting action buttons in PDF forms
    8. Publishing interactive PDF web forms
    9. PDF form field basics
    10. PDF barcode form fields
    11. Collect and manage PDF form data
    12. About forms tracker
    13. PDF forms help
    14. Send PDF forms to recipients using email or an internal server
  8. Combining files
    1. Combine or merge files into single PDF
    2. Rotate, move, delete, and renumber PDF pages
    3. Add headers, footers, and Bates numbering to PDFs
    4. Crop PDF pages
    5. Add watermarks to PDFs
    6. Add backgrounds to PDFs
    7. Working with component files in a PDF Portfolio
    8. Publish and share PDF Portfolios
    9. Overview of PDF Portfolios
    10. Create and customize PDF Portfolios
  9. Sharing, reviews, and commenting
    1. Share and track PDFs online
    2. Mark up text with edits
    3. Preparing for a PDF review
    4. Starting a PDF review
    5. Hosting shared reviews on SharePoint or Office 365 sites
    6. Participating in a PDF review
    7. Add comments to PDFs
    8. Adding a stamp to a PDF
    9. Approval workflows
    10. Managing comments | view, reply, print
    11. Importing and exporting comments
    12. Tracking and managing PDF reviews
  10. Saving and exporting PDFs
    1. Saving PDFs
    2. Convert PDF to Word
    3. Convert PDF to PPTX
    4. Convert PDF to XLSX or XML
    5. Convert PDF to JPG
    6. Convert PDF to PNG
    7. Convert or export PDFs to other file formats
    8. File format options for PDF export
    9. Reusing PDF content
  11. Security
    1. Enhanced security setting for PDFs
    2. Securing PDFs with passwords
    3. Manage Digital IDs
    4. Securing PDFs with certificates
    5. Opening secured PDFs
    6. Removing sensitive content from PDFs
    7. Setting up security policies for PDFs
    8. Choosing a security method for PDFs
    9. Security warnings when a PDF opens
    10. Securing PDFs with Adobe Experience Manager
    11. Protected View feature for PDFs
    12. Overview of security in Acrobat and PDFs
    13. JavaScripts in PDFs as a security risk
    14. Attachments as security risks
    15. Allow or block links in PDFs
  12. Electronic signatures
    1. Sign PDF documents
    2. Capture your signature on mobile and use it everywhere
    3. Send documents for e-signatures
    4. Create a web form
    5. Request e-signatures in bulk
    6. Collect online payments
    7. Brand your account
    8. About certificate signatures
    9. Certificate-based signatures
    10. Validating digital signatures
    11. Adobe Approved Trust List
    12. Manage trusted identities
  13. Printing
    1. Basic PDF printing tasks
    2. Print Booklets and PDF Portfolios
    3. Advanced PDF print settings
    4. Print to PDF
    5. Printing color PDFs (Acrobat Pro)
    6. Printing PDFs in custom sizes
  14. Accessibility, tags, and reflow
    1. Create and verify PDF accessibility
    2. Accessibility features in PDFs
    3. Reading Order tool for PDFs
    4. Reading PDFs with reflow and accessibility features
    5. Edit document structure with the Content and Tags panels
    6. Creating accessible PDFs
    7. Cloud-based auto-tagging
  15. Searching and indexing
    1. Creating PDF indexes
    2. Searching PDFs
  16. Multimedia and 3D models
    1. Add audio, video, and interactive objects to PDFs
    2. Adding 3D models to PDFs (Acrobat Pro)
    3. Displaying 3D models in PDFs
    4. Interacting with 3D models
    5. Measuring 3D objects in PDFs
    6. Setting 3D views in PDFs
    7. Enable 3D content in PDF
    8. Adding multimedia to PDFs
    9. Commenting on 3D designs in PDFs
    10. Playing video, audio, and multimedia formats in PDFs
    11. Add comments to videos
  17. Print production tools (Acrobat Pro)
    1. Print production tools overview
    2. Printer marks and hairlines
    3. Previewing output
    4. Transparency flattening
    5. Color conversion and ink management
    6. Trapping color
  18. Preflight (Acrobat Pro)
    1. PDF/X-, PDF/A-, and PDF/E-compliant files
    2. Preflight profiles
    3. Advanced preflight inspections
    4. Preflight reports
    5. Viewing preflight results, objects, and resources
    6. Output intents in PDFs
    7. Correcting problem areas with the Preflight tool
    8. Automating document analysis with droplets or preflight actions
    9. Analyzing documents with the Preflight tool
    10. Additional checks in the Preflight tool
    11. Preflight libraries
    12. Preflight variables
  19. Color management
    1. Keeping colors consistent
    2. Color settings
    3. Color-managing documents
    4. Working with color profiles
    5. Understanding color management

Before you begin

We're rolling out a new, more intuitive product experience. If the screen shown here doesn’t match your product interface, select help for your current experience.

In the new experience, the tools appear on the left side of the screen.

For common keyboard shortcuts you can use with Windows, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449.
 

Keys for navigating tools on the tools pane

Tool

Windows/UNIX action

macOS action

Move focus to the next item among the top global toolbar, All tools panel, Document pane, Task panes, Message bar, and Navigation bar

F6 F6

Move focus to the previous item among the top global toolbar, All tools panel, Document pane, Task panes, Message bar, and Navigation bar

Shift + F6

Shift + F6

Move focus to the next tool in the global toolbar at the top

Tab

Tab

Move Focus to the previous tool in the global toolbar at the top

Shift + Tab

Shift + Tab

Navigate to the next command button within a panel

Down Arrow

Down Arrow

Navigate to the previous command button within a panel 

Up Arrow

Up Arrow

Expand the tool in focus (press F6 to move focus to the top global toolbar, then tab to the desired tool) 

Spacebar or Enter

Spacebar or Enter

Move focus to the currently opened tool bar

F6

F6

Open or close the Task pane 

Shift + F4

Shift + F4

Move focus to the First option in the All tools pane on the left

Tab

Tab

Move focus to the close option in the All tools pane on the left

Tab Tab

Close the open tool when the close button is in focus in the opened tool from the global toolbar 

Spacebar or Enter

Spacebar or Enter

Move focus to the View more option in the All tools pane
Tab Tab
Navigate to the next touchpoint within the All tools pane
Down Arrow Down Arrow
Navigate to the previous touchpoint within the All tools pane 
Up Arrow Up Arrow
Open a touchpoint in focus in the open tool 
Spacebar or Enter
Spacebar or Enter
Expand or collapse View more when in focus Spacebar or Enter
Spacebar or Enter
Expand or collapse View less when in focus 
Spacebar or Enter
Spacebar or Enter
Move the focus back to the first tool in the All tools pane
Esc Esc
Move focus to menu options in the LHP toolbar (other than All tools Panel) 
Tab Tab

Keys for selecting tools

To enable single-key shortcuts, open the Preferences dialog box (Edit > Preferences), and under General, select the Use Single-Key Accelerators To Access Tools option.

Tool

Windows/UNIX action

macOS action

Temporarily select the Hand tool 

Spacebar

Spacebar

Hand tool

H

H

Select tool

V

V

Marquee Zoom tool

Z

Z

Cycle through zoom tools: Marquee Zoom, Dynamic Zoom, Loupe

Shift+Z

Shift+Z

Temporarily select Dynamic Zoom tool (when Marquee Zoom tool is selected)

Shift

Shift

Temporarily zoom out (when Marquee Zoom tool is selected)

Ctrl

Option

Temporarily select Zoom In tool

Ctrl+spacebar

Spacebar+Command

Select Object tool

R

R

Edit Object tool

O

O

Enter/Exit Forms editing

A

A

Crop tool

C

C

Link tool

L

L

Text Field tool

F

F

Cycle through tools in forms authoring mode: Text Field, Check Box, Radio Button, List Box, Dropdown Box, Button, Digital Signature, Barcode

Shift+F

Shift+F

3D tool

M

M

Cycle through Multimedia tools: 3D object, SWF, Sound, Video

Shift+M

Shift+M

Edit Document Text tool

T

T

Redaction

Shift+Y

Shift+Y

Cycle through Touch Up tools: Touch Up Text, Touch Up Reading Order, Touch Up Object

Shift+T

Shift+T

JavaScript Debugger

Ctrl+J

Command+J

Insert Blank Pages tool

Shift+Ctrl+T

Shift+Command+T

Insert Files

Ctrl+Shift+I

Shift+Command+I

Delete pages

Ctrl+Shift+D

Shift+Command+D

Open Output Preview

~

~

Touch Up Reading Order tool (or if already selected, return focus to dialog box)

Shift+Ctrl+U

Shift+Command+U

Keys for working with comments

To enable single-key shortcuts, open the Preferences dialog box (Edit > Preferences), and under General, select the Use Single-Key Accelerators To Access Tools option.

Result

Windows/UNIX Action

macOS Action

Sticky Note tool

S

S

Stamp tool

K

K

Current highlighting tool

U

U

Cycle through highlighting tools: Highlighter, Underline Text, Cross Out Text

Shift+U (Windows only)

Shift+U

Current drawing markup tool

D

D

Cycle through drawing markup tools: Cloud, Arrow, Line, Rectangle, Oval, Polygon Line, Polygon, Pencil Tool, Eraser Tool

Shift+D (Windows only)

Shift+D

Cloud tool

Q (Windows only)

Q

Text Box tool

X

X

Current Stamp or Attach tool

J

J

Cycle through Stamp, Attach File, Record Audio Comment

Shift+J

Shift+J

Move focus to the next comment or form field

Tab

Tab

Move focus to previous comment or form field

Shift+Tab

Shift+Tab

Add a checkmark in the Comments List for the selected comment Shift+K Shift+K

Open pop-up note (or text field in the Comments List) for comment that has the focus

Enter

Return

Reply to the comment, in the Comments List, that has the focus R R

Close or exit pop-up (or text field in the Comments List) for comment that has the focus

Esc

Esc

Keys for navigating a PDF

Result

Windows/UNIX Action

macOS Action

Previous screen

Page Up or Shift+Enter

Page Up or Shift+Return

Next screen

Page Down or Enter

Page Down or Return

First page

Home or Shift+Ctrl+Page Up or Shift+Ctrl+Up Arrow

Home or Shift+Command+Up Arrow

Last page

End or Shift+Ctrl+Page Down or Shift+Ctrl+Down Arrow

End or Shift+Command+Down Arrow

Previous page

Left Arrow or Ctrl+Page Up

Left Arrow or Command+Page Up

Next page

Right Arrow or Ctrl+Page Down

Right Arrow or Command+Page Down

Go to page Ctrl+Shift+N
Command+Shift+N

Previous open document

Ctrl+F6 (UNIX)

Command+F6

Next open document

Shift+Ctrl+F6 (UNIX)

Shift+Command+F6

Scroll up

Up Arrow

Up Arrow

Scroll down

Down Arrow

Down Arrow

Scroll (when Hand tool is selected)

Spacebar

Spacebar

Zoom in

Ctrl+equal sign

Command+equal sign

Zoom out

Ctrl+hyphen

Command+hyphen

Keys for working with Forms

To enable single-key shortcuts, open the Preferences dialog box (Edit > Preferences), and under General, select the Use Single-Key Accelerators To Access Tools option.

Result

Windows/UNIX Action

macOS Action

Toggle between editing and previewing your form P P
Toggle Guides On / Off G G
Align selected fields left L L
Align selected fields right R R
Align selected fields top T T
Align selected fields bottom B B
Align selected fields horizontal H H
Align selected fields vertical V V
Center fields horizontally Shift+H Shift+H
Center fields vertically Shift+V Shift+V
Highlight fields Shift+L Shift+L
Show Tab Order Shift+N Shift+N
Document JavaScripts Shift+D Shift+D

Keys for working with PDF Portfolios

These keys are available in the files list of the Details pane.

Result

Windows Action

macOS Action

Move focus to the next or previous row when in the body of the file list on the left

Up Arrow or Down Arrow

Up Arrow or Down Arrow

If pressed in the body of the file list, navigate one level up from within a folder

Backspace

Delete

Press the Go Back button in a folder if focus is on the button.

Enter or Spacebar

Enter or Spacebar

If pressed when focus is on a row in the file list representing a subfolder, navigate to a subfolder, or open an attachment in Preview mode.

Enter

Enter

If in the body of the file list, move to the first or last row

Home or End

Home or End

If in the body of the file list, move to the next or last set of rows to fit the screen

Page Down or Page Up

Page Down or Page Up

Select or deselect all files

Ctrl+A or Shift+Ctrl+A

Command+A or Shift+Command+A

If in the body of the file list, extend the selection by adding the next row above or below the selected row

Shift+Up Arrow or Shift+Down Arrow

Shift+Up Arrow or Shift+Down Arrow

Change whether the row with focus is in the selection

Ctrl+Spacebar

Command+Spacebar

Move focus up or down one row without changing the selection

Ctrl+Up Arrow or Ctrl+Down Arrow

Command+Up Arrow or Command+Down Arrow

Keys for navigating task panes

Result

Windows Action

macOS Action

Move focus to the next item among Document pane, Task panes, Message bar, and Navigation bar

F6

F6

Move focus to the previous item among Document pane, Task panes, message bar, and Navigation bar

Shift+F6

Shift+F6

Move focus to the next panel in the Task pane

Ctrl+Tab

Option +Tab

Move focus to the previous panel in the Task pane

Ctrl+Shift+Tab

Command+ Shift+Tab

Navigate to the next panel and panel control within an open Task pane

Tab

Tab

Navigate to the previous panel and panel control within an open Task pane

Shift+Tab

Shift+Tab

Navigate to the next command button within a panel

Down Arrow

Down Arrow

Navigate to the previous command button within a panel

Up Arrow

Up Arrow

Expand or collapse panel in focus (press F6 to move focus to Tools pane, then tab to desired panel)

Spacebar or Enter

Spacebar or Enter

Open or close the Task pane

Shift+F4

Shift+F4

Close the pane that lists the tasks of an Action

Ctrl+Shift+F4

Ctrl+Shift+F4

Open the menu and move the focus to the first menu option when focus is on a command with a submenu or submenu element with a flyout

Spacebar or Enter

Spacebar or Enter

Move the focus back to the parent command button with a submenu or submenu element with a flyout

Esc

Esc

Run the command in focus

Spacebar or Enter

Spacebar or Enter

Navigate to the next item in the active panel in the Create New Action, Edit Action, Create Custom Tool, or the Edit Custom Tool dialog boxes

Tab

Tab

Navigate to the previous item in the active panel in the Create New Action, Edit Action, Create Custom Tool, or the Edit Custom Tool dialog boxes

Shift+Tab

Shift+Tab

Keys for general navigation

Result

Windows/UNIX Action

macOS Action

Invokes the hamburger  menu (press F6 to move focus to the hamburger menu) Spacebar or Enter  
Executes the Acrobat > Hide Others option (macOS)   Option+Command+T

Move focus to menus (Windows, UNIX); expand first menu item (UNIX)

F10

Control+F2

Move focus to the toolbar in browser and application

(In the application, sets focus to the first button in the top bar - Home)

Shift+F8 Shift+F8
Navigate through the other controls in the top bar - Home, Tools, Document Right/Left Arrow or Tab/Shift Tab Right/Left Arrow or Tab/Shift Tab
Select a highlighted control in the top bar Enter or Spacebar Return or Spacebar
Move to next open document tab (when multiple documents are open in same window) Ctrl+Tab Control+Tab
Move to previous open document tab (when multiple documents are open in same window) Ctrl+Shift+Tab Control+Shift+Tab

Move to next open document window (when focus is on document pane)

Ctrl+F6

Command+F6

Move to previous open document window (when focus is on document pane)

Ctrl+Shift+F6

Command+Shift+F6

Close current document

Ctrl+F4

Command+F4

Close all open documents

Not available

Command+Option+W

Move focus to next comment, link, or form field in the document pane

Tab

Tab

Move focus to document pane

F5

F5

Move focus to previous comment, link, or form field in the document pane

Shift+Tab

Shift+Tab

Activate selected tool, item (such as a movie clip or bookmark), or command

Spacebar or Enter

Spacebar or Return

Open context menu (press F6 to move focus to the desired menu) 

Tab followed by 
Shift + F10

Control+click

Close context menu

F10

Esc

Return to Hand tool or Select tool

Esc

Esc

Move focus to next tab in a tabbed dialog box

Ctrl+Tab

Not available

Find in document Ctrl+F Command+F

Move to next search result and highlight it in the document

F3 or

Ctrl+G

Command+G

Search the previous document (with Search results displaying multiple files)

Alt+Shift+Left Arrow (Windows only)

Command+Shift+Left Arrow

Search next document (with Search results displaying multiple files)

Alt+Shift+Right Arrow (Windows only)

Command+Shift+Right Arrow

Select text (with Select tool selected)

Shift+arrow keys

Shift+arrow keys

Select next word or deselect previous word (with Select tool selected)

Shift+Ctrl+Right Arrow or Left Arrow

Not available

Increase or decrease the value of a slider
Right Arrow or Left Arrow Control+Option+Right Arrow or Left Arrow

Keys for working with navigation panels

Result

Windows/UNIX Action

macOS Action

Open and move focus to navigation pane

Ctrl+Shift+F5

Command+Shift+F5

Move focus among the document, message bar, and navigation panels

F6

F6

Move focus to previous pane or panel

Shift+F6

Shift+F6

Move among the elements of the active navigation panel

Tab

Tab

Move to the previous or next navigation panel and make it active (when the focus is on the panel button)

Up Arrow or Down Arrow

Up Arrow or Down Arrow

Move to next navigation panel and make it active (when the focus is anywhere in the navigation pane)

Ctrl+Tab

Not available

Select or deselect a file in file list (open/close Context pane with file selection) Space Space
Select or deselect a To Do card (open/close Context pane with To Do card selection) Space Space
Open selected file in file list Enter Enter
Open selected To Do card Enter Enter
Move focus to the next/previous file row in file list for selecting single file row Arrow keys Arrow keys
Extend the selection by adding the next row above or below the selected row Shift+Arrow keys Shift+Arrow keys
Move focus up or down one row without changing the selection Ctrl+Arrow keys Command+Arrow keys

Expand the current bookmark (focus on Bookmarks panel)

Right Arrow or Shift+plus sign

Right Arrow or Shift+plus sign

Collapse the current bookmark (focus on Bookmarks panel)

Left Arrow or minus sign

Left Arrow or minus sign

Expand all bookmarks

Shift+*

Shift+*

Collapse selected bookmark

Forward Slash (/)

Forward Slash (/)

Move focus to next item in a navigation panel

Down Arrow

Down Arrow

Move focus to the previous item in a navigation panel

Up Arrow

Up Arrow

Keys for navigating the Help window

Result

Windows/UNIX Action

macOS Action

Open Help window

F1

F1 or Command+?

Close Help window

Ctrl+W (Windows only) or Alt+F4

Command+W

Move back to previously opened topic

Alt+Left Arrow

Command+Left Arrow

Move forward to next topic

Alt+Right Arrow

Command+Right Arrow

Move to next pane

Ctrl+Tab

See Help for your default browser

Move to previous pane

Shift+Ctrl+Tab

See Help for your default browser

Move focus to the next link within a pane

Tab

Not available

Move focus to the previous link within a pane

Shift+Tab

Not available

Activate highlighted link

Enter

Not available

Print Help topic

Ctrl+P

Command+P

Keys for accessibility

Result

Windows Action

macOS Action

Edit Tag

F2

F2

Change reading settings for the current document

Shift+Ctrl+5

Shift+Command+5

Reflow a tagged PDF, and return to unreflowed view

Ctrl+4

Command+4

Activate and deactivate Read Out Loud

Shift+Ctrl+Y

Shift+Command+Y

Read only the current page out loud

Shift+Ctrl+V

Shift+Command+V

Read out loud from the current page to the end of the document

Shift+Ctrl+B

Shift+Command+B

Pause reading out loud

Shift+Ctrl+C

Shift+Command+C

Stop reading out loud

Shift+Ctrl+E

Shift+Command+E

 Adobe

Get help faster and easier

New user?

Adobe MAX 2024

Adobe MAX
The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online

Adobe MAX

The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online

Adobe MAX 2024

Adobe MAX
The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online

Adobe MAX

The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online