Blender Hotkeys

Foreword §

All of these hotkeys are quite helpful and worth integrating into your daily Blender usage, and over time using them should become second nature. They are mostly Blender’s default, but in the rare instance where I added or changed one, I noted it beside the hotkey.

Hotkeys for add-ons like Hard Ops and Boxcutter can be found in the add-ons section.

As my keyboard doesn’t have a numpad, I have enabled Emulated Numpad (Input > Keyboard> Emulated Numpad) in Blender (I prefer TKL keyboards). This means, that when I say “1” then it’s the same as “Numpad 1”. Here’s the Blender documentation on that. I personally actually prefer emulating the numpad even on keyboards with numpads, as it moves all the important numpad functions to a more accessible place on the keyboard. And the number keys anyway don’t have anything important on them.

Peripherals, Stylus mapping & Navigation

For Blender I use a keyboard and mouse, as well as sometimes a display tablet with a stylus that has 2 buttons.
Front Stylus Button ➡️ MMB Back Stylus Button ➡️ Quick Favorites

Function	Key
Rotate (Orbit)	MMB
Snap Rotate	Alt + MMB
Pan	Shift + MMB
Zoom	Ctrl + MMB or Scroll

Situationally dependent hotkey helper

Blender will always show possible hotkeys to follow up with at the bottom. This can be especially helpful when using feature rich tools from add-ons like Hard ops or Boxcutter.

View §

Function	Key	Notes
View from Front / Back	1 or Ctrl + 1	Remapped!
View from Right / Left	2 or Ctrl + 2	Remapped!
View from Top / Bottom	3 or Ctrl + 3	Remapped!
Orbit Up	4	Remapped!
Orbit Down	5	Remapped!
Orbit Left	6	Remapped!
Orbit Right	7	Remapped!
Pan View Up	Ctrl + 4	Remapped!
Pan View Down	Ctrl + 5	Remapped!
Pan View Left	Ctrl + 6	Remapped!
Pan View Right	Ctrl + 7	Remapped!
Orbit 180°	9	Remapped!
Isolate Selected Objects	^

Although I don’t recommend it, it’s possible to give Blender a first person like navigation like Unreal Engine. Simply assign a hotkey to walk & fly (Pref > Keymap > “walk/fly”). Then customize its options (Pref > Navigation > Fly & Walk). Use fly mode to work on the project and walk mode can be used to walk around the scene, which can be especially interesting for environment artists (one can even enable jumping and gravity).

The reason why navigation like that is better suited for game engines, is because there one mostly places objects into a world, where the normal navigation system simply wouldn’t work. But in modeling software where one is mostly working on one character or object at a time, it’s a lot more useful to be able to orbit around the object.

Menus §

Popup menu searching

All pop-up menus can be searched with Space.

General Menus:

Function	Key	Notes
Quick Favorite Menu	MB4	The default mapping is Q, but Hard Ops already uses that key, so it’s remapped to MB4.
Search Menu	Space or F3 (Depends on version)	If yours is set to F3, I recommend remapping it to Space, except for if you often do animating.
Toggle Toolbar	T
Toggle Sidebar	N
Maximize View	Ctr + Alt + Space
Maximize View But Keep UI	Ctrl + Space
Quad View	Ctrl + Alt + Q

Object & Edit Mode Menus:

Function	Key	Notes
Mode Pie Menu	Ctrl + Tab
Object Context / Action Menu	RMB
Add/ Mesh Menu	Shift + A
Cursor Pie Menu	Shift + S
Origin Pie Menu	Ctrl + Alt + X	Requires “3D Viewport Pie menu” add-on, uncheck all but origin pie menu in add-on settings

Object Mode Menus:

Function	Key	Notes
Apply Menu	Ctrl + A
Parent Menu	Ctrl + P	There’s also vertex parent in edit mode.
Clear Parent Menu	Alt + P
Keyframe Item	I	Directly keyframes the selected item. One can keyframe almost everything in Blender, both in the viewport and in the UI. If an item can’t be keyframed with I, then right click it or click the little diamond beside the field. Keyframed fields are marked yellow.
Keframe Menu	K (I in pre Blender 4.1)	More on that in the animation hotkey section.
Link / Transfer Data Menu	Ctrl + L
Move to Collection Menu	M
Select Grouped Menu	Shift + G

Edit Mode Menus:

Function	Key	Notes
Extrude Menu	Alt + E
Normals Menu	Alt + N
UV Menu	U
Separate Menu	P
Merge Menu	M
Select Similar	Shift + G
Vertices Menu	Ctrl + V
Edge Menu	Ctrl + E
Faces Menu	Ctrl + F
Hook Menu	Ctrl + H

Object Related §

Function	Key	Notes
Move / Rotate / Scale	G / R / S + Move Mouse / Type number	Use Shift and Ctrl for slow and snap. Tools like magnet can also be toggled mid-action with Shift + Tab. Common rotations are: 45°, 90°, 135°, 180°, for anything above 180° use minus values to rotate in the opposite direction: -45°, -90°, … . Minus values also work for move and scale.
Limit Move / Rotate / Scale to One Axis	G / R / S + X / Y / Z + …
Limit Move / Rotate / Scale to Two Axes	G / R / S + Shift + X / Y / Z + …
Trackball Rotate	R + R
Delete	X
Disolve	Ctrl + X	A soft delete. Works well on edges but not that well on vertices
Hide / Un-hide	H / Alt + H	Never use Alt + H in object mode, as it reveals every single hidden object in the Blend file. There are better ways of managing visibility.
Repeat Last Action	Shift + R
Duplicate	Shift + D
Duplicate Linked	Alt + D	All changes to any object part of the link will be done to all other objects in that link. This link can be done manually with the Ctrl + L menu.
Inset Face	I
Extrude	E	Can be combined with scale (S) for a more versatile face inset.
Fill	F	Connects all selected vertices with a ngon face. Can also connect two vertices with an edge.
Connect Vertex Path	J
Knife Tool	K	Shift + K cuts only selected faces. Space or Enter confirms cut. RMB begins new cut. LMB drag, draws line. LMB double-click closes loop. C cuts through faces. Shift snaps to middle of edge. A limits cut to angles (type number to change angle degree).
Bevel	Ctrl + B	Scroll changes bevel segment count. P changes bevel shape.
Vertex Bevel	Ctrl + Shift + B
Slide Vertices / Edges	G + G	E toggles even. F flips the even. Alt or C toggles clamping. A adds a snap point (snapping has to be turned on).
Add Loop Cut	Ctrl + R	Scroll adds more loops. LMB locks cut. RMB locks cut without slide. Temporarily hide faces (H) to limit the cuts to specific areas. All slide hotkeys are applicable.
Rip Vertices	V	Works on vertices and edges. Alt + V fills the created holes (doc).

Selecting §

Blender documentation on selecting.

One can switch between vertex, face and edge select mode with Ctrl + 1 / 2 / 3 (emulated numpad on). At the top left one can also switch between modes like “Set a new selection”, “Extend existing selection”, “Subtract existing selection”, “Invert existing selection” and “Intersect existing selection” (not all selection tools have all of these modes).

Function	Key	Notes
Selection Tool Cycle	W
Select All	A
Select None	Alt + A or A + A
Inverse Selection	Ctrl + I
Selecting by Hand	LMB & Shift + LMB & Ctrl + LMB
Select Edge Loop	Alt + LMB	A more powerful version of this is located at Select > Select Loops > Select Edge Loops.
Select Edge Ring	Ctrl + Alt + LMB	A more powerful version of this is located at Select > Select Loops > Select Edge Rings.
Select Linked	L & Shift + L & Ctrl + L	L selects all linked geo under the cursor. Shift + L deselects all linked geo under the cursor. Ctrl + L selects all geo linked to the currently selected geo.
Select Similar Menu	Shift + G
Select More	Ctrl + +
Select Less	Ctrl + -

More selection tools like checker deselect and select random are in the selection menu.

Camera §

Function	Key	Notes
Set View To Active Camera	0
Set Active Camera To View	Ctrl + Alt + 0
Set Camera As Active Camera	Ctrl + 0	The active camera will be marked with an opaque black triangle above it.

Other §

Function	Key	Notes
Open Documentation	F1	Opens the Blender documentation for the selected item.
Rename	F2
Cursor to Center	Shift + C
Toggle Magnet	Shift + Tab
Toggle Proportional Edit	O
Switch Objects while Sculpting	Alt + Q
Toggle Transparent Mode	Alt + Z

Animation §

Function	Key	Notes
GENERAL	-	-
Start Animation	Space
Move to Next Frame	Arrow Keys Left / Right
Move to Next Keyframe	Arrow Keys Up / Down
Switch between Dope Sheet and Graph Editor	Ctrl + Tab
Lock / Unlock Channel	Tab
Set Preview range	P
Remove Preview range	Alt + P
Auto preview range	Ctrl + Alt + P
KEYFRAMES	-	-
Insert Keyframe	I (added in Blender 4.1)	Directly keyframes the selected item. One can keyframe almost everything in Blender, both in the viewport and in the UI. If an item can’t be keyframed with I, then right click it or click the little diamond beside the field. Keyframed fields are marked yellow.
Delete Keyframe	Alt + I
Keyframe Menu	K (I in pre Blender 4.1)	Opens the keyframe menu, which allows for keyframing specific values, like only the rotation.
Set Keyframe Type	R
Set Keyframe Interpolation Mode	T
Handle Type	V
Select linked Keyframes	L
Selects Keframes in column	Alt + LMB
OTHER	-	-
Add Marker	M
Rename Marker	Ctrl + M
Hide Transform	H
Hide all other Transforms	Shift + H
Unhide all Transforms	Alt + H
F-Curve Modifiers	Ctrl + Shift + M
Extrapolation mode	Shift + E

Geometry Nodes §

Function	Key	Notes
Mute Node	M
Hide Node	H
Merge Node Routes	Shift + F + RMB
Soft Remove Node	Alt + LMB
Delete Node	X
Soft Delete Node	Ctrl + X
Create Node Group	Ctrl + G	Enter and leave node groups with Tab
Connect Node to Output	Alt + Shift

Shader Editor §

Function	Key	Notes
Mute Node	M
Hide Node	H
Reload Textures	Alt + R
Add Mapping to Node	Ctrl + T	Requires “Node Wrangler” add-on
Cut Node Connection	Ctrl + RMB
Connect Node to Viewer Node	Ctrl + Shift + LMB	Requires “Node Wrangler” add-on

Other Hotkey Sheets §

• BlenderHotkeyReference
• Blender Doc