Adobe InDesign is a premier publication design software that is widely used to create a variety of print and digital publications. Publishers, graphic designers, and marketing professionals typically use InDesign to create books, brochures, flyers, newsletters, reports, interactive PDFs, posters, and magazines. Key features included enhanced tools for typography, layout, styles, interactivity, and integration with other Adobe services and products.
The list of documents, XML, indexing, and character keyboard shortcuts shown below will assist you to be even more efficient with Adobe InDesign on your computer.
Viewing Documents and Document Workspaces
This list is not a complete list of keyboard shortcuts. It lists only those shortcuts that aren’t displayed in menu commands or tool tips.
- Temporarily select Hand tool Spacebar (with no text insertion point), Alt-drag (with text insertion point), or Alt+spacebar (in both text and non-text modes)
- Temporarily select Zoom In tool Ctrl+spacebar
- Temporarily select Zoom Out tool Alt+Ctrl+spacebar or Alt+Zoom In tool
- Zoom to 50%, 200%, or 400% Ctrl+5, 2, or 4
- Redraw screen Shift+F5
- Open new default document Ctrl+Alt+N
- Switch between current and previous zoom levels Alt+Ctrl+2
- Switch to next/previous document window Ctrl+~ (tilde)/ Shift+Ctrl+F6 or Ctrl+Shift+~ (tilde)
- Scroll up/down one screen Page Up/Page Down
- Go back/forward to last-viewed page Ctrl+Page Up/ Ctrl+Page Down
- Go to previous/next spread Alt+Page Up/ Alt+Page Down
- Fit spread in window Double-click Hand tool
- Activate the Go To command Ctrl+J
- Fit selection in window Ctrl+Alt+(+) (plus sign)
- Display the entire object Ctrl+Alt+(+) (plus sign)
- Go to parent page while Pages panel is closed Ctrl+J, type prefix of parent, press Enter
- Cycle through units of measurement Shift+Alt+Ctrl+U
- Snap guide to ruler increments Shift–drag guide
- Switch between page and spread guides (creation only) Ctrl–drag guide
- Create vertical and horizontal ruler guides for the spread Ctrl–drag from zero point
- Select all guides Alt+Ctrl+G
- Lock or unlock zero point Right-click zero point and choose an option
- Use current magnification for view threshold of new guide Alt–drag guide
- Select buttons in alert dialog boxes Press first letter of button name, if underlined
- Show information on installed plug ins and InDesign components Ctrl+Help > About Design
XML Keyboard Shortcuts
This list is not a complete list of keyboard shortcuts. It lists only those shortcuts that aren’t displayed in menu commands or tool tips.
- Expand/Collapse element Right Arrow/Left Arrow
- Expand/Collapse element and child elements Alt+Right Arrow/ Alt+Left Arrow
- Extend XML selection up/down Shift+Up Arrow/ Shift+Down Arrow
- Move XML selection up/down Up Arrow/ Down Arrow
- Scroll structure pane up/down one screen Page Up/ Page Down
- Select first/last XML node Home/ End
- Extend selection to first/last XML node Shift+Home/ Shift+End
- Go to previous/next validation error Ctrl+Left Arrow/ Ctrl+Right Arrow
- Automatically tag text frames and tables Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F7
Indexing Keyboard Shortcuts
This list is not a complete list of keyboard shortcuts. It lists only those shortcuts that aren’t displayed in menu commands or tool tips.
- Create index entry without dialog box (alphanumeric only) Shift+Ctrl+Alt+[
- Open index entry dialog box Ctrl+7
- Create proper name index entry (last name, first name) Shift+Ctrl+Alt+]
Character and Paragraph Styles Keyboard Shortcuts
This list is not a complete list of keyboard shortcuts. It lists only those shortcuts that aren’t displayed in menu commands or tool tips.
- Make character style definition match text Select text and press Shift+Alt+Ctrl+C
- Make paragraph style definition match text Select text and press Shift+Alt+Ctrl+R
- Change options without applying style Shift+Alt+Ctrl-double-click style
- Remove style and local formatting Alt-click paragraph style name
- Clear overrides from paragraph style Alt+Shift-click paragraph style name
- Show/hide Paragraph and Character Styles panels, respectively F11, Shift+F11
