Keyboard Shortcuts (Hotkeys) & Markdown Syntax Examples

linkTable of contents


💡 Only need the essentials? Check out Seven of our Favorite Amplenote Shortcuts.


link🖨️ Need a compact, printable version of this page?


link💡 Need to determine the hotkey for a clickable action?

Just remember: "hover to discover." Any icon/button on Amplenote that has a hotkey will show you the hotkey if you hover on it for a couple seconds. 😎




link📍 Navigation

Shortcuts for moving between notes and linking to notes.


linkQuick Open

Navigate by note titles, recent notes, or tag hierarchy. More on Quick Open here: How do I use Quick Open navigation?.


Windows/Linux

macOS

Function

Ctrl-O

Cmd-O or
Ctrl-O in Safari

Opens and closes the Quick Open menu

Arrow keys

Arrow keys

Cycles through visible results

Enter

Enter

Opens the result as the main note

Ctrl-Enter

Cmd-Enter

Tab

Tab

Switches between Note Lookup and Task Lookup

Ctrl-.

Cmd-.

In Task Lookup, shows possible task actions

Esc

Esc

Close the Quick Open menu


linkOpen Peek Viewer

Check out the Peek Viewer: Sidebar for multi-note viewing.

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-J
 
MAC
Cmd-J


linkBrowse navigation history (backburger menu)

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-G
 
MAC
CMD-G


Arrow keys and Enter to navigate this menu using the keyboard.


linkOpen an existing note or PDF inside the Peek viewer

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-Click on a note or note link
Ctrl-Enter when in Quick Open
 
MAC
Cmd-Click on a note or note link
Cmd-Enter when in Quick Open


Notes can also be dragged from the note list and into the Peek Viewer pane.


linkOpen a new note inside the peek viewer

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-Click on the "New note" button at the top right corner
 
MAC
Cmd-Click on the "New note" button at the top right corner


linkClose every other note in Peek Viewer, ecept the selected note

LINUX, WINDOWS & MAC
Shift-Click on the "x" button in the note open in Peek Viwer


linkMove from/to note title to the note tags section

LINUX, WINDOWS & MAC
Tab to move from the note title to the tag section
Shift-Tab to move from the note title to the tag section,
if the cursor is at the start of thee note body


linkMove to note tags section from anywhere inside the note body

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-Alt-T
 
MAC
Ctrl-Opt-T


linkCreate a new note

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-Alt-N
 
MAC
Cmd-Alt-N


linkVisit link at cursor

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-Shift-. (think Ctrl->)
Ctrl-Space
 
MAC
Cmd-Shift-. (think Cmd->)
Ctrl-Space


linkReturn to the previous note

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-Shift-, (think Ctrl-<)
 
MAC
Cmd-Shift-, (think Cmd-<)


In most cases, you can also use your browser's "back" shortcut, which tends to be

LINUX/WINDOWS
Alt-Left arrow
 
MAC
Cmd-[


link🔗 Note linking

Create a new or link to an existing note Demo

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
@ or Ctrl-[ or [
Available when text is selected


Create or link to an existing note, transferring all the tags from the current note. Read more or see demo

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Shift-Ctrl-[
Available when text is selected


Link to a new or existing note

TEXT
@Note to be linked to
@a/tagged/note/Note to be linked to
 
[[Hello world note]]
[[deeply nested/tag hierarchy/Cool new note title]]
[[personal/memories/holidays/December 25, 2020]]


link🖥️ Display & Layout


Increase or decrease the number of panes shown

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Alt-[ and Alt-]


Toggle Right-To-Left mode

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-Shift-X


link✅ Tasks

All of the following shortcuts apply when the cursor is inside a task.


The easiest way to remember most of the Task Context shortcuts is that the first letter/number of the task context, plus Alt-Shift on Linux/Windows or Ctrl on macOS. We'll run down each of those individually below, but just think of them as the first letter/number.


Most task-related operations can be achieved Using the Keyboard-driven ! Task Commands Menu.


linkCreate a task

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
[] <-- Start a line with empty brackets followed by space to create a task :-)


Alternately, you can press Ctrl-Enter twice on any block. The first press will transform your current block into a bullet list item; the second press will transform it into a task:

LINUX, MAC, & WINDOWS
Ctrl-Enter
 
MAC
Cmd-Enter


linkTask commands

Use this to see the available task commands when the cursor is inside a task:

!


linkMark task complete

Get full credit for completing a task by marking it complete. Read about task completion: Creating tasks & to-do lists, and configuring task options#✅ Completing tasks.

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Ctrl-Space or !complete


linkDismiss task

Get partial credit for getting rid of a task by dismissing it. Read about task dismissal: Creating tasks & to-do lists, and configuring task options#✏️ Dismissing tasks.

LINUX & WINDOWS
Ctrl-Shift-d or !dismiss
 
MAC
Option-Shift-Space or !dismiss


Tasks can also be dismissed by holding Alt and clicking the task's checkbox.


linkCross out task

Read about crossing out tasks: Creating tasks & to-do lists, and configuring task options#☑️ Crossing out tasks.

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Shift-Ctrl-Space or !cross-out


Tasks can also be crossed out by holding Shift and clicking the task's checkbox.


linkOpen/close Task Details

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-.
 
MAC
Cmd-.
 
TAB to navigate between fields
SPACE to select


linkMark task Urgent

LINUX/WINDOWS
Alt-Shift-U
 
MAC
Ctrl-U
 
LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
!urgent

Alternately, tasks can be marked "Urgent" Using the Keyboard-driven ! Task Commands Menu


linkMark task Important

LINUX/WINDOWS
Alt-Shift-I
 
MAC
Ctrl-I
 
LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
!important

Alternately, tasks can be marked "Important" Using the Keyboard-driven ! Task Commands Menu


linkMark task duration

LINUX/WINDOWS
Alt-Shift-[First number]
 
MAC
Ctrl-[First number]
 
LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
!duration

Alternately, task duration can be designated Using the Keyboard-driven ! Task Commands Menu


linkCreate a new line in a task

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Shift-Enter


linkPaste into a task

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-Shift-V
 
MAC
Cmd-Shift-V


linkExpand or collapse sub-tasks

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Ctrl-,


Works when cursor resides within the parent task.


link🔮 Evaluation (calculator)

Using the evaluation menu, you can invoke a mini-calculator, a natural text date interepreter or the plugin command menu.


linkMath calculation

e.g., 2 314.15

{1+1}
{pi*10**2}


linkDate and time calculation

💡 Quick tip: date and time calculation works in the Ctrl-O Quick-open menu too! Try it out or read more at How do I use Quick Open navigation?#Jump to a Daily Jot using date expansion.


Relative date calculation

{Today}
{Tomorrow}
{Yesterday}


Absolute dates

{Monday}
{The weekend}
{September}
{October 31st}
{Oct 31}


Past and future dates

{Next monday}
{Last week}
{Next year}
{In 14 days}
{A month ago}


Time calculation

{Now}
{10 minutes ago}
{In three hours}
{9 pm}
{21:30}


Date and time calculation

{Today at 8pm}
{Tomorrow at 10:45}
{Tuesday 22:00}
{Mar 12 8am}


linkPlugin command menu

The same menu can be used to invoke plugin actions from your list of installed plugins:


Type { followed by the name of the plugin to see all of that plugin's available actions. Press Enter to run it.

link🎨 Formatting

Most of these are available via the formatting toolbar when viewing note content. We've sorted roughly in order of how often they come in handy.


linkRich Footnotes

Link or Rich Footnote

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-K
 
MAC
Cmd-K
 
TEXT
[Link](https://www.amplenote.com)

Ctrl-K when no text is selected will bring up an extended Rich Footnote menu, where you can also type in the footnote text, like so.

Pressing Ctrl-K after selecting text will jump directly to the link menu, where you can insert a link to a web page or another note.

To remove a footnote, press Ctrl-K with the cursor positioned on the footnote's text.


Jump in or out of Rich Footnotes

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Tab

Tab is the quickest way to start editing a Rich Footnote. When your cursor is over a Footnote's text, Tab enters the RF editor for you. When your cursor is inside the RF, Tab saves the changes you made to the RF and minimizes it for you.


linkOther text formatting

Emoji 😄 🐶 🏀🎉

TEXT
:emoji-name:


Task List

Do this



Do that



Do the other thing


TEXT
[ ] Do this
 
Tab to indent, Shift-Tab to outdent
Ctrl-. or Cmd-. (.) to expand Task Detail panel
Shift-Ctrl-Up and Shift-Ctrl-Down to move tasks up or down in a list

See also the Tasks section above.


Highlighted text

TEXT
^highlighted text^


Bullet list

Bullet

Bullet

Bullet

TEXT
* text
- text
 
LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Ctrl-Enter
 
Tab to indent, Shift-Tab to outdent
Shift-Ctrl-Up and Shift-Ctrl-Down to move items up or down in a list


Expand or collapse list items (bullet, numeric, heading or task)

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Ctrl-,

Works when your cursor is in a task, bullet, or numeric list item with sub-bullets underneath it.


Numbered list

Item

Item

Item

TEXT
1. text
 
Tab to indent, Shift-Tab to outdent
Shift-Ctrl-Up and Shift-Ctrl-Down to move items up or down in a list


Note that ordered lists can begin with numbers other than 1

Type in any number

The list continues

And so it goes

Block Quote

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Shift-Ctrl->
 
TEXT
> text


Code Snippet

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Ctrl-`
 
TEXT
`text`


Code Block
LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Shift-Ctrl-\
 
TEXT
```
text
```


Strikethrough text

TEXT
~Strikethrough text~


Undo

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-Z
 
MAC
Cmd-Z ⌘z


Redo

LINUX/WINDOWS
Shift-Ctrl-Z
 
MAC
Shift-Cmd-Z ⇧⌘z

link

Bold Text

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-B
 
MAC
Cmd-B ⌘b
 
TEXT
*text*


Italic Text

LINUX/WINDOWS
Ctrl-I
 
MAC
Cmd-I ⌘i
 
TEXT
_text_


linkHeader 1

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Shift-Ctrl-1
 
TEXT
# text


linkHeader 2

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Shift-Ctrl-2
 
TEXT
## text


linkHeader 3

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Shift-Ctrl-3
 
TEXT
### text


Convert header to standard paragraph

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Shift-Ctrl-0




Horizontal Line


LINUX & WINDOWS
Shift+Ctrl+-
 
MAC
Shift+Cmd+-
 
TEXT
---


linkCreate a hard break/new line inside the current block

LINUX, MAC & WINDOWS
Shift-Enter


link🤼 Mix and match

Note that you can combine inline styling (bold, italic, strikethrough, code snippets, and links/rich footnotes) to block elements (headers, list items, and block quotes).


linkHere's an example of inline styling applied to a block element

link

And here's an example of a task with rich footnote