Appendix A: Keyboard Shortcuts Reference

There are two different ways to reach a command from the keyboard here, and knowing which is which makes the tables below much easier to read.

Keys are held combinations and function keys — Ctrl+S, F8. They are bound straight to a command, and only a small number of commands have one.

Aliases are the short letter codes you type — L for Line, CP for Copy. Almost every tool has one.

An alias is not a key binding. Typing a letter on the drawing opens Find a command with that letter already in it; keep typing and press Enter to run the best match. If you have used AutoCAD this will feel immediately familiar, and it is how most drawing actually gets started.

These are the defaults — you can change them

Every command's keys and alias can be changed in Edit ▸ Preferences (Ctrl+,). Help ▸ Keyboard Shortcuts lists them as they currently stand, to read or print.

The keys the drawing handles itself — Enter, Esc, Space, Backspace and Delete — cannot be reassigned.

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How a letter reaches a command

This is the single most useful thing to understand about the keyboard in Pingendum.

So L Enter draws a line and O Enter starts Offset — but while Offset is already running, E picks its Erase option rather than starting Ellipse.

The running command owns the letters, and gives them back when it finishes.

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File

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Edit

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Draw

Every one of these is started by typing its alias and pressing Enter, or by clicking its button on the tool palette. None has a direct key binding.

Most of these have variations — Circle alone has six (Center–Radius, Center–Diameter, 2 Points, 3 Points, Tan–Tan–Radius, Tan–Tan–Tan). Hold or right-click the tool's palette button to pick one, or search for it by name (Circle: 3 Points).

See Drawing Basic Shapes and Expanding Your Shape Vocabulary.

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Annotate

Dimension has seven variations: Linear, Aligned, Radius, Diameter, Angular, Arc Length and Ordinate. See Dimensioning a Drawing.

While Text or Leader is taking your typing, Ctrl+Enter finishes it — plain Enter just makes a new line.

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Modify

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Blocks

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Sheets

Those are AutoCAD's keys for moving between layouts. On macOS they are the same keys with Control (which macOS calls Ctrl, not ⌘).

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Format

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Inquiry

These read a value without adding anything to the drawing; the answer appears at the right of the context bar with a Copy button. See Measuring Geometry.

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View and the drafting aids

The drafting aids are the one group with real function keys. On macOS each also has an ⌥⌘ letter beside its F-key, because Mac keyboards hide the function keys behind fn.

F5 steps the isometric plane (left, top, right) rather than simply switching something on and off; the status bar names the plane each time. See Drafting Aids.

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Help

Help ▸ User Guide (F1) opens the guide built into the application — considerably more detailed than this website, with a page for every command, lessons, and task pages. While a command is running it opens at that command's page.

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Keys the drawing handles itself

These work whatever is running, and cannot be reassigned.

Space finishes a command — it does not pan

Space and Enter do the same job here, as they do in AutoCAD: confirm the current step, and with nothing running, repeat the last command.

Panning is the middle mouse button or a two-finger scroll.

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Mouse and trackpad

A quick right-click finishes; a held right-click opens the menu. The quarter-second that separates them is Right-click hold in Preferences ▸ Cursor and Mouse.

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Typed values and coordinates

While a command is asking for a point, start typing a number, @ or ( and the context bar's field takes over.

Any number can be arithmetic — @1200/3,0 and (900-18)/2<45 both work. Lengths take feet and inches (12'6") and fractions (3 1/2); angles take 45d30'15", 50g or 0.8r. The decimal separator is always ..

See Typing Coordinates and Values.

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Next Steps

That is every key and alias. The final chapter explains the words.

Next: Appendix B — Glossary of Pingendum Terms