Shortcuts & the palette

You don't need to memorise any of this to use Galley. But once a few become habit you'll barely touch the mouse, and that keeps you in the writing. Every shortcut below is chosen so it doesn't collide with what your browser already does with that key.

The palette: search the whole book

Learn this one first. Press Palette ⌘K and start typing. It doesn't search a menu. it searches the book, and answers in groups: chapters, cast, places, research, glossary, references, then the actions. Press Enter to go straight there. Mid-sentence you can bounce to your timeline to check a date and be back before you've lost the thread.

  • It forgives a typo and it folds accents, so rowna finds Rowan and cafe finds the Café, but it won't guess below four letters, where everything is one slip away from everything.
  • Aliases count. Searching a nickname finds the character it belongs to, under their real name.
  • Research is searched all the way through: the passage and your note on it, not just the title. Which is the point: a clipping you can summon mid-scene is worth keeping.
  • Every word of a multi-word search has to land somewhere, so two words narrow rather than widen.

Prose is handed to Find, not searched twice. If your word also appears in the manuscript, the last row says so, 7 matches in 3 chapters, and choosing it opens Find & replace in the chapter with the most hits, with the word already typed. One search for prose, one for everything else, and no doubt about which you're in.

The palette searches the book you're in. The cast of book two is noise while you're drafting book one.

The command palette open over the editor, filtering chapters, pages, and actions as you type.

Every shortcut

Forget one? Press ? anywhere and Galley shows the full, current list, the same one printed here.

Navigate

PressDoes
⌘KCommand palette, jump anywhere
⌘FFind & replace, across the whole book
?This shortcuts sheet

Write

PressDoes
⌘B / ⌘I / ⌘UBold / italic / underline
⌘⇧SStrikethrough
⇧↵Line break inside a paragraph, for verse and addresses
⌘SSave now (Galley already saves for you)
⌘↵Save a comment
Type ---Scene break, on its own line

View

PressDoes
⌘⇧FFocus mode (Esc exits)
⌘⇧LLight / dark page
⌘⇧8Show or hide invisible characters

Organize

DoResult
Double-clickRename a chapter or part
DragReorder chapters in the sidebar
Select textComment, or add to Glossary / References

On Windows and Linux, ⌘ is Ctrl. The tables above show whichever of the two your keyboard has, so what you are reading should already be right.

💡 The first time you open a chapter, Galley pops a couple of gentle, one-time tips pointing out the palette, focus mode, and scene breaks. Tap Got it to dismiss one, or Skip all tips to get straight on with it. Either way they won't nag you again.