---
title: "Shortcuts & the command palette"
description: "Galley's command palette and every keyboard shortcut, grouped: navigate, write, view, and organize — jump to any chapter, page, or tool without leaving the keyboard."
source: https://usegalley.com/docs/shortcuts
---
# 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** 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](https://usegalley.com/docs/revision#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 Galley command palette open over the editor, filtering chapters, story bible pages and actions as the writer types.*

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

| Press | Does |
| --- | --- |
| ⌘K | Command palette, jump anywhere |
| ⌘F | Find & replace, across the whole book |
|? | This shortcuts sheet |

### Write

| Press | Does |
| --- | --- |
| ⌘B / ⌘I / ⌘U | Bold / italic / underline |
| ⌘⇧S | Strikethrough |
| ⇧↵ | Line break inside a paragraph, for verse and addresses |
| ⌘S | Save now (Galley already saves for you) |
| ⌘↵ | Save a comment |
| Type --- | Scene break, on its own line |

### View

| Press | Does |
| --- | --- |
| ⌘⇧F | Focus mode (Esc exits) |
| ⌘⇧L | Light / dark page |
| ⌘⇧8 | Show or hide invisible characters |

### Organize

| Do | Result |
| --- | --- |
| Double-click | Rename a chapter or part |
| Drag | Reorder chapters in the sidebar |
| Select text | Comment, 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.

[PreviousStructure & chapters](https://usegalley.com/docs/structure) [NextWriting offline](https://usegalley.com/docs/offline-writing)