Do you know why most of the bloggers, content writers and marketers prefer writing on Google Docs, Microsoft Word over WordPress? The answer is simple, better keyboard shortcuts.

Keyboard shortcuts speed up the process of producing content because instead of using the mouse/touchpad now and then, we can do all the formatting just by using the keyboard.

WordPress has a decent number of keyboard shortcuts as well to help publishers write and edit faster. But WordPress’ new editor, Gutenberg, which is in its development phase lacks support for keyboard shortcuts for its unique features such as managing blocks and a few other stuff.

Fortunately, Gutenberg is backward compatible with the WordPress’ current visual editor keyboard shortcuts. Below is a list of all shortcuts that currently work in Gutenberg, check them below:

Gutenberg Keyboard Shortcuts

For Windows and Linux users
  • Insert Image — Alt + Shift + m
  • Bold — Ctrl + b
  • Italic — Ctrl + i
  • Unordered List — Alt + Shift + u
  • Ordered List — Alt + Shift + o
  • Quote — Alt + Shift + q
  • Align Left — Alt + Shift + L
  • Align Center — Alt + Shift + c
  • Align Right — Alt + Shift + r
  • Justify Text — Alt + Shift + j
  • Insert/Edit link — Ctrl + k  OR  Alt + Shift + a
  • Remove link — Alt + Shift + s
  • Navigate to next region — Alt + Shift + n
  • Navigate to previous region — Alt + Shift + p
  • Check Spelling — Alt + Shift + n
  • Strikethrough — Alt + Shift + d
  • Increase Indent — Tab
  • Decrease Indent — Shift + Tab
  • Copy — Ctrl + c
  • Paste — Ctrl + v
  • Cut — Ctrl + x
  • Select all — Ctrl + a
  • Undo — Ctrl + z
  • Redo — Ctrl + y
  • Full screen distraction free writing mode — Alt + Shift + w
  • Insert More Tag — Alt + Shift + t
  • Add/remove code tag — Alt + Shift + x
  • Rich text editor help — Alt + Shift + h
  • Heading 1 — Alt + Shift + 1
  • Heading 2 — Alt + Shift + 2
  • Heading 3 — Alt + Shift + 3
  • Heading 4 — Alt + Shift + 4
  • Heading 5 — Alt + Shift + 5
  • Heading 6 — Alt + Shift + 6
  • Address — Alt + Shift + 9
  • Alt + F8 — Inline toolbar (when an image, link or preview is selected)
  • Alt + F9 — Editor menu (when enabled)
  • Alt + F10 — Editor toolbar
  • Alt + F11 — Elements path
For Mac users
  • Insert Image — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + m
  • Bold — Command (⌘) + b
  • Italic — Command (⌘) + i
  • Unordered List — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + u
  • Ordered List — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + o
  • Quote — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + q
  • Align Left — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + L
  • Align Center — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + c
  • Align Right — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + r
  • Justify Text — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + j
  • Insert/Edit link — Command (⌘) + k  OR  Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + a
  • Remove link — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + s
  • Insert Page Break — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + p
  • Check Spelling — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + n
  • Strikethrough — Command (⌘)+ Option (alt ⌥) + d
  • Increase Indent — Tab
  • Decrease Indent — Shift + Tab
  • Copy — Command (⌘) + c
  • Paste — Command (⌘) + v
  • Cut — Command (⌘) + x
  • Select all — Command (⌘) + a
  • Undo — Command (⌘) + z
  • Redo — Command (⌘) + y
  • Full screen distraction free writing mode — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + w
  • Insert More Tag — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + t
  • Add/remove code tag — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + x
  • Rich text editor help — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + h
  • Heading 1 — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + 1
  • Heading 2 — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + 2
  • Heading 3 — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + 3
  • Heading 4 — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + 4
  • Heading 5 — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + 5
  • Heading 6 — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + 6
  • Address — Command (⌘) + Option (alt ⌥) + 9

I hope you find the above keyboard shortcuts helpful. But as we said earlier in this post, Gutenberg editor is still in its developing phase, and hence, keyboard shortcuts for many of its new features aren’t available yet. But we are hopeful that Gutenberg will gain support for more keyboard shortcuts when it officially releases with WordPress 5.0 at some time later this year. We’ll be sure to update this post when more shortcuts for Gutenberg are available.

Till then, enjoy writing on Gutenberg.