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Keyboard shortcuts for Visio

Many users find that using an external keyboard with keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Visio helps them work more efficiently. For users with mobility or vision disabilities, keyboard shortcuts can be easier than using the touchscreen, and are an essential alternative to using a mouse.

Notes: 

  • The shortcuts in this topic refer to the US keyboard layout. Keys for other layouts might not correspond exactly to the keys on a US keyboard.

  • A plus sign (+) in a shortcut means that you need to press multiple keys at the same time.

  • A comma sign (,) in a shortcut means that you need to press multiple keys in order.

This article describes the keyboard shortcuts in Microsoft Visio on Windows.

Note: To quickly find a shortcut in this article, you can use the Search. Press Ctrl+F and then type your search words.

In this article

Frequently used shortcuts

This table lists the most frequently used shortcuts in Visio.

To do this

Press

Cycle the focus through the left frame, the drawing, and shapes on the drawing that contain shape data, hyperlinks, and the address bar.

Tab key (forward) or Shift+Tab (backward)

Enter the full-screen view.

F5

Exit the full-screen view.

Esc

Open the Home tab on the ribbon.

Alt+H

Open the Text dialog box.

F11

Open the Format Shape task pane.

F3

Group the selected shapes.

Ctrl+G or Ctrl+Shift+G

Bring the selected shape to the front.

Ctrl+Shift+F

Select the Pointer Tool.

Ctrl+1

Select the text tool.

Ctrl+2

Select the text block tool.

Ctrl+Shift+4

Move between master shapes in a stencil.

Arrow keys

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Navigate in Visio

Move in the full-screen view mode

Use these keyboard shortcuts to move between Visio and another app or page when you are using the full-screen view.

To do this

Press

Enter the full-screen view.

F5

Exit the full-screen view.

Esc

Open the next page in the drawing.

Page down

Return to the previous page in the drawing.

Page up

Top of Page 

Move in a web page drawing

To do this

Press

Cycle the focus through the left frame, the drawing, and shapes on the drawing that contain shape data, hyperlinks, and the address bar.

Tab key (forward) or Shift+Tab (backward)

Activate the hyperlink for the shape or hyperlink on the drawing that has the focus.

Enter

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Move in text or cells

To do this

Press

Move one character to the left.

Left arrow key

Move one character to the right.

Right arrow key

Move one line up.

Up arrow key

Move one line down.

Down arrow key

Move one word to the left.

Ctrl+Left arrow key

Move one word to the right.

Ctrl+Right arrow key

Move to the end of the line.

End

Move to the beginning of the line.

Home

Move up one paragraph.

Ctrl+Up arrow key

Move down one paragraph.

Ctrl+Down arrow key

Move to the end of a text box.

Ctrl+End

Move to the beginning of a text box.

Ctrl+Home

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Navigate the ribbon

  1. Press Alt.

    The Key Tips are displayed as letters over each option that is available in the current view.

    Key Tips shown on the ribbon for Visio on Windows.

  2. On your keyboard, press the key corresponding to the letter shown in the Key Tip over the option that you want to use. Depending on the letter you press, you might be shown additional Key Tips.

  3. Press the keys corresponding to the letters until you reach and activate the option or control that you want.

    In some cases, you must first select the letter of the group that contains the option. For example, press Alt+H, F, S to open the Size list box in the Font group.

    Note: To cancel any action and hide the Key Tips, press Alt.

Top of Page 

Edit and format text

To do this

Press

Open the Home tab in the ribbon.

Alt+H

Open the Text dialog box.

F11

Open the Format Shape task pane.

F3

Switch bold formatting on or off.

Ctrl+B

Switch italic formatting on or off.

Ctrl+I

Switch underline formatting on or off.

Ctrl+U

Switch double underline on or off.

Ctrl+Shift+D

Switch all caps mode on or off.

Ctrl+Shift+A

Switch small caps mode on or off.

Ctrl+Shift+K

Switch subscript formatting on or off.

Ctrl+Equal sign ( = )

Switch superscript formatting on or off.

Ctrl+Shift+Equal sign ( = )

Increase the font size of the selected text.

Ctrl+Shift+Right angle bracket (>)

Decrease the font size of the selected text.

Ctrl+Shift+Left angle bracket (<)

Move to the next character.

Right arrow key

Move to the previous character.

Left arrow key

Move to the next line of text.

Down arrow key

Move to the previous line of text.

Up arrow key

Move to the next word.

Ctrl+Right arrow key

Move to the previous word.

Ctrl+Left arrow key

Move to the next paragraph.

Ctrl+Down or Up arrow key

Move to the previous paragraph.

Ctrl+Up arrow key

Select all text in a text block.

Ctrl+A

Select the next character.

Shift+Right arrow key

Select the previous character.

Shift+Left arrow key

Select the next word.

Ctrl+Shift+Right arrow key

Select the previous word.

Ctrl+Shift+Left arrow key

Select the next line.

Shift+Down arrow key

Select the previous line.

Shift+Up arrow key

Select the next paragraph.

Ctrl+Shift+Down arrow key

Select the previous paragraph.

Ctrl+Shift+Up arrow key

Delete the previous word.

Ctrl+Backspace

Replace the selected text with the field height. If no text is selected, replace all text with the field height for the selected shape.

Ctrl+Shift+H

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Align text

To do this

Press

Align text left.

Ctrl+Shift+L

Center text horizontally.

Ctrl+Shift+C

Align text right.

Ctrl+Shift+R

Justify text horizontally.

Ctrl+Shift+J

Top-align text vertically.

Ctrl+Shift+T

Center text vertically.

Ctrl+Shift+M

Bottom-align text vertically.

Ctrl+Shift+V

Top of Page 

Use the Snap & Glue features

To do this

Press

Open the Snap & Glue dialog box.

Alt+F9

Top of Page 

Group, rotate, and flip shapes

To do this

Press

Group the selected shapes.

Ctrl+G or Ctrl+Shift+G

Ungroup shapes in the selected group.

Ctrl+Shift+U

Bring the selected shape to the front.

Ctrl+Shift+F

Send the selected shape to the back.

Ctrl+Shift+B

Rotate the selected shape to the left.

Ctrl+L

Rotate the selected shape to the right.

Ctrl+R

Flip the selected shape horizontally.

Ctrl+H

Flip the selected shape vertically.

Ctrl+J

Open the Align Shapes dialog box for the selected shape.

F8

Top of Page 

Display drawing windows

To do this

Press

Display the open drawing windows tiled vertically.

Shift+F7

Display the open drawing windows tiled horizontally.

Ctrl+Shift+F7

Display the open drawing windows so that the title of every window is visible.

Alt+F7 or Ctrl+Alt+F7

Top of Page 

Select tools

To do this

Press

Switch the Format Painter tool on or off.

Ctrl+Shift+P

Select the Pointer Tool.

Ctrl+1

Select the Connector tool.

Ctrl+3

Select the connection point tool.

Ctrl+Shift+1

Select the text tool.

Ctrl+2

Select the text block tool.

Ctrl+Shift+4

Top of Page 

Select drawing tools

To do this

Press

Select the rectangle tool.

Ctrl+8

Select the ellipse tool.

Ctrl+9

Select the line tool.

Ctrl+6

Select the arc tool.

Ctrl+7

Select the freeform tool.

Ctrl+5

Select the pencil tool.

Ctrl+4

Top of Page 

Crop a picture

To do this

Press

Select the crop tool.

Ctrl+Shift+2

Top of Page 

Work with Visio shapes and stencils

Move from shape to shape in a drawing page

To do this

Press

Move from shape to shape on the drawing page. A dotted rectangle indicates the shape that has the focus.

Note: You can't move to shapes that are protected against selection or on a locked layer.

Tab key (forward) or Shift+Tab (backward)

Select a shape that has focus.

Enter

Select multiple shapes.

Tab key to bring the focus to the first shape, and then Enter. To bring the focus to another shape, press and hold down Shift, press the Tab key until the focus is on the shape, and then press Enter to add that shape to the selection. Repeat for each shape you want to select.

Clear selection of or focus on a shape.

Esc

Switch between text edit mode and shape selection mode on the selected shape.

F2

Nudge the selected shape.

Arrow keys

Nudge the selected shape one pixel at a time.

Note: Scroll lock must be turned off.

Shift+Arrow keys

Top of Page 

Work with master shapes in a stencil

To do this

Press

Move between master shapes in a stencil.

Arrow keys

Move to the first master shape in a row of a stencil.

Home

Move to the last master shape in a row of a stencil.

End

Move to the first master shape in a column of a stencil.

Page up

Move to the last master shape in a column of a stencil.

Page down

Copy the selected master shapes to the clipboard.

Ctrl+C

Paste the contents of the clipboard to a new stencil.

Note: The new stencil must first be opened for editing.

Ctrl+V

Select all the master shapes in a stencil.

Ctrl+A

Select multiple master shapes (instead of all).

Arrow keys to bring the focus to the first master shape. Then to bring the focus to another master shape, press and hold down Shift, press the arrow keys until the focus is on the shape, and press Enter to add that shape to the selection. Repeat for each shape that you want to select.

Select or cancel selection of a master shape that has the focus.

Shift+Enter

Cancel the selection of master shapes in a stencil.

Esc

Insert the selected master shapes into the drawing.

Ctrl+Enter

Top of Page 

Work with stencils in edit mode

To do this

Press

Delete the selected master shape.

Delete

Cut the selected master shape from the custom stencil and put it on the clipboard.

Ctrl+X

Rename the selected master shape.

F2

Top of Page 

Work with windows, task panes, and dialog boxes

Work with windows

To do this

Press

Switch to the next window.

Alt+Tab

Close the active window.

Alt+F4

Move to a task pane from another pane in the app window.

Note: If pressing F6 doesn't display the task pane you want, try pressing Alt to put the focus to the ribbon.

F6 (You might have to press F6 more than once.)

Maximize a selected window.

Ctrl+F10

Restore the size of the Visio app window after you maximized it.

Ctrl+F5

Copy a picture of the screen to the clipboard.

Print screen

Copy a picture of the selected window to the clipboard.

Alt+Print screen

For any window with an icon in its title bar (for example, a shapes window), display the window shortcut menu.

Alt+Spacebar

Open the Page dialog box.

Shift+F4

Open the Reorder Pages dialog box.

Ctrl+Alt+P

Cycle the focus through open drawings.

Ctrl+Tab or Ctrl+F6

Cycle the focus through open drawings in reverse order.

Ctrl+Shift+Tab or Ctrl+Shift+F6

Cycle the focus through pages in a drawing, including any visible markup overlays.

Ctrl+Page down

Cycle the focus through pages in a drawing in reverse order.

Ctrl+Page up

When a task pane is active, select the next or previous option in the task pane.

Tab key or Shift+Tab

Top of Page 

Use the Help pane

The Help pane displays topics and other support content.

To do this

Press

Open the Help pane.

F1

Select the next item in the Help pane.

Tab key

Select the previous item in the Help pane.

Shift+Tab

Move back to the Help home.

Alt+Left arrow key

Scroll small amounts up or down within the currently displayed help topic.

Up or Down arrow key

Scroll larger amounts up or down within the currently displayed help topic.

Page up or Page down

Top of Page 

Work with task panes

To do this

Press

Move to a task pane from another pane in the app window.

Note: If pressing F6 doesn't display the task pane you want, try pressing Alt to put the focus on the ribbon, and then press F6 to move to the task pane.

F6 (You might have to press F6 more than once.)

When a task pane is active, select the next or previous option in the task pane.

Tab key or Shift+Tab

Move between choices on a selected submenu or move between options within a group of options in a dialog box.

Down or Up arrow key

Open the selected menu, or perform the action assigned to the selected button.

Spacebar or Enter

Open a shortcut menu.

Shift+F10 or the Windows Menu key

When a menu or submenu is visible, select the first on the menu or submenu.

Home

When a menu or submenu is visible, select the last command on the menu or submenu.

End

Top of Page 

Float or anchor task panes

  1. Press F6 repeatedly to select the task pane that you want.

  2. Press Alt+Spacebar to open the menu for that task pane.

  3. Press the Down arrow key to select the Float Window option, and then press Enter.

Top of Page 

Work with dialog boxes

To do this

Press

Move to the next option or option group.

Tab key

Move to the previous option or option group.

Shift+Tab

Switch to the next tab in a dialog box.

Ctrl+Tab

Switch to the previous tab in a dialog box.

Ctrl+Shift+Tab

Move between options in an open dropdown list, or between options in a group of options.

Arrow keys

Perform the action assigned to the selected button; select or clear the selected checkbox.

Spacebar

Open a list if it is closed and move to a specific option in the list.

The first letter of an option in a dropdown list

Select an option or select or clear a checkbox.

Alt+The underlined letter in an option or checkbox

Open the selected dropdown list.

Alt+Down arrow key

Close the selected dropdown list, or cancel a command and close a dialog box.

Esc

Perform the action assigned to the default button in a dialog box.

Enter

Top of Page 

Use edit boxes within dialog boxes

An edit box is a blank box in which you type or paste an entry, such as your username or the path of a folder.

To do this

Press

Move to the beginning of the entry.

Home

Move to the end of the entry.

End

Move one character to the left or right.

Left or Right arrow key

Move one word to the left.

Ctrl+Left arrow key

Move one word to the right.

Ctrl+Right arrow key

Select or cancel selection one character to the left.

Shift+Left arrow key

Select or cancel selection one character to the right.

Shift+Right arrow key

Select or cancel selection one word to the left.

Ctrl+Shift+Left arrow key

Select or cancel selection one word to the right.

Ctrl+Shift+Right arrow key

Select from the insertion point to the beginning of the entry.

Shift+Home

Select from the insertion point to the end of the entry.

Shift+End

Top of Page 

Use the Open and Save As dialog boxes

To do this

Press

Move to the next option or option group.

Tab key

Move to the previous option or option group.

Shift+Tab

Move between options in an open dropdown list, or between options in a group of options.

Arrow keys

Perform the action assigned to the selected button.

Enter or Spacebar

Move to the Save as type list in the Save As dialog box.

Alt+T

Move to the File name box.

Alt+N

Move to the file type list in the Open dialog box.

Alt+T

Open a selected file in the Open dialog box.

Alt+O

Save the current file in the Save dialog box.

Alt+S

Open the selected dropdown list.

Alt+Down arrow key

Close the selected dropdown list, or cancel a command and close a dialog box.

Esc

Update the file list.

F5

Display a shortcut menu for a selected item such as a folder or file.

Shift+F10 or the Windows Menu key

Top of Page 

Zoom

To do this

Press

Zoom in.

Alt+F6

Zoom out.

Alt+Shift+F6

Fit the view to the window.

Ctrl+Shift+W

Top of Page 

See also

Visio help & learning

Screen reader support for Visio

This article describes the keyboard shortcuts in Visio for the web.

Note: To quickly find a shortcut in this article, you can use the Search. Press Ctrl+F and then type your search words.

In this article

Individual arrow keys on your keyboard are represented in this article with these symbols:

      

Frequently used shortcuts

To do this

Press

Select all

Ctrl+A

Print

Ctrl+P

Cut

Ctrl+X

Copy

Ctrl+C

Paste

Ctrl+V

Undo a recent action

Ctrl+Z

Redo a recent action

Ctrl+Y

Top of Page 

Page navigation

To do this

Press

Go to the next object

Tab key

Go to the previous object

Shift+Tab

Pan the diagram

Arrow keys

Zoom in

Ctrl+Plus sign (+)

Zoom out

Ctrl+Minus sign (-)

Navigate to the next section on the page.

Ctrl+F6

Navigate to the previous section on the page.

Ctrl+Shift+F6

With the focus on the page tab, open the page tab context menu.

Shift+F10 or the Windows Menu key

Navigate the status bar.

Tab or Shift+Tab

Activate a button or command on the status bar.

Enter

Top of Page 

Ribbon navigation

To do this

Press

Move to the next or previous ribbon tab.

Tab key or Shift+Tab

Move the focus to commands on the ribbon.

Enter

Activate a selected command.

Spacebar or Enter

Open the submenu for a selected command.

Spacebar or Enter or Alt+

Top of Page 

Work with shapes

To do this

Press

Move a shape

Arrow keys

Move a shape by one pixel

Shift+Arrow keys

Select all shapes on the page

Ctrl+A

Edit text in a shape

Enter or Spacebar

Stop editing text in a shape

Esc

Rotate a shape 90 degrees clockwise 

Ctrl+R

Rotate shape 90 degrees counterclockwise 

Ctrl+L

Group the selected objects

Ctrl+G

Ungroup a group

Ctrl+Shift+U

Send to back

Ctrl+Shift+B

Bring to front

Ctrl+Shift+F

Delete the selected shape

Delete

Duplicate a shape

Ctrl+D

With the focus on a shape in the Shapes gallery, insert the shape on the canvas

Enter

Show auto-connection suggestions with Quick Shapes

Ctrl+Arrow keys

Top of Page 

Format text

To do this

Press

Turn bold formatting on or off

Ctrl+B

Turn italic formatting on or off

Ctrl+I

Turn underline formatting on or off.

Ctrl+U

Top of Page 

Use the format painter

To do this

Press

Copy formatting with Format Painter

Ctrl+Shift+C

Paste formatting with Format Painter

Ctrl+Shift+V

Align text

To do this

Press

Align left

Ctrl+Shift+L

Align center

Ctrl+Shift+S

Align right

Ctrl+Shift+R

Align top

Ctrl+Shift+E

Align middle

Ctrl+Shift+M

Align bottom

Ctrl+Shift+Z

Move the insertion point in text

To do this

Press

Move one character to the right

Move one character to the left

Move one word to the right

Ctrl+

Move one word to the left

Ctrl+

Move one line up

Move one line down

Move one paragraph up

Ctrl+

Move one paragraph down

Ctrl+

Move to the beginning of the line

Home

Move to the end of the line

End

Move to the beginning of the page

Ctrl+Home

Move to the end of the page

Ctrl+End

Top of Page 

Select content or expand selection

To do this

Press

Select or expand selection one character to the right.

Shift+

Select or expand selection one character to the left.

Shift+

Select or expand selection one word to the right.

Shift+Ctrl+

Select or expand selection one word to the left.

Shift+Ctrl+

Select or expand selection one line up.

Shift+

Select or expand selection one line down.

Shift+

Select or expand selection one paragraph up.

Shift+Ctrl+

Select or expand selection one paragraph down.

Shift+Ctrl+

Select or expand selection to the beginning of the line.

Shift+Home

Select or expand selection to the end of the line.

Shift+End

Select or expand selection to the beginning of the page.

Shift+Ctrl+Home

Select or expand selection to the end of the page.

Shift+Ctrl+End

Top of Page 

See also

Visio help & learning

Screen reader support for Visio

Technical support for customers with disabilities

Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.

If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.

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