Blog · · 4 min read

Blender shortcuts cheat sheet: the keys you use every minute

A compact Blender shortcuts cheat sheet for the default keymap on Windows: transform, selection, view, modelling and rendering keys, with a way to learn them and a ring for the rest.

Blender is designed to be used with one hand on the keyboard. Many of its tools have no big button on screen, and the menus are long. Once a handful of keys are in your fingers, Blender stops feeling hostile and starts feeling quick.

Everything below is from the default keymap in the Blender manual, as it works on Windows. The keys act on the area under the mouse pointer, so a key in the 3D Viewport can do something else in the Timeline or the Outliner. If a key seems to do nothing, check where your pointer is.

Move, rotate, scale

  • G grabs (moves) the selection.
  • R rotates it.
  • S scales it.

During any of these, press X, Y or Z to lock to that axis, and type a number for an exact value. G X 2 Enter moves the selection two units along X. Press the axis key with Shift to exclude that axis instead: Shift+Z moves on X and Y only. Right-click or Esc cancels.

Selecting and hiding

  • A selects all, Alt+A deselects all.
  • Ctrl+I inverts the selection.
  • H hides the selection, Alt+H reveals everything hidden.
  • Shift+H hides everything that is not selected.

Adding, duplicating, deleting

  • Shift+A opens the Add menu: meshes, lights, cameras, curves.
  • Shift+D duplicates the selection and starts moving the copy.
  • Alt+D makes a linked duplicate that shares the same mesh data.
  • X or Delete deletes.

Looking around

  • Home frames everything in the view.
  • Numpad . frames the selection.
  • Numpad 1 front view, Numpad 3 right view, Numpad 7 top view. Add Ctrl for the opposite side.
  • Numpad 5 switches between perspective and orthographic.
  • Numpad 0 looks through the active camera.
  • Z opens the shading pie menu: wireframe, solid, material preview, rendered.
  • The key left of 1 (the backtick or tilde key on a US layout) opens the view pie menu, which is useful on laptops without a numeric keypad.

Mouse and laptop settings

  • Drag with the middle mouse button to orbit the view.
  • Shift plus middle-button drag pans, Ctrl plus middle-button drag or the wheel zooms.

On a laptop without a middle button or a numeric keypad, open Edit > Preferences > Input and turn on Emulate 3 Button Mouse and Emulate Numpad. The first lets Alt plus left-drag orbit; the second makes the number row act as the numpad views.

Interface

  • Ctrl+Space maximizes the area under the pointer, and the same keys restore it.
  • N shows or hides the sidebar, with exact location, rotation and scale.
  • T shows or hides the toolbar.
  • F3 opens menu search. Type the name of any operator, such as "subdivide", and run it.
  • F9 opens the Adjust Last Operation panel to change the settings of what you just did.
  • Shift+R repeats the last action.

Modelling in Edit Mode

  • Tab switches between Object Mode and Edit Mode.
  • 1, 2 and 3 select by vertex, edge or face.
  • E extrudes.
  • I insets faces.
  • Ctrl+R adds a loop cut.
  • Ctrl+B bevels.
  • K starts the knife.
  • M opens the Merge menu, for example to merge vertices at the center.

Objects

  • Ctrl+A opens the Apply menu. Applying scale before you add modifiers saves odd results later.
  • Ctrl+P parents the selection to the active object.

Render and play

  • F12 renders the current frame.
  • Ctrl+F12 renders the animation.
  • Space plays and pauses the animation.
  • Ctrl+S saves, Ctrl+Z undoes, Ctrl+Shift+Z redoes.

How to remember them

  1. G R S is the core. Grab, Rotate, Scale, then the axis letter, then a number. Practise it as one sentence: "G, X, two, Enter".
  2. Shift adds, Alt undoes. Shift+A adds, Shift+D duplicates; Alt+A deselects, Alt+H unhides. When a key does something, Alt with the same key often does the opposite.
  3. Use F3 as a teacher. When you find an operator through menu search, the search result shows its shortcut next to it. Read it every time and you will need search less.
  4. Learn the pies. Z and the view pie put many options under one key, and you pick by direction. They are easier to remember than eight separate keys.
  5. Start in one area. Learn the 3D Viewport keys first. The Timeline, Node editors and Outliner have their own, and they are easier once the viewport feels natural.

A Blender ring

Blender already has pie menus, which is a good sign that radial menus suit 3D work. RadialDeck is the radial menu for Windows that we make, and it adds one more ring on top: when Blender is in front, your hotkey or a side mouse button opens a Blender ring with the actions you choose.

The gallery has 10 ready-made Blender slices: Render image, Search, Render animation, Edit mode, Add, Maximize, Sidebar, Shading, Play and Frame all. The Blender page lists what each one does.

It helps on laptops and with pen tablets, where reaching for F12 or a numeric keypad means looking away from the screen.

Quick reference

  • Transform: G, R, S, then X, Y or Z, then a number
  • Select: A, Alt+A, Ctrl+I, H, Alt+H
  • Create: Shift+A, Shift+D, X
  • View: Home, Numpad ., Numpad 1, Numpad 3, Numpad 7, Z
  • Edit Mode: Tab, E, I, Ctrl+R, Ctrl+B
  • Help: F3, F9

RadialDeck is free for two rings and has a 14-day trial of Pro, which adds a ring per program such as Blender. It is in the Microsoft Store.

Try it in RadialDeck

Free for two rings, with a 14-day trial of everything in Pro. Windows 10 and 11, from the Microsoft Store.

Get it from Microsoft or download the installer (.exe)