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Default keyboard shortcuts in Visual Studio for Mac

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Important

Visual Studio for Mac is scheduled for retirement on August 31, 2024 in accordance with Microsoft’s Modern Lifecycle Policy. While you can continue to work with Visual Studio for Mac, there are several other options for developers on Mac such as the preview version of the new C# Dev Kit extension for VS Code.

Learn more about support timelines and alternatives.

For information about keyboard accessibility, see How to: Use Keyboard Navigation.

You can access a variety of commands in Visual Studio for Mac by using the appropriate keyboard shortcut. This document lists the default shortcuts for the Visual Studio for Mac key binding scheme. For more information about how to change the key binding scheme, see Customizing the IDE. You can also customize shortcuts for a command using the Visual Studio for Mac > Preferences menu item and choosing Environment > Key Bindings in the Preferences window.

Tip

The keyboard shortcuts displayed in this document, and the key binding preferences in Visual Studio for Mac, are presented using the symbols commonly used in macOS. If you are unsure of a symbol, review the macOS key symbols loopkup table.

Downloadable quick ref pdfs

We have compiled the most used, and most useful, keyboard shortcuts into a downloadable pdf file. We have two versions, one that shows shortcuts for Visual Studio for Mac, and a version that shows Visual Studio shorts side-by-side for users that have prior experience with Visual Studio when using Windows.

Code Navigation

Commands Keyboard shortcuts
Find References ⇧⌘R, F12
Go to Declaration ⌘D, F12
Next Error ⌥⇧⇟, ⇧⌘F12
Next Issue in File ⌥⇟
Previous Error ⌥⇧⇞
Previous Issue in File ⌥⇞

Debug

Commands Keyboard shortcuts
Enable or Disable Breakpoint ⌥⌘/, ⌘F9
Pause ⌥⌘P, ⌥⌘L5
Remove All Breakpoints ⇧⌘F9
Run To Cursor ⌘F10
Set Next Statement ⇧⌘F10
Show Next Statement ⌥*
Step Into ⇧⌘I, ⌘F11
Step Out ⇧⌘U, ⇧⌘F11
Step Over ⇧⌘O, F10
Toggle Breakpoint ⌘\, F9
View Breakpoints ⌥⌘B

Designer

Commands Keyboard shortcuts
Switch between related files ⌃⌘↑

Edit

Commands Keyboard shortcuts
Constraint Editing Mode ⌘E
Copy ⌘C
Cut ⌘X
Delete ⌘⌫
Format Document ⌃I
Indent Selection ⌘]
Paste ⌘V
Preferences ⌘,
Redo ⇧⌘Z
Rename ⌘R, F2
Select All ⌘A
Show Code Generation ⌘I
Toggle All Folds ⌥⇧⌘↑
Toggle Definitions ⌥⇧⌘↓
Toggle Fold ⌥⇧⌘←
Toggle Line Comment(s) ⌘/
Undo ⌘Z
Unindent Selection ⌘[
Update Frame from Constraints ⇧⌘R

F# Integration

Commands Keyboard shortcuts
Clear F# Interactive ⌃⌥C
F# Interactive ⌃⌥F
Restart F# Interactive ⌃⌥R
Send line to F# Interactive ⌃⌥L
Send references to F# Interactive ⌃⌥P
Send selection to F# Interactive ⌃⏎

File

Commands Keyboard shortcuts
Close All ⇧⌘W
Close File ⌘W
Close Workspace ⌥⌘W
New File ⌘N
New Solution ⇧⌘N
Open ⌘O
Print ⌘P
Quit ⌘Q
Revert ⌘U
Save ⌘S
Save All ⇧⌘S

Help

Commands Keyboard shortcuts
API Documentation ⌥⌘?
Unity API Reference ⌘'

Other

Commands Keyboard shortcuts
Implement Unity Messages ⇧⌘M
Inspect ⌥⌘I

Project

Commands Keyboard shortcuts
Add Files ⌥⌘A
Build ⌘K, ⇧F6
Build All ⌘B, F6
Clean ⇧⌘K
Rebuild ⌃⌘K
Rebuild All ⌃⌘B
Start Debugging ⌘⏎, F5
Start Without Debugging ⌥⌘⏎, ⌃F5
Stop ⇧⌘⏎, ⇧F5

Refactoring

Commands Keyboard shortcuts
Import Symbol ⌃⌥␣
Quick Fix ⌥⏎
Commands Keyboard shortcuts
Command ⇧⌘P
Find in Files ⇧⌘F
Find Next ⌘G, F3
Find Next Like Selection ⌘E, ⌘F3
Find Previous ⇧⌘G, ⇧F3
Find Previous Like Selection ⇧⌘F3
Find ⌘F
Go to File ⇧⌘D
Go to Line ⌘L
Go to Type ⇧⌘T
Navigate To ⌘.
Replace in Files ⌥⇧⌘F
Replace ⌥⌘F

Text Editor

Commands Keyboard shortcuts
Complete Word ⌃␣
Delete left character ⌃H
Delete next subword ⌃⌦
Delete next word ⌥⌦
Delete previous subword ⌃⌫
Delete previous word ⌥⌫
Delete right character ⌃D
Delete to end of line ⌃K
Dynamic abbrev ⌃/
Expand selection ⌥⇧↓
Expand selection ⌥⇧↑
Expand selection to document end ⇧⌘↓, ⇧⌘↘
Expand selection to document start ⇧⌘↑, ⇧⌘↖
Expand selection to line end ⇧↘, ⇧⌘→
Expand selection to line start ⇧↖, ⇧⌘←
Expand selection to next line ⇧↓
Expand selection to next word ⌥⇧→
Expand selection to page down ⇧⇟
Expand selection to page up ⇧⇞
Expand selection to previous line ⇧↑
Expand selection to previous word ⌥⇧←
Expand selection to the left ⇧←
Expand selection to the right ⇧→
Find caret ⌘|
Go left one character ⌃B
Go right one character ⌃F
Go to beginning of document ⌘↑
Go to beginning of line ⌘←, ⌃A
Go to end of document ⌘↓
Go to end of line ⌘→, ⌃E
Go to Matching Brace ⇧⌘\
Go to next line ⌃N
Go to next word ⌥→
Go to previous line ⌃P
Go to previous word ⌥←
Insert line break after the caret ⌃O
Move caret to EOL and insert new line ⇧⏎
Move the line or highlighted selection down ⌥↓
Move the line or highlighted selection up ⌥↑
Move to next usage ⌃⌥⌘↓
Move to prev usage ⌃⌥⌘↑
Show Parameter List ⌃⇧␣
Show quick info ⌘F1
Show Scopes ⌥⇧⌘P
Transpose characters ⌃T
Wrap with <div> ⌥⇧W

View

Commands Keyboard shortcuts
Center and Focus Document ⌃L
Focus Document F7
Full Screen ⌃⌘F
Move to Next Notebook ⌥⌘→
Move to Previous Notebook ⌥⌘←
Navigate Back ⌃⌘←
Navigate Forward ⌃⌘→
Normal Size ⌘0
One Editor Column ⌥⌘1
Show Next ⌥⌘↓, F8
Show Previous ⌥⌘↑, ⇧F8
Two Editor Columns ⌥⌘2
Zoom In ⌘+, ⌘=
Zoom Out ⌘-, ⌘_

Window

Commands Keyboard shortcuts
Activate 1 ⌘1
Activate 2 ⌘2
Activate 3 ⌘3
Activate 4 ⌘4
Activate 5 ⌘5
Activate 6 ⌘6
Activate 7 ⌘7
Activate 8 ⌘8
Activate 9 ⌘9
Hide Others ⌥⌘H
Hide Visual Studio ⌘H
Minimize ⌘M
Next Document ⌘}, ⌘F6
Previous Document ⌘{, ⇧⌘F6
Switch to next document ⌃⇥
Switch to next tool window ⌃⌥⇥
Switch to previous document ⌃⇧⇥
Switch to previous tool window ⌃⌥⇧⇥

macOS key symbols lookup

Symbol Key
⌘ Command (cmd)
⌥ Option (alt)
⇧ Shift
⌃ Control (ctrl)
⇞ Page Up (Pg Up)
⇟ Page Down (Pg Dn)
⌫ Delete (Backspace)
⌦ Forward Delete
⏎ Return
←→↑↓ Arrow Keys
↖ Home
↘ End
␣ Space Bar
⇥ Tab

See also