Keyboard shortcuts
Every keyboard shortcut on Mac and iPad-with-keyboard - tools, zoom, editing, the selection commands, the single-key wall and room actions, and where to find the list in the app.
On Mac, and on iPad with a hardware keyboard, Kaleidoscope Plan is fully keyboard-driven. On Mac the menu bar (File, View, Tool and Element menus) lists the commands too, and the full set lives in the app itself: Settings → Keyboard commands opens a panel that groups every shortcut by what it acts on. On Mac and iPad you’ll also see small key chips (like ⌘D) beside the matching buttons as a reminder.
Tools
The number keys select tools (also in the Tool menu on Mac):
| Shortcut | Tool |
|---|---|
| ⌘1 | Pointer (“Pan & Zoom” in the Mac Tool menu) |
| ⌘2 | Room |
| ⌘3 | Wall |
| ⌘4 | Door |
| ⌘5 | Window |
| ⌘6 | Fixture |
| ⌘7 | Furniture |
| ⌘8 | Light |
| ⌘9 | Radiator |
⌘3 is the direct jump into wall editing - on screen you reach it through the Room tool’s Walls button. The Opening, Annotation and Measurement tools have no number key; pick them from the tool rail. Switching tools tidies up automatically, clearing any selection or armed drawing tool first.
File & view
| Shortcut | Action | Where |
|---|---|---|
| ⌘S | Save the drawing (shows a “Saved” confirmation) | Mac (File ▸ Save) & iPad |
| ⌘N | New drawing | Mac (File ▸ New Drawing) |
| ⌘= | Zoom in (×1.25) | Mac (View menu) |
| ⌘− | Zoom out (×0.8) | Mac (View menu) |
| ⌘0 | Actual size (reset zoom and pan) | Mac (View menu) |
Keyboard zoom obeys the same 0.05×–50× limits as the pinch. Double-tap (or double-click) isn’t a reset - it glides the selected element (or the active room) to the centre of the screen at your current zoom; a double-tap on nothing does nothing.
Editing
| Shortcut | Action | Active when |
|---|---|---|
| ⌘Z | Undo | There’s something to undo |
| ⇧⌘Z | Redo | There’s something to redo |
| Esc | Back out one level - closes a panel, disarms a tool, deselects, collapses palettes (see below) | Always |
| Delete / ⌫ | Delete the selection - a wall picked in wall editing, the selected room in the Room tool’s Pointer, or a selected item / light / radiator / door / window / opening. Destructive deletes confirm first | A deletable element is selected |
| ↑ ↓ ← → | Nudge the selected item, or the active room | A placed item or a room is the target |
| ⇧ (hold) | Temporary alignment snap - corners, midpoints and axis guides engage for as long as Shift is held, without touching the Snap toggle | While drawing or dragging |
| ⌘C | Copy the selected fixture or furniture item | A placed item is selected |
| ⌘V | Paste it at a small offset, keeping rotation and size - repeated pastes step diagonally | Something has been copied |
Nudge steps are 10 mm, or 100 mm with Grid snap on. Arrow keys stay out of the way while you’re typing in a text field.
Selection commands
These act on whatever is selected (the Element menu on Mac). Without the right element selected, they quietly do nothing.
| Shortcut | Action | Acts on |
|---|---|---|
| ⌘R | Rotate 90° right | Selected fixture / furniture |
| ⇧⌘R | Rotate 90° left | Selected fixture / furniture |
| ⌘D | Duplicate the item | Selected fixture / furniture |
| ⌘↑ | Door opens outward | Selected door |
| ⌘↓ | Door opens inward | Selected door |
| ⌘[ | Hinge on the left | Selected door |
| ⌘] | Hinge on the right | Selected door |
| ⌘L | Open the Set-length dialog | Wall picked in wall editing |
Single keys - wall editing & the Room tool
Inside wall editing and the Room tool, the palette actions also arm from plain letter keys - no modifier. Pressing one is exactly like tapping the bubble (it lights up the same way), and a focused text field always wins the keystroke, so typing a “C” into a width field never arms the Knife.
With wall editing active:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| L | Line - draw a single wall |
| C | Knife - split a wall (C for cut) |
| P | Extrude - pull a wall out or in (P for pull) |
| M | Move By - shift a wall by a set distance |
| J | Fuse - join two walls (J for join) |
| D | Delete - remove a wall |
| Q | Square Up - snap a corner to 90° |
| A | Set angle - type an exact corner angle |
With the Room tool active:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| B | Box |
| X | Box Set |
| S | Shapes |
| W | Walls - wall editing for the selected room |
| C | Connections |
These work on Mac and on iPad with a hardware keyboard. They deliberately don’t get key chips beside the buttons - turn on help mode (the ?) to see each key on its bubble (“Split a wall · C”), or open Settings → Keyboard commands.
Escape - back out one level
Esc peels back one layer per press, so you leave wherever you are the same way you went in. Keep pressing it to land back at a clean canvas - or, in an engine, the project overview:
- A panel or sheet is open (properties, an element editor, a picker, settings) → it closes.
- The Connect overlay is showing (Room tool) → it’s put away.
- Wall editing has something going - a picked wall, a half-drawn line, or an armed action → everything disarms and deselects (you stay in wall editing; the Back button returns you to the Room tool).
- A Room drawing tool is armed (Box / Box Set / Shapes) → it hands back to the Pointer.
- Something is selected → it deselects (the same as the top-centre ✕).
- A tool or menu palette is expanded → it collapses.
The same gesture works across the app:
- 3D view: leave walk-around → close an open settings sheet → deselect the element → Exit focus → back to the project overview.
- Engine overlays (CCTV, WiFi, Fire Escape, Fire Alarm, Network & IT, Marketing, Deck Plan): close the open editor panel or cancel a live placement → disarm the tool back to Pointer.
- Surveys: close the marker editor → close the markers list → deselect the marker → leave add-marker mode.
On iPhone (no keyboard)
The same actions are reachable by touch:
- Undo / Redo buttons at the top of the menu palette.
- Per-item Delete in each action palette (with the same confirmation).
- Duplicate on the fixture/furniture action palette stands in for copy & paste.
- The Nudge pad for arrow-key-style movement.