Keyboard shortcuts really put the flow into WorkFlowy. Getting familiar with and wielding them is a must if you want to get comfortable hanging out in your lists. Using kbs’s is like hitting the “Skip Ad” button on Youtube videos… everything just flows so much better. Not using kbs’s is like moving into a new house and not unpacking your boxes. Do you really want to live out of boxes for the rest of your WorkFlowy life?
I’ve got some kbs challenges for you in several shared demo lists… see if you can shave a couple of seconds off my best (timed) efforts. The demo lists are identical to what you’ll see in each GIF. (By the way, you don’t need to add the lists to your account to tinker with them.)
Exploding tags
Do you still delete tags by placing your cursor and then… Backspace, Backspace, Backspace, Backspace, Backspace? Try Alt + click.
Click here for the demo list. My time: 48s
Zooming into lists with Alt + →
Using kbs’s to zoom in (and out) of lists is magic. Here’s a demo list to get you started. If you ever wondered about the etymology of the expression, “Down the rabbit hole”, tag along for Alice’s epic ± 4,000-mile fall to Wonderland. No time trial for this next GIF. It’s way too fast… so everyone wins.
Now… follow the arrows down the rabbit hole to win a trophy. Use your ↓ key to get you to the right list and Alt + → to zoom in.
Click here for the demo list. My time: 46s
Don’t forget about Alt + ← to zoom out a level or two. It’s much quicker than heading for the breadcrumb navigation bar with your mouse.
Shuffling lists around
Using the Alt + Shift + Arrow(s) keyboard shortcut is often way quicker and more precise than dragging lists around. My favorite part about using this kbs is that when moved up or down, your list maintains its hierarchical level whenever possible.
Click here for the demo list. My time: 22s
Selecting multiple, random lists and sorting
It was a glorious day when we were able to select multiple, arbitrary lists by Alt + Clicking on them. Selecting and moving lists go together like “Speedy” and “Gonzalez”. So you’d do something like this: Alt + Click, Click, Click …then Alt + Shift + Arrow Keys. Here’s an opportunity to use both:
Click here for the demo list. My time: 38s
Duplicating lists
Duplicating lists easily becomes part of your workflow when you have a fast way of doing it. Alt + drag any bullet(s) to clone them. Try duplicating the first list below 10 times as fast as your fingers can go.
Click here for the demo list. My time: 15s
Jumping to adjacent sibling lists
Instead of zooming in and out of sibling lists or expanding entire outlines to see the content therein, one can zoom into a list and then jump to adjacent siblings by using:
- Alt + Shift + 9/0 for Windows
- Ctrl + Shift + 9/0 for Mac
Click here for a demo list to tinker with.
Here’s a whole WorkFlowy blog post dedicated to this beauty of a keyboard shortcut.
Deleting whole outlines/ bullets
Instead of deleting stuff like this…
… you could place your cursor anywhere and hit Ctrl + Shift + Backspace to wipe out entire lists like so:
… or an entire outline in one fell swoop:
Click here for a demo list to tinker with.
Navigating list history back and forth
I’ve saved the best for last. This is a kbs that needs to be used to be appreciated. No amount of demonstrating will do it justice. We use Alt + ← / → to navigate our list history back and forth (just like in any browser)… BUT, one needs to toggle Alt once before doing so – to take the focus from WorkFlowy to your browser. So it goes like this: Alt, Alt + ←.
Click here for a demo list to tinker with…
(1) Zoom in to each successive bullet until you come to the end (Alt + →) … then (2) hit Alt once (your cursor disappears) and then (3) Alt + ← to navigate your browser history back in time. The lyrics to an iconic Bee Gees song will appear in order.
Keep in mind that you if you hit Alt + ← without hitting Alt once before, you’re just zooming out – not navigating your browser history back. You can tell by the way there’s no “zoom animation” that you’re navigating your browser history back. It’s instant and very fluid. It makes going back to where you came from (and then back again) a breeze. This is possibly the most powerful WorkFlowy navigating tip I can give you. Speed is your friend.
A kbs for your kbs’s
To access WorkFlowy’s keyboard shortcut helper, hit Ctrl + ?… or you can check the following box under Settings:
Share a kbs demo list with us
It would be incredibly awesome if you had a demo list or two to share with us – lists that’d help us practice keyboard shortcuts. Share your list as “view only” and tack “?demo” on to the end of the URL.
A comment’s a comment, no matter how small
Give us your thoughts on keyboard shortcuts in general. Also… were you faster than me in the time trials? Hmmmm, were you??
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