RetouchDock keyboard shortcuts

Workspace shortcuts

Find a command or work without shortcuts

Choose Search commands or press Ctrl / ⌘ K, type part of the operation, then use the arrow keys and Enter. Buttons and menus remain available if the browser captures a shortcut.

Tab hides or shows panels when the workspace has focus. On buttons, links and input fields, Tab keeps its normal navigation behavior.

Hold Space and drag to pan temporarily, or press H for the Hand tool. Release Space to return to editing. Ordinary wheel movement scrolls the canvas; hold Alt while using the wheel to zoom around the pointer. Z selects the Zoom tool; Alt-click zooms out.

Enter a percentage in the zoom field for an exact view. Ctrl / ⌘ 0 fits the canvas and Ctrl / ⌘ 1 shows 100%. View changes and tool/layer selection do not consume Undo or discard Redo; a new edit does.

Draw and edit shapes

1. Click Shapes in the left toolbar or press U. Choose a preview, then drag on the canvas. Shift keeps proportions for closed shapes and locks direction for lines and arrows.
2. Insert in center adds a ready-made editable vector. Press V to move it; Shape properties opens its fill, stroke and geometry controls. Use Undo to remove an insertion or completed drag.
3. Select a shape and click a swatch to recolor its fill immediately. Choose Stroke color above the swatches to edit the outline, or Foreground only to choose a drawing color without changing the shape. Lines, arrows and open Pen paths use their stroke. Fill (G) offers Shape fill for editable vectors and Paint bucket for image layers, including opaque images. Each completed recoloring can be undone.
4. For Polygon, click each corner and choose Finish path. For Bezier curve, drag the start handle and then the end handle before finishing. H remains the Hand tool.

Fill a selection and draw with Pen

1. Press M and drag a rectangle on the canvas. The selection remains when you choose Fill (G). Pick a foreground color from the swatches, then choose Fill foreground. Current layer changes the selected raster; New layer keeps the source untouched. A vector or empty layer uses a new pixel layer for selection filling.
2. Alt Backspace fills with the foreground; Ctrl / ⌘ Backspace uses the background. X swaps the colors and D restores black and white. Ctrl / ⌘ D clears the selection. Fill supports source images up to 16 megapixels; each completed fill can be undone.
3. Press P for Pen. Click to add corners, or drag an anchor to create curve handles. Click the first anchor to close a path, or press Enter to finish an open path. Shift P selects Pencil.
4. With Pen active, drag anchors or handles to change the selected path. Alt-drag a handle to adjust it independently. Path properties controls fill and stroke; Make selection converts a closed path into a selection. JSON projects retain editable paths.

Paint, retouch and crop

1. Brush (B) paints the selected pixel layer. With a text or vector layer selected, Brush, Pencil (Shift B) and Gradient (Shift G) add a separate pixel layer. Choose foreground color, opacity, hardness and flow before drawing. Esc cancels a stroke; Undo removes a completed stroke.
2. Selections limit paint and retouching. Use the Selection type dropdown for rectangle, ellipse or lasso; Shift M switches rectangle and ellipse, and L selects lasso. Ctrl / ⌘ D removes the selection.
3. Clone Stamp (S): Alt-click the source, then drag elsewhere to copy it. Set source is the button alternative. Aligned continues the offset across strokes; switch it off to restart from the source each time. Choose the current layer, layer below or all visible layers for sampling.
4. Crop (C): drag the area, choose a ratio if needed, then press Enter or Apply crop. Esc cancels. Crop retains outside pixels and editable layers; Undo restores dimensions and positions. Place image adds a local image as a layer in the current canvas, fitted to its bounds without reducing source resolution.

Copy layers to another canvas

1. Use New or Open to add another canvas tab. Each canvas has independent layers and undo history; up to eight can stay open within the shared pixel budgets.
2. With Move (V), drag an object directly from the canvas onto the destination tab. Release there to center the copy, or hold over the tab until it switches, then continue into the canvas and release at the desired position. The grabbed point stays under the pointer. Dragging a layer name from Layers also works; multi-selected layers keep their spacing. Esc cancels the transfer.
3. For touch or keyboard use, choose Copy to canvas in the Layers controls instead. Select the destination and centered placement or original coordinates.
4. Undo on the destination removes the copied batch. The source stays unchanged. Save each canvas as JSON before reloading: tabs and undo history do not survive a reload.