Obsidian Keyboard Shortcuts: The Defaults to Learn First and the Hotkeys Worth Setting
Obsidian keyboard shortcuts for Mac and Windows, organized into Basics, Intermediate and Advanced — plus the useful commands that ship without a hotkey and how to assign one.
Why learn Obsidian shortcuts
Obsidian is built around linking notes together. When opening, finding and linking notes all happen from the keyboard, you can keep writing without breaking your train of thought.
Obsidian has two kinds of shortcuts: the ones that work out of the box, and hotkeys you assign yourself. This guide covers the defaults in three levels — Basics, Intermediate and Advanced — then lists the commands worth giving a hotkey.
On Windows and Linux, read Cmd as Ctrl.
The five to learn first
- Cmd + O — Quick switcher: open any note by name
- Cmd + P — Command palette: search and run any command
- Cmd + N — Create a new note
- Cmd + E — Toggle between editing and reading view
- [[ — Start a link to another note
If you only remember one, make it Cmd + P. Any command you forget the shortcut for can be found by name in the command palette.
Basics: open, create, search
| Action | Mac | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Quick switcher | Cmd + O | Ctrl + O |
| Command palette | Cmd + P | Ctrl + P |
| New note | Cmd + N | Ctrl + N |
| Search all notes | Cmd + Shift + F | Ctrl + Shift + F |
| Find in current note | Cmd + F | Ctrl + F |
| Toggle editing / reading view | Cmd + E | Ctrl + E |
| Open settings | Cmd + , | Ctrl + , |
Basics: writing
| Action | Mac | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Bold | Cmd + B | Ctrl + B |
| Italic | Cmd + I | Ctrl + I |
| Insert link | Cmd + K | Ctrl + K |
| Toggle checkbox | Cmd + Enter | Ctrl + Enter |
| Undo | Cmd + Z | Ctrl + Z |
| Redo | Cmd + Shift + Z | Ctrl + Shift + Z |
Intermediate: links and Markdown
What makes Obsidian feel like Obsidian is how you connect notes. These work just by typing them.
| Type | Result |
|---|---|
| [[Note name]] | Link to another note |
| [[Note name#Heading]] | Link to a heading inside a note |
| ![[Note name]] | Embed another note's content |
| #tag | Add a tag |
| - [ ] | Checkbox |
| ==text== | Highlight |
| %%text%% | Comment hidden in reading view |
Intermediate: tabs and navigation
| Action | Mac | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| New tab | Cmd + T | Ctrl + T |
| Close tab | Cmd + W | Ctrl + W |
| Reopen closed tab | Cmd + Shift + T | Ctrl + Shift + T |
| Navigate back | Cmd + Option + ← | Ctrl + Alt + ← |
| Navigate forward | Cmd + Option + → | Ctrl + Alt + → |
| Open link in new tab | Cmd + click | Ctrl + click |
| Open graph view | Cmd + G | Ctrl + G |
Advanced: text editing
| Action | Mac | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Delete line | Cmd + Shift + K | Ctrl + Shift + K |
| Paste without formatting | Cmd + Shift + V | Ctrl + Shift + V |
| Indent | Cmd + ] | Ctrl + ] |
| Unindent | Cmd + [ | Ctrl + [ |
| Move by word | Option + ← / → | Ctrl + ← / → |
| Jump to start / end of note | Cmd + ↑ / ↓ | Ctrl + Home / End |
| Select to start / end of line | Cmd + Shift + ← / → | Shift + Home / End |
| Toggle comment | Cmd + / | Ctrl + / |
Hotkeys worth setting yourself
These commands usually have no shortcut out of the box. If you use them often, open Settings → Hotkeys, search for the command and assign a key.
- Open today's daily note — a must if you journal every day
- Insert template — pull in your meeting-notes or daily-log template
- Move line up / down — reorder bullet points instantly
- Toggle left / right sidebar — reclaim screen space
- Open local graph — see only the current note's connections
Combinations like Cmd + Shift + letter are less likely to clash with other apps. The same Hotkeys screen shows which keys are already taken.
Using Vim keybindings
Turn on Vim key bindings under Settings → Editor to edit notes with Vim motions (dd to delete a line, yy to copy it, and so on). Our Vim cheat sheet covers the essentials.
How to make them stick
Obsidian has a lot of commands, so learn them in the order of your daily routine: open your daily note (hotkey), link ideas as you write ([[), and pull up older notes (Cmd + O). Getting just those three into muscle memory changes how Obsidian feels.
For why recalling beats rereading a cheat sheet, see How to memorize keyboard shortcuts.