# Keyboard shortcuts on Linux **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [June 5, 2018, 2:01pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846 "2018-06-05T14:01:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ondras](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/ondras/32/686_2.png) [@ondras](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/ondras)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 2:01pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/1 "2018-06-05T14:01:02Z")
Hi, I am having troubles using keyboard shortcuts (prev/next cell, move cell up/down) on Linux (Xubuntu, Firefox and Chrome). I have tried literally all combinations of ctrl/alt/shift/win(cmd)/up/down and nothing happens. I have currently no means of reordering cells in my notebooks. Thanks, Ondrej ---
**Author:** ![andreasplesch](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/andreasplesch/32/676_2.png) [@andreasplesch](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/andreasplesch)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/2 "2018-06-05T15:13:19Z")
also see > [@List of keyboard shortcuts?](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/list-of-keyboard-shortcuts/89/14): > > ‘Alt’-‘Super’-Up/Down is taken by KDE (on linux) to switch windows, by default. So any other way to rearrange cells would be great. (Perhaps there is one, I just got started). The perhaps the most natural gesture would be just dragging cells up and down in the editor, perhaps by dragging the ‘#’ link symbol. Perhaps your window manager intercepts ? Since it is impossible to support all distros, dragging cells would be a platform independent solution. ---
**Author:** ![andreasplesch](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/andreasplesch/32/676_2.png) [@andreasplesch](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/andreasplesch)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/3 "2018-06-05T15:30:27Z")
In KDE, you can disable just for Chrome all window manager keyboard shortcuts in: - More Actions … Special Application Settings - Appearance and Fixes tab - Ignore global shortcuts = Force: yes It works for me to get the Observable Alt-Window-arrows keys to work for rearraging cells. There may be a similar settings for your window manager. ---
**Author:** ![ondras](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/ondras/32/686_2.png) [@ondras](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/ondras)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 4:02pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/4 "2018-06-05T16:02:41Z")
So, some more updates: 1. my Linux WM (xfwm) does not seem to be intercepting those, as literally nothing happens when I hit them (w.r.t. window manager) 2. I also tried at Windows 10 (non-customized vanilla install). Observed windows behavior: - In Firefox, there is no way to navigate (alt+shift+up/down) and no way to swap (alt+win+up/down); - In Chrome, alt+shift+up/down also does nothing. Swapping works! To sum things up: the one and only keyboard shortcut that I managed to get working is alt+win+up/down AND windows AND chrome. All other combinations are doing nothing interesting. ---
**Author:** ![magjac](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/magjac/32/525_2.png) [@magjac](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/magjac)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/5 "2018-06-05T16:43:43Z")
That’s the only one that works for me too. Only in Chrome, not in Firefox. Same result on Ubuntu 16.04 Unity and Windows 7. Haven’t tried Gnome or KDE. ---
**Author:** ![andreasplesch](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/andreasplesch/32/676_2.png) [@andreasplesch](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/andreasplesch)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 5:54pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/6 "2018-06-05T17:54:30Z")
It only works on KDE Chrome with disabled wm shortcuts for me. Firefox does not work for me as well. ---
**Author:** ![tom](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/tom/32/2262_2.png) [@tom](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/tom)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/7 "2018-06-05T18:00:08Z")
The current keybindings for non-Mac systems are (verbatim from the code that implements them): - Alt-Shift-Down: move focus down - Alt-Shift-Up: move focus up - Cmd-Alt-Up: move cell up - Cmd-Alt-Down: move cell down - Shift-Enter: run cell - Alt-Enter: split cell - Shift-Alt-Enter: split cell - Alt-Backspace: merge - Ctrl-Alt-D: merge - Shift-Ctrl-P: toggle pin - Ctrl-Alt-Tab: insert tab Might want to try [this keyboard debugger](https://codepen.io/QDeltaE/pen/PjXWZr) to see if the keystrokes you’re typing are getting through to the browser. I’m planning on implementing UI for shortcut-only commands, because, as we’ve found is that every key combination is going to break on some particular platform. ---
**Author:** ![andreasplesch](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/andreasplesch/32/676_2.png) [@andreasplesch](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/andreasplesch)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 6:35pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/8 "2018-06-05T18:35:39Z")
After turning off global wm shortcuts, on linux FF 52.7.3 the Cmd (keycode 91)-Alt (18) - Up (38)/Down(40) keys get logged by the keyboard debugger but still do not work in the editor. Chrome 66.0.3359.139, however, works. ---
**Author:** ![ondras](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/ondras/32/686_2.png) [@ondras](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/ondras)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2018, 5:59am UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/9 "2018-06-06T05:59:10Z")
Hi Tom, thanks for the debugger link! This is a really useful tool. Some observations on Linux/XFCE: - Firefox: alt+shift generates Key: “GroupNext”, KeyCode: 18; - Chrome: alt+shift generates Key: “GroupNext”, KeyCode: 0; - Firefox: alt+win generates Key: “OS”, KeyCoode: 91; - Chrome: alt+win generates Key: “Meta”, KeyCode: 91. ---
**Author:** ![magjac](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/magjac/32/525_2.png) [@magjac](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/magjac)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2018, 10:09am UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/10 "2018-06-07T10:09:40Z")
Another difference between [keyboard shortcuts for Windows/Linux and Mac](https://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_keyboardshortcuts.asp) where Observable seems to hard-code the Mac version is: | Description | Windows | Mac OS | | --- | --- | --- | | Redo text | Ctrl + Y | Shift + Cmd + Z | ---
**Author:** ![tom](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/tom/32/2262_2.png) [@tom](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/tom)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 10:24pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/11 "2018-06-12T22:24:12Z")
Update: cells now have up & down buttons ![21%20PM](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/observablehq/original/1X/b3d099b6a828a0fb6c869b75d57d6f2ee49bd29a.png) Someday soon we’ll make them draggable to make re-arranging simpler, and possibly someday there’s some sort of peace between browsers, OSes, and keyboards to make keybindings work everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![jrus](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/jrus/32/586_2.png) [@jrus](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/jrus)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 11:23pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/12 "2018-06-12T23:23:08Z")
Great work guys. > possibly someday there’s some sort of peace between browsers, OSes, and keyboards to make keybindings work everywhere Don’t hold your breath for this one … ---
**Author:** ![ondras](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/ondras/32/686_2.png) [@ondras](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/ondras)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 6:04am UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/13 "2018-06-13T06:04:53Z")
Great, Tom, thanks a lot! ---
**Author:** ![Evan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/evan/32/276_2.png) [@Evan](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/Evan)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 12:41pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/14 "2018-06-13T12:41:30Z")
This is great. Much appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Job](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/job/32/1185_2.png) [@Job](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/Job)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 11:06am UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/16 "2018-12-08T11:06:21Z")
I noticed that “split cell” isn’t mentioned in the hovertext, maybe a nice addition? ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/observablehq/original/2X/e/ec4dbc3df6f45ecd9944e3e2e7fca95c12bc1946.png) ---
**Author:** ![cornhundred](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/cornhundred/32/1705_2.png) [@cornhundred](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/cornhundred)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/17 "2020-04-08T17:21:05Z")
I’m on Chrome and MacOS and redo (Ctrl+Y) is opening up my history instead of redoing. Is there a way to get it to redo? ---
**Author:** ![j-f1](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/j-f1/32/368_2.png) [@j-f1](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/j-f1)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 6:16pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/keyboard-shortcuts-on-linux/846/18 "2020-04-08T18:16:59Z")
Shift+Cmd+Z