Keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts help when you move around kanman many times a day. You do not need to learn all of them: ? shows the same list in the app, / opens the commands in the message box, and Keyboard shortcuts in your avatar menu opens the list too.

On Mac, use Cmd instead of Ctrl. The tables below list the default keys of exactly the shortcuts the ? overlay shows, in the same groups. You can change most of them, see Customise shortcuts.

Global

Create

Navigation

For the G sequences, press G, release it, then press the second key within one and a half seconds. The team shortcuts (G then B, R or S) work on the team you are looking at; outside a team, kanman asks you to open one first.

The audit log and the workspace settings are one step away in the message box: press /, type aud or work and press Enter.

Text editing

In text editors, for example when you edit a story description:

In the command list

While the command list above the message box is open:

A few commands only exist in a certain context and show their shortcut next to the command while they are available. See Commands in the message box.

Team page, decisions and runs

The team page, the decision inbox and the run page have no single-key shortcuts. Moving a story to another column is done in your tracker, by dragging the card or with its Move to menu, so a story is never moved to Ready by an accidental key press. Answering a decision and stopping or retrying a run always take a deliberate click or Enter on the focused button.

Customise shortcuts

You can give most shortcuts your own keys. Your keys follow your account to every device you sign in on.

1. Click your avatar in the top bar, choose Your settings and open Keyboard shortcuts (/account/shortcuts). You also get there with Customise shortcuts at the bottom of the ? overlay, or by typing “keyboard” in settings search (Ctrl+,).
2. Next to a shortcut, click Change and press the new keys. Esc cancels.
3. The change is saved right away and works everywhere at once: Saved appears on the row, and Undo in the message at the bottom brings the old keys back. Changed shortcuts carry a Custom label.

You can change Ctrl+P for the commands in the message box, the settings search shortcut, Write to kanman (N), New team, the second key of the G sequences, Plan & billing, and log out.

kanman refuses keys that would not work well, explains why under the row, and lets you press again straight away:

• A combination needs Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) or Alt, so it does not fire while you type. Single keys and the second key of a G sequence are pressed on their own.
• Only letters, digits, punctuation keys and F1 to F12 can be used.
• Keys your browser or system uses (copy, paste, open or close a tab, reload and similar), the keys for text formatting, undo and redo, ?, /, G, J and K are reserved.
• Keys that another shortcut already uses are refused, so two shortcuts never share the same keys.

To go back, click the reset icon on a row to restore that shortcut’s default, or Reset all to defaults to restore every shortcut after a confirmation. Reset all to defaults appears at the top of the page only while at least one shortcut is customised.

A few shortcuts are fixed; Fixed shortcuts at the end of the page folds open to list them: ?, / and Ctrl+K (the commands in the message box), Esc and the keys for text formatting, undo and redo. Commands that only appear in the command list in a certain context keep their keys as well.

The ? overlay and the hints in the command list always show your own keys.

Accessibility

• Every action with a shortcut is also available with the mouse, touch and screen readers.
• Single-key shortcuts such as ?, /, N and G are inactive while you type in a text field.
• If a shortcut conflicts with your assistive technology, give it other keys under Customise shortcuts.

Related pages

• Commands in the message box
• Accessibility