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Shortcuts

This help file describes shortcuts that you can use in Igor Pro.

Click on one of the following:

Window Shortcuts​

To close a window

Click the close button or press Ctrl+W.

To kill a window with no dialog

Press Alt and click the close button

or press Ctrl+Alt+W.

To hide a window

Press Shift and click the close button

or press Shift+Ctrl+W.

To invoke the Window Control dialog

Press Ctrl+Y.

To send the top window behind all others

Press Ctrl+E.

To bring the bottom window on top of all others

Press Shift+Ctrl+E.

To send all windows that are completely visible behind all others

Press Ctrl+Alt+E.

To move a window to its preferred size and position

Press Alt and click the maximize button.

To move a window to its full-size position

Press Shift+Alt and click the maximize button.

To activate the command window

Press Ctrl+J.

To clear the command buffer

Press Ctrl+K.

To open the built-in procedure window

Press Ctrl+M.

To cycle through all procedure windows

Press Ctrl+Alt+M.

To open the Igor help browser

Press the F1.

To find a phrase in a text window

Press Ctrl+F.

To find the same phrase again

Press Ctrl+G.

Press Shift+Ctrl+G to search backward.

To find the selected phrase

Press Ctrl+H.

Press Shift+Ctrl+H to search backward.

Command Window Shortcuts​

To view text window keyboard navigation shortcuts

See Text Window Navigation.

To activate the command window

Press Ctrl+J.

To clear the command buffer

Press Ctrl+K.

To get a contextual menu of commonly-used actions

Right-click the history area or command line.

To copy a line from the history to the command buffer

Click on the line and press Enter.

Press Alt and click on the line.

To reexecute a line from the history

Click on the line and press Ctrl+Enter.

Press Ctrl+Alt and click on the line.

To find a recently executed command in the history

Press Up Arrow or Down Arrow.

To find text in the history

Click on the history area and press Ctrl+F.

To find text in the command line

Click in the command line and press Ctrl+F.

To insert a template

Type or select the name of an operation or function, right-click, and choose Insert Template.

To get help for a built-in or external operation or function

Type or select the name of an operation or function, right-click, and choose Help for <name> or choose Help→Help For <name>.

To view the definition of a user-defined function

Type or select the name of a user-defined function, right-click, and choose Go to <name> or choose Edit→Go To <name>.

Procedure Window Shortcuts​

To view text window keyboard navigation shortcuts

See Text Window Navigation.

To show the built-in procedure window

Press Ctrl+M.

To hide the active procedure file and cycle to the next

Press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+M.

To cycle through the open procedure windows

Press Ctrl+Alt+M.

To revisit a previously-viewed location

Press Alt+Left Arrow (Go Back) or Alt+Right Arrow (Go Forward).

To get a contextual menu of commonly-used actions

Right-click the body of the procedure window.

To execute commands in a procedure window

Select the commands or click in the line containing the commands and press Ctrl+Enter.

To insert a template

Type or select the name of an operation or function, right-click, and choose Insert Template.

To get help for a built-in or external operation or function

Type or select the name of an operation or function, right-click, and choose Help for <name>.

To view the definition of a user-defined function

Type or select the name of a user-defined function, right-click, and choose Go to <name> or choose Edit→Go To <name>.

To find a procedure in the active procedure window

Click the Procedures pop-up menu at bottom of the procedure window.

To find a procedure in any procedure window

Press Alt and click on Procedures pop-up menu at bottom of any procedure window.

To find the definition of a procedure when you have selected an invocation of it

Click on the Procedures pop-up menu at bottom of the procedure window.

To find text in the procedure window

Press Ctrl+F.

To find the same text again

Press Ctrl+G.

To find again but in the reverse direction

Press Ctrl+Shift+G.

To find the selected text

Press Ctrl+H.

To find the selected text but in the reverse direction

Press Ctrl+Shift+H.

To find a user-defined menu's procedure

Open any procedure window and press Alt while selecting the user-defined menu item.

To select a word

Double-click.

To select an entire line

Triple-click.

To save all modified standalone procedure files

When a procedure window is active, choose File→Save All Standalone Procedure Files. This saves only standalone procedure files. It does not save the built-in procedure window, packed procedure files, or procedure windows that were just created and never saved to disk; these are saved when you save the experiment.

Graph Shortcuts​

To autoscale a graph

Press Ctrl+A.

To modify the appearance or front-to-back drawing order of a trace

Right-click the trace to get a contextual menu.

Press Shift while right-clicking to modify all traces.

Double-click the trace to summon a dialog.

To modify the appearance of an axis, axis labels, grid lines, tick marks

Right-click the axis.

Press Shift and right-click to modify all axes.

Double-click an axis to summon a dialog.

To modify the appearance of a contour plot

Right-click and choose Modify Contour from the contextual menu or press Shift and double-click the contour plot. See also Contour Plots.

To modify the appearance of a image plot

Right-click and choose Modify Image from the contextual menu. See also Image Plots.

To set background colors

Press Ctrl and click on the graph body, away from any traces.

To set the range of an axis

Double-click tick mark labels to summon a dialog.

To pan the graph

Press Alt and drag the body of the graph.

Press Shift also to constrain the direction of panning.

To offset a trace

Click and hold the trace for about a second, then drag. You can avoid inadvertently triggering this feature by pressing Caps Lock before clicking a trace.

To adjust the position of an axis or axis label

Click and drag the axis or label.

To change a graph margin

Press Alt and click on the axisand drag. Drag beyond edge of graph to return to default position.

Press Alt and double-click an axis or just double-click outside of the graph body and axes to summon a dialog.

To change an axis label

Double-click the label to summon a dialog.

To change an annotation

Double-click the annotation to summon a dialog.

To connect a tag to a different point

Press Alt and drag the tag to the new point.

Don't drag the arrow or line; drag the tag body.

Drag it off the graph window to remove it.

To attach a cursor to a particular trace

Drag the cursor from the info panel to the trace or click on the cursor name in the info panel and select a trace name from the pop-up menu.

To get information about a particular trace

Press Ctrl+Alt+I to turn on Trace Info tags.

To show or hide a graph's tool palette

Press Ctrl+T.

To move or resize a user-defined control without using the tool palette

Press Ctrl+Alt and click the control. With Ctrl+Alt still pressed, drag or resize it.

See also Controls and Control Panels.

To modify a user-defined control

Press Ctrl+Alt and double-click the control. This displays a dialog that you use to modify all aspects of the control. If the control is already selected, you don't need to press Ctrl+Alt.

To edit a user-defined control's action procedure

With the graph in modify mode (tools showing, second icon from the top selected) press Alt and double-click the control. This displays the procedure window containing the action procedure or beeps if there is no action procedure.

To nudge a user-defined control's position

Select the control and press arrow keys.

Press Shift to nudge faster.

Contour Plot Shortcuts​

To modify the appearance of the contour plot as a whole

Right-click and choose Modify Contour from the pop-up menu or press Shift and double-click the plot area of the graph, away from any labels or traces. This brings up the Modify Contour Appearance dialog.

To modify a contour label

Press Shift and double-click the plot area, and click Label Tweaks in the Modify Contour Appearance dialog.

Don't double-click the label to use the Modify Annotation dialog unless you intend to maintain the label yourself. See Overriding the Contour Labels.

To remove a contour label

Press Alt, click on the label, and drag it completely off the graph.

To move a contour label to another contour trace

Press Alt, click on the label and drag it to another contour trace.

To duplicate a contour label

Double-click any label, click the Duplicate button, and click Do It.

To modify the appearance or front-to-back drawing order of a contour trace

Right-click the trace to get a contextual menu.

Press Shift while right-clicking to modify all traces.

Double-click the trace to summon the Modify Trace Appearance dialog.

Also see Overriding the Color of Contour Traces and Drawing Order of Contour Traces.

Data Browser Shortcuts​

To set the current data folder

Right-click the desired data folder and choose Set Current Data Folder.

To reveal the current data folder in the main list

Click the arrow button at the right end of the Current Data Folder readout.

To display a graph, image or 3D plot of a wave

Right-click and select an option from the pop-up menu.

To select contiguous objects

Click the first object and Shift-click the last object.

To select discontiguous objects

Ctrl-click the objects to be selected.

To move objects from one data folder to another

Select the objects and drag them onto the destination data folder.

To copy an object from one data folder to another

Drag the object while pressing Alt.

To duplicate an object

Select the object and press Ctrl+D.

To rename an object

Click the object's name and type a new name. To finish, press Return or Enter, or click outside the name.

To edit the properties of the selected object

Click the Edit Object Properties icon in the top/right corner of the info pane.

To view a wave in a table

Double-click the wave's icon.

To append a wave to an existing graph or table

Drag the wave's icon to the graph or table window.

To delete an object without the confirmation dialog

Press Alt while clicking the Delete button.

To find objects in the browser list

Select Find from the Edit menu, or press Ctrl+F.

To find the same thing again

Select Find Same from the Edit menu, or press Ctrl+G.

To execute a command on a set of waves

Select the icon for each wave that the command is to act on and click the Execute Cmd button.

To execute a command on a set of waves without going through the Execute Cmd dialog

Select the icon for each wave that the command is to act on, press Alt, and click the Execute Cmd button. This re-executes the command previously entered in the Execute Cmd dialog.

To see statistics for a selected wave

Click the sigma icon in the info pane.

To change styles used in the plot pane

Right-click in the plot pane and select an option from the pop-up menu.

To start or stop the animation in the plot pane

Click the Start or Stop button in the plot pane.

To navigate between displayed layers or chunks

Stop the animation in the plot pane and use the up and down cursor keys to change the displayed layer and the right and left cursor keys to change the displayed chunk.

To browse a folder containing unpacked Igor data such as waves

Press Option while clicking the Browse Expt button.

To save a copy of selected data in unpacked format

Press Alt while clicking the Save Copy button.

Table Shortcuts​

To view table keyboard navigation shortcuts

See Table Keyboard Navigation.

To add columns for existing waves

Select Append to Table from the Table menu.

To create new numeric waves

Click on the first unused column and enter a number or paste numeric data from the Clipboard.

Copy all or part of an existing numeric wave and paste in the first unused column.

To create new text waves

Click on the first unused column and enter nonnumeric text or paste text data from the Clipboard.

Copy all or part of an existing text wave and paste in the first unused column.

To kill one or more waves

Select the waves in the table and choose Kill Waves from the Table pop-up menu.

To rename a wave

Select one or more cells from the wave and choose Rename from the Table pop-up menu.

To redimension a wave

Select one or more cells from the wave and choose Redimension from the Table pop-up menu.

To add cells to a column

Click on a row and select Insert Points from the Table pop-up menu.

Press Ctrl+Shift+V. This does an insert-paste.

Click on the insertion cell at the end of the column and enter a value or paste.

To remove cells from a column

Select the cells to be removed and choose Delete Points from the Table pop-up menu.

Press Ctrl+X (Cut).

To identify a particular column

Press Shift-F1 to summon context-sensitive help and then click on the column.

To modify column styles

Double-click on a column title (goes to Modify Columns dialog).

Select one or more columns and click on the Table pop-up menu.

Right-click the column title.

To modify the style of all columns at once

Press Shift while using the Table pop-up menu.

Press Alt+Shift to modify all but the Point column.

To modify the style of a subset of the data columns of multidimensional wave

Select the columns to modify, press Ctrl, then click the Table menu or the Table pop-up menu, then make a selection.

To select entire rows

Drag in the point number column.

To select entire columns

Drag on the column titles.

To select all of the columns of a given wave

Press Ctrl and click the column title of a data column from the wave. This selects all data columns from the wave.

Press Ctrl and click the column title of an index or label column from a wave to select that column plus all data columns.

To change a wave's position

Press Alt and drag the column title to the new position.

To adjust the width of a column

Drag the border at the right of the column title.

Press Shift to resize all columns except the point column.

Press Ctrl while clicking to set the width of a single data column of a multidimensional wave.

To bring the target cell into view

Click on the cell ID in the top left corner of the table.

Image Plot Shortcuts​

To modify the appearance of the image plot as a whole

Right-click and choose Modify Image from the contextual menu. This brings up the Modify Image Appearance dialog.

Layout Shortcuts​

To change the layout's magnification

Click the magnification readout in the lower left-hand corner of the layout window.

To modify layout object properties

Select the arrow tool in Layout mode and double-click the object.

To edit an existing annotation

Select the annotation tool in the Layout mode and click on the annotation.

To bring up a graph or table window

Select the corresponding object in the layout layer and then double-click the name of the object in the info panel.

To auto-size a picture or annotation object to 100%

Select the arrow tool in Layout mode, press Alt and double-click the picture or annotation object.

To auto-size a table object to an integral number of rows and columns

Select the arrow tool in Layout mode, press Alt and double-click the table object.

To constrain the direction of resizing or dragging a layout object

Press Shift while resizing or dragging the object. You must press Shift after clicking the object - otherwise the Shift-click will deselect it.

To copy, cut or clear multiple layout objects

Use the arrow tool or marquee tool to select the objects, then choose copy, cut or clear from the Edit menu.

To export a subset of the layout via the Clipboard

Using the marquee tool, select an area of the page and then choose Export Graphics from the Edit menu.

To export a subset of the layout via the a graphics file

Using the marquee tool, select an area of the page and then choose Save Graphics from the File menu.

For drawing tool shortcuts

See the Drawing help file.

Notebook Shortcuts​

To view text window keyboard navigation shortcuts

See Text Window Navigation.

To revisit a previously-viewed location

Press Alt+Left Arrow (Go Back) or Alt+Right Arrow (Go Forward).

To get a contextual menu of commonly-used actions

Right-click the body of the notebook window.

To execute commands in a notebook window

Select the commands or click in the line containing the commands and press Ctrl+Enter.

To display the Find bar

Press Ctrl+F.

To find the same text again

Press Ctrl+G.

To find again but in the reverse direction

Press Ctrl+Shift+G.

To find the selected text

Press Ctrl+H.

To find the selected text but in the reverse direction

Press Ctrl+Shift+H.

To select a word

Double-click.

To select an entire line

Triple-click.

To change a named ruler without using the Redefine Ruler dialog

Press Ctrl while adjusting the icons in the ruler.

To find the next occurrence of a ruler

Press Alt while selecting a ruler from the pop-up menu.

To find the previous occurrence of a ruler

Press Shift+Alt while selecting a ruler from the pop-up menu.

To get miscellaneous information on notebook

Click the document icon in the bottom-left corner of the window.

To generate Notebook commands that will recreate the selected text

Press Alt and select Copy from the Edit menu. This puts the commands in the Clipboard for text and text formats.

Press Alt+Shift while copying to also generate document and ruler commands.

To nudge a picture by one point up or down

Select the picture and press Alt+Up Arrow or Alt+Down Arrow.

To save all modified standalone notebook files

When a notebook window is active, choose File→Save All Standalone Notebook Files. This saves only standalone notebook files. It does not save packed notebook files, or notebook windows that were just created and never saved to disk; these are saved when you save the experiment.

Control Panel Shortcuts​

To show or hide a panel's or graph's tool palette

Press Ctrl+T.

To move or resize a user-defined control without using the tool palette

Press Ctrl+Alt and click the control. With Ctrl+Alt still pressed, drag or resize it.

To add a user-defined control without using the tool palette

Press Ctrl+Alt and choose from the Panel or Graph menu's Add Control submenu.

To modify a user-defined control

Press Ctrl+Alt and double-click the control.

This displays a dialog which allows you to modify all aspects of the control. If the control is already selected, you don't need to press Ctrl+Alt.

To edit a user-defined control's action procedure

With the panel in modify mode (tools showing, second icon from the top selected) right-click the control. This displays a contextual menu with a "Go to <action procedure>" item.

To create an embedded graph or table in the panel

With the panel in modify mode, right-click the panel background. Choose the subwindow type from the resulting contextual menu's "New" submenu.

To edit a user-defined control's action procedure

With the panel in modify mode (tools showing, second icon from the top selected) press Alt and double-click the control. This displays the procedure window containing the action procedure or beeps if there is no action procedure.

To change an embedded window's border style

With the panel in modify mode, right-click the embedded window. Choose the border style from the resulting contextual menu's "Frame" and "Style" submenus.

To remove an embedded window

With the panel in modify mode, right-click the embedded window. Choose the Delete from the resulting contextual menu.

To eliminate a control area at the edge of a graph

In modify mode or while pressing Ctrl+Alt, click the inside edge of the control area and drag it to the outside edge of the graph.

To nudge a user-defined control's position

Select the control and press arrow keys.

Press Shift to nudge faster.

Drawing Shortcuts​

To temporarily invoke the Arrow tool while in Operate mode

Press Ctrl+Alt.

You can now select an object and move or resize it. This shortcut works even if the tool palette is not showing.

To invoke the dialog to modify a control or drawing object while in Operate mode

Press Ctrl+Alt and double-click the control or drawing object.

This shortcut works even if the tool palette is not showing. Also, if the palette is showing, the Drawing mode's Arrow tool becomes selected after the dialog is dismissed.

To nudge a selected drawing object or control

Use the arrow keys. Press Shift to nudge faster.

To constrain a resize to horizontal, vertical or diagonal

Press Shift while resizing the object. Igor chooses the direction of the resize based on the position of the cursor.

To constrain a resize to horizontal or vertical only

Press Alt while resizing the object. Igor chooses the direction of the resize based on the position of the cursor.

Dialog Shortcuts​

To cancel out of a dialog that has a Cancel button

Press Escape.

To active an OK or Do It button

Press Enter. In some dialogs, Enter does not work because it is used to enter multiline text.

To answer Yes or No to a dialog

Press the Y or N key.

Help Shortcuts​

To activate the Igor help browser

Press F1.

Choose Help→Igor Help Browser.

Click the Help icon in the lower-right corner of the command window.

To get a contextual menu of commonly-used actions

Right-click the body of an Igor help window.

To jump to a topic in an Igor help window

Click a blue underlined topic link in the help window.

To execute commands in an Igor help window

Select the commands and press Ctrl+Enter.

To kill an Igor help window

Press Alt and click the close button.

To insert a function or operation template in a procedure window or in the command line

Type or select the name of an Igor operation or function, right-click, and choose Insert Template.

To get help for a function or operation from a procedure, notebook or help window or from the command line

Type or select the name of an Igor operation or function, right-click, and choose Help For <name>.

To revisit a previously-viewed location

Press Alt+Left Arrow (Go Back) or Alt+Right Arrow (Go Forward).

Debugger Shortcuts​

To enable the debugger

Choose Enable Debugger from the Procedure menu.

Right-click in a procedure window and choose Enable Debugger from the contextual menu

To automatically enter the debugger when an error occurs

Choose Debug on Error from the Procedure menu.

Right-click in a procedure window and choose Enable Debugger from the contextual menu

To set or clear a breakpoint

Click in the left margin of the procedure window.

Click anywhere on the procedure window line where you want to set or clear the breakpoint, right-click, and choose Set Breakpoint or Clear Breakpoint from the contextual menu.

To enable or disable a breakpoint

Shift-click a breakpoint in the left margin of the procedure window.

Click anywhere on the procedure window line where you want to enable or disable the breakpoint, right-click, and choose Enable Breakpoint or Disable Breakpoint from the contextual menu.

To execute the next command

Press Enter, keypad Enter, or Return.

If no button has the focus, press Enter or Return. Otherwise, click the yellow arrow button.

To step into a subroutine

Press the +, =, or keypad + keys, or click the blue descending arrow button.

To step out of a subroutine to the calling routine

Press the -, _ (underscore) or keypad - keys, or click the blue ascending arrow button.

To resume executing normally

Press Escape (Esc), or click the green arrow button.

To cancel execution

Click the red stop sign button.

To edit the value of a macro or function variable

Double-click the second column of the variables list, edit the value, and press Return or Enter.

To set the value of a function's string to null

Double-click the second column of the variables list, type "<null>" (without the quotes), and press Return or Enter.

To view the current value of a macro or function variable

Move the cursor to the procedure text of the variable name and wait. The value appears in a tooltip window.

To view the current value of an expression

Select the expression text with the cursor, position the cursor over the selection, and wait.

(Expressions involving user-defined functions will not be evaluated unless V_debugDangerously is set to 1.)

To view global values in the current data folder

Choose "local and global variables" from the debugger pop-up menu.

To view type information about variables

Choose "show variable types" from the debugger pop-up menu.

To resize the columns in the variables list

Drag a divider in the list to the left or right.

To show or hide the Waves, Structs, and Expressions pane

Drag the divider on the right side of the Variables list left or right.