Keyboard Shortcuts

This page lists every key combination MDEditor intercepts and what the hotKey option affects.

How Combos Are Matched

editorKeydown turns the key event into a string and looks it up: metaKey or ctrlKey both become cmd+, followed by shift+, then event.key in lowercase. macOS Cmd and Windows/Linux Ctrl therefore behave the same.

Formatting Shortcuts (when `hotKey: true`)

Combo	Method
`Cmd/Ctrl+B`	`bold()`
`Cmd/Ctrl+I`	`italic()`
`Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+X`	`strikethrough()`
`Cmd/Ctrl+U`	`underline()`
`Cmd/Ctrl+M`	`marker()`
`Cmd/Ctrl+K`	`code()`
`Cmd/Ctrl+↑`	`sup()`
`Cmd/Ctrl+↓`	`sub()`

A shortcut's event carries the modifier, so these insert HTML tags (such as <b></b>) rather than Markdown markers; see Formatting Methods.

Editing Keys (always active)

Key	Action
`Cmd/Ctrl+Z`	`undo()`
`Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Z`	`redo()`
`Cmd/Ctrl+A`	`selectAll()`, selecting the editor content only
`Cmd/Ctrl+S`	`save()`; see Content and Files
`Tab`	`indent()`: inserts 4 spaces at the caret
`Cmd/Ctrl+]`	`rowIndent()`: inserts 4 spaces at the start of every selected row
`Enter`	`wrap()`: splits the row at the caret
`Backspace`	`backspace()`: deletes the selection or the previous character, or merges with the previous row at a row start
`F5`, `Cmd/Ctrl+R`	Intercepted; the page does not reload

Default Behavior

Every active combo in these tables prevents the browser default (e.g. Cmd+B, or Cmd+S saving the web page)
Keys not in the tables keep the browser default and are handled by contentEditable
Pressing Cmd / Ctrl alone does nothing
F5 and Cmd/Ctrl+R are intercepted only while the editor has focus; to block them page-wide, set preventRefresh: true

Disabling Formatting Shortcuts

new MDEditor({ id: "editor", hotKey: false });

hotKey: false disables only the "Formatting Shortcuts" table; editing keys keep working. Disabled combos are no longer intercepted and fall back to the browser's contentEditable default (for example, Cmd/Ctrl+B may let the browser apply bold to the DOM directly), bypassing NanoMD's undo history.