Keyboard Shortcuts

BetterStickies has two types of shortcuts: in-app shortcuts that work while you're using the app, and global shortcuts that work from anywhere on your system. Both are fully customizable.

In-App Shortcuts

These work when BetterStickies is focused.

Text Formatting

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+1	Title. Make text large and bold
Ctrl+2	Subtitle. Make text medium and bold
Ctrl+B	Bold
Ctrl+I	Italic
Ctrl+Shift+X	Strikethrough
Ctrl+Shift+C	Text color. Open color picker
Ctrl+Shift+R	Right-to-left text toggle
Ctrl+\	Clear formatting on selected text

Content

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+K	Insert a link
Ctrl+T	Add a checkbox (todo), does nothing inside a code block
Ctrl+M	Code block, switch to monospace font
Ctrl+R	Set a reminder
Ctrl+Shift+V	Paste as plain text (bypass formatting)

Pages

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+PgDown	Next page in this note
Ctrl+PgUp	Previous page in this note
Ctrl+Shift+N	Add a page to this note

Next and previous wrap around at either end, and do nothing on a note with only one page. See Note Tabs.

Hub

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+N	Create a new note
Ctrl+F	Search notes
Ctrl+Shift+H	Show or hide all notes
Escape	Hide the hub

Other Useful Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Mouse Wheel	Zoom text in/out (8pt–72pt)
Tab	Indent a checkbox (create nested checklist)
Shift+Tab	Outdent a checkbox

Tab and Shift+Tab are part of the checkbox feature, so they follow Toggle Todo, switch that shortcut off and list indenting turns off with it.

Ctrl+Mouse Wheel doesn't resize text on a pinned note, since pinned notes are read-only. Unpin it first.

Global Shortcuts

These work even when BetterStickies is in the background. No need to switch to it first.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Alt+N	Create a new note
Ctrl+Alt+S	Open search
Ctrl+Alt+H	Show or hide all notes
Ctrl+Alt+V	Quick capture clipboard into new note

Platform Notes

Windows: Global shortcuts work out of the box, and you can change them in the app
Linux: You'll need to set up shortcuts in your desktop environment's settings. See Global Shortcuts on Linux for a step-by-step guide, or open Menu > Settings > Global Shortcuts in BetterStickies for a quick start
macOS: Global shortcuts aren't available yet. They're planned for a future release. In-app shortcuts work normally

The global shortcuts dialog

Customizing Shortcuts

You can change any shortcut to a key combination you prefer.

Changing In-App Shortcuts

Open Menu > Settings from the hub
Click Keyboard Shortcuts
Find the shortcut you want to change
Click the key field and press your new combination
Click Save

The in-app shortcuts dialog

Each shortcut has a checkbox, uncheck it to disable that shortcut without removing it.

Use Clear next to any shortcut to remove the key assignment. Use Reset to Defaults to go back to the original shortcuts.

Changing Global Shortcuts

Open Menu > Settings from the hub
Click Global Shortcuts
On Windows: change the key combinations directly. On Linux: use the dialog as a reference and configure the shortcuts in your desktop environment's settings

Changes take effect immediately. No restart needed. (If system-wide shortcuts couldn't start at all this session, the dialog says so: your change is saved and applies next time you open the app.)

Which Keys You Can Use

Global shortcuts accept letters, numbers, F1–F24, Space, Tab, Enter, Escape, Backspace, the arrow keys, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down, Insert, Delete, Pause, and Print Screen: always with Ctrl, Alt, Shift, or the Windows key. A plain N would be captured across your whole system and stop reaching every other app, so it's refused.

Punctuation keys aren't accepted either: which physical key a comma or a slash sits on depends on your keyboard layout, so binding one could capture a key you didn't press.

If a Shortcut Doesn't Work

The Global Shortcuts dialog tells you what went wrong, right next to the shortcut. Both when you save and when you reopen it. The usual messages:

Message	What to do
"already in use by another application"	Pick a different combination, or close the app that owns it
"needs a modifier such as Ctrl, Alt or Shift"	Add one. See the rules above
"this key cannot be used as a global shortcut"	Choose a key from the list above

If you'd rather undo a change that didn't work out, Cancel puts back the shortcuts you had when you opened the dialog.

Also worth knowing:

Holding a shortcut down triggers it once, not over and over
On Linux, global shortcuts need to be configured in your desktop environment's shortcut settings: BetterStickies will show you how
Some key combinations are reserved by your operating system and can't be overridden