Keyboard shortcuts

BIMopen has two kinds of shortcuts: keys, such as Ctrl+Z, which act at once, and typed shortcuts, such as WA, which you type letter by letter. At the command line a typed shortcut waits for Enter, like any command; typed over the drawing area, it acts as soon as it is complete when nothing longer begins with its letters (see below). Typed shortcuts are the same in every language.

On macOS, Cmd takes the place of Ctrl.

Keys

Key	What it does
`Ctrl`+`Z`	Undoes the last change
`Ctrl`+`Y` or `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Z`	Redoes the change just undone
`Ctrl`+`S`	Saves the project; a project never saved asks for a file name
`Ctrl`+`P`	Opens Print
`Ctrl`+`A`	Selects the elements of the open plan's level, or of the whole model in a 3D view
`Del`	Deletes the selected elements, and the elements they host
`Home`	Fits the whole view in its window
`F1`	Opens the page of this manual about the open dialog, the ribbon button under the mouse or the active tool
`Esc`	Cancels the step in progress; pressed again, ends the tool; with no tool, clears the selection
`Enter`	Runs the line typed at the command line; confirms a value in the Properties palette
`Up` / `Down`	At the command line, the lines typed before
`Space`	While drawing walls, swaps the exterior and interior side; while placing a component or a detail component, rotates it
`Shift`	While drawing, keeps segments horizontal or vertical (or frees them, when Ortho is on); with a click or a window, takes elements out of the selection; while dragging, frees a joined wall or keeps the move horizontal or vertical
`Ctrl` + click	Adds an element to the selection; held when a drag starts, places a copy
`Tab` / `Shift`+`Tab`	Highlights the next (previous) element under the cursor, or a chain of joined walls and lines
`Ctrl`+`Left`	Selects again what was selected before
`Left` `Right` `Up` `Down`	Move the selection a small step; with `Shift`, ten steps

Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Y, Ctrl+A, Del and Home act on the model only while you are not typing in a field: in a field they act on the text.

In a floor, roof, stair or railing sketch, Esc (or a double-click) also finishes the sketch when it has enough points.

In the Text Note dialog, Ctrl+Enter inserts the note and Esc cancels it.

Alt pressed and released, or F10, shows the ribbon's key tips. With no tool active and nothing typed, Enter repeats the last tool. After a click in the Project Browser, the arrow keys and Enter move in its tree.

Mouse

	In plans and sections	In 3D views
Wheel	Zoom at the cursor	Zoom
Middle button, drag	Pan	Pan; with `Shift`, orbit
Left button, drag	Selection window (left to right: inside; right to left: touching), or moves the selected elements	The same
Right button	Context menu; with a tool active, the tool's menu (Cancel, Snap Overrides ▸…)	The same; dragging, orbit
Double-click	Finishes a sketch	–

Typed shortcuts

Type the letters while no field is being edited, then press Enter. Without arguments, a shortcut starts the tool or opens the dialog; with arguments, it runs the command at once (see Command line and MCP).

With the cursor in the drawing area, the letters go to the command line (in the BIMopen style, to the search), and a shortcut acts as soon as it is typed, with no Enter, when no longer shortcut or command name begins with its letters: VR (view range), WT (tile), ZE, ZF, ZA, ZP, ZR, ZO, ZS, HR, HH, HC, IC, DL (detail line), RT (room tag), TG (tag by category), TX, CC (copy), MV, RM, LL (level), RC (revision cloud), PP (shows or hides Properties), PT, RP, and the shortcuts you added. The others begin longer names and wait for the next letter, a space (arguments follow) or Enter: VG (vgsub…), HI (hide), DI (dim), AL (align), WA (wall), DR (draworder), UN (undo), MA (mask); so dim, wall 0,0 5,0 or WA 0,0 5,0 typed over the view run as typed. MA, PT and RP say in the status bar that they are not available yet. Typed in the command line itself, a line waits for Enter.

While a tool waits for a point in a plan or a drafting view, SE (ends), SM (middles), SI (intersections), SN (nearest) and SO (off) override the snaps for that point only (also chosen in the right button's Snap Overrides ▸; SE, SI and SO with Enter, as longer names begin with them); the status bar says so, and Esc or the point taken ends it. In a section or a 3D view, whose points are not snapped that way, they are refused with a message. In a sketch they work in every view, and SC (an arc's centre) and SP (the perpendicular from the point drawn from) too.

Modelling

Shortcut	Command	Starts
`WA` or `W`	`wall`	Wall
`DR`	`door`	Door
`WN`	`window`	Window
`SB`	`floor`	Floor (the Flooring button)
`RF`	`roof`	Roof
`CM`	`component`	Component
`ST`	`stair`	Stairs
`RA`	`railing`	Railing
`CG`	`curtaingrid`	Curtain grid
`MU`	`mullion`	Mullion
`CP`	`curtainpanel`	Curtain wall panel
`GR`	`grid`	Grid
`RM`	`room`	Room
`RS`	`roomsep`	Room separation
`PA`	`areaplan`	The Area Plan dialog
`CA`	`areaboundary`	Area boundary line
–	`area`	Area
`LG`	`legend`	Color fill legend
`SC`	`colorscheme`	The Color Schemes dialog

Modifying

Shortcut	Command	Starts
`MV` or `M`	`move`	Move
`CO`	`copy`	Copy
`RO`	`rotate`	Rotate
`MM`	`mirror`	Mirror - Pick Axis
`DM`	`mirror`	Mirror - Draw Axis
`AR`	`array`	Array
`OF`	`offset`	Offset
`AL`	`align`	Align
`TR`	`trim`	Trim/Extend to Corner
`SL`	`split`	Split Element
`SG`	`split`	Split with Gap
`RE`	`resize`	Scale
`PN`	`pin`	Pins the selection
`UP`	`unpin`	Unpins the selection
`SA`	`selectinstances`	Selects all instances of the selection's types visible in the view
`DEL`	`delete`	Deletes the selection
`U`	`undo`	Undoes the last change

Annotating and detailing

Shortcut	Command	Starts
`DI`	`dim`	Aligned dimension
`DL`	`lineardim`	Linear dimension
`DA`	`angulardim`	Angular dimension
`TX`	`text`	Text
`TG`	`tag`	Tags the untagged doors and windows of the level
–	`detailline`	Detail line
`RG`	`region`	Filled region
–	`mask`	Masking region
`CD`	`detailcomponent`	Detail component
`RD`	`repeatingdetail`	Repeating detail
`IS`	`insulation`	Insulation

Note

Typed alone, DL starts the detail line, as in Revit; followed by points at the command line, it draws a linear dimension (lineardim).

Views and settings

Shortcut	Command	Starts or opens
`SE`	`section`	Section
`EL`	`elevation`	Elevation
`DT`	`callout`	Callout (the Detail button)
`DS`	`splitsegment`	Split Segment of a section
`VD`	`draftingview`	The Drafting view dialog
`PP`	`floorplan`	The Floor Plan dialog
`DV`	`duplicateview`	Duplicates the active view
`VG` or `VV`	`vg`	Visibility/Graphics
`WF`, `HL`, `SD`	–	Wireframe, Hidden Line, Shaded: the visual style of the active view
`HH`, `HI`	–	Hide Element, Isolate Element for now
`HC`, `IC`	–	Hide Category, Isolate Category for now
`HR`	–	Reset Temporary Hide/Isolate
`EH`, `VH`	–	Hide in view: the selected elements, their category
`RH`	–	Reveal Hidden Elements, on and off
`TL`	`thinlines`	Thin lines, on and off
`SO`	`objectstyle`	Object styles
`MA`	`material`	Materials
`UN`	`units`	Project units
`PU`	`purge`	Purge unused
–	`filter`	Filters
–	`viewtemplate`	View templates
–	`applytemplate`	Apply a view template to the active view
–	`linestyle`	Line styles
–	`fillpattern`	Fill patterns
–	`saveview3d`	Saves the {3D} view with a name
–	`renameview`	Renames the active view

The commands with – have no short form, but their whole name works the same way. help lists every command and its short forms.

The zoom commands have typed shortcuts too: ZR zoom in region, ZO zoom out (2x), ZF zoom to fit, ZA zoom all to fit, ZS zoom sheet size, ZP previous pan/zoom. View ▸ Windows ▸ User Interface ▸ Keyboard Shortcuts gives any command shortcuts of your own (The interface).