{"id":3766,"date":"2015-01-07T19:15:06","date_gmt":"2015-01-08T03:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.plm.automation.siemens.com\/t5\/Solid-Edge-Blog\/Keyboard-shortcuts-in-the-Solid-Edge-Interface\/ba-p\/287445"},"modified":"2026-03-26T07:25:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T11:25:04","slug":"keyboard-shortcuts-in-the-solid-edge-interface","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/keyboard-shortcuts-in-the-solid-edge-interface\/","title":{"rendered":"Keyboard shortcuts in the Solid Edge Interface"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><P>Keyboard shortcuts in the Solid Edge interface are a great way for experienced users to speed up getting through common tasks. When you\u2019re able to use shortcuts, you can drastically simplify your on-screen interface, and save more space for graphics. The over-use of shortcuts, however, can be a hinderance for new users learning the software. This is one of the great things about Solid Edge \u2013 the software gives you a lot of options , and the interface definitely goes the distance in that respect.<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P><span class=\"lia-inline-image-display-wrapper lia-image-align-right\" style=\"width: 400px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/09\/shortcuts-on-mouse-pad-2.png\" alt=\"shortcuts on mouse pad.png\" title=\"shortcuts on mouse pad.png\" \/><\/span><\/P><br \/>\n<P>I\u2019ve mentioned before that as I was learning the software, I chose to use a customized theme, with the Pathfinder and CommandBar on the left, and the Prompt Bar across the bottom. <span class=\"lia-inline-image-display-wrapper lia-image-align-right\" style=\"width: 139px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/09\/interface-1.jpg\" alt=\"interface.jpg\" title=\"interface.jpg\" \/><\/span>People who are learning like me need more direct clues about the tools. But people like you who are already experts in the interface, well, you should be taking advantage of keyboard shortcuts in the Solid Edge Interface. And guys like me, well, we just try to learn all of this.<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P>Keyboard shortcuts are so handy that reseller partner Ally PLM handed out mouse pads covered with Solid Edge shortcuts one year at Solid Edge University. I\u2019ve still got this gem on my desk.<\/P><br \/>\n<P>Where do you start with shortcuts? Well, all the standard Windows keys work in most situations:<\/P><br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+S (save)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+X (cut)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+C (copy)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+V (paste)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+Z (undo)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+Y (redo)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+P (print)<\/LI><br \/>\n<\/UL><br \/>\n<P>View Manipulation:<\/P><br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+T (top)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+B (bottom)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+R (right)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+L (left)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+F (front)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+K (back)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+I (isometric)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+J (dimetric)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+M (trimetric)<\/LI><br \/>\n<\/UL><br \/>\n<P>Mouse-based View Manipulation:<\/P><br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI>MMB or RMB+Ctrl+Drag (zoom)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>MMB or RMB+Alt+Drag (zoom area)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>MMB+double click or RMB+Alt (fit window)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>MMB+Shift+drag or RMB+Ctrl+Shift+Drag (pan)<\/LI><br \/>\n<\/UL><br \/>\n<P>Keypoint selection \u2013 Hovering on a line segment and pressing one of the following shortcuts will jump the cursor to the nearest selection. This saves time and aids in accuracy (used when sketching):<\/P><br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI>M (midpoint)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>I (intersection)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>C (center)<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>E (endpoint)<\/LI><br \/>\n<\/UL><br \/>\n<P>For advanced Synchronous Edits, those of you using Live Rules might be familiar with the following shortcuts:<span class=\"lia-inline-image-display-wrapper lia-image-align-inline\" style=\"width: 647px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/09\/live-rules-1.jpg\" alt=\"live rules.jpg\" title=\"live rules.jpg\" \/><\/span><\/P><br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI>R \u2013 Restore. Restores the default settings.<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>C \u2013 Maintain Concentric Faces<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>T \u2013 Maintain Tangent Faces<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>P \u2013 Maintain Coplanar Faces<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>S \u2013 Maintain Symmetry about Base Planes<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>X \u2013 Maintain Symmetry about XY Plane<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Y \u2013 Maintain Symmetry about YZ Plane<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Z \u2013 Maintain Symmetry about ZX Plane<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+Y \u2013 Local Symmetry<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+Shift+Q \u2013 Consider Reference Planes<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+Shift+W \u2013 Consider Sketch Planes<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+Shift+E \u2013 Consider Reference Systems<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>B \u2013 Lock to Base Reference<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>U \u2013 Suspend Live Rules<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>J \u2013 Relax Dimensions<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>V \u2013 Solution Manager<\/LI><br \/>\n<\/UL><br \/>\n<P>Second Row:<\/P><br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI>F \u2013 Save Relationships<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>L \u2013 Maintain Parallel Faces<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>G \u2013 Tangent Touching<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>D \u2013 Maintain Perpendicular Faces<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>A \u2013 Maintain Coplanar Axes<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Q \u2013 Maintain Coplanar Axes in XY<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>W \u2013 Maintain Coplanar Axes in YZ<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>E \u2013 Maintain Coplanar Axes in ZX<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Ctrl+A \u2013 Maintain Canted Coplanar Axes<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>M \u2013 Same Radius if Possible<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>O \u2013 Keep Orthogonal to Base<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>N \u2013 Relax Persistent Relationships<\/LI><br \/>\n<\/UL><br \/>\n<P>For these Live Rules, they are just like other tools in Solid Edge. You\u2019re probably not going to need all of them, and you\u2019re just going to remember the keyboard shortcuts for the ones you use. Start simple, and build. You might consider printing out this page, trimming the lists down and taping them to the sides of your monitor. Keeping them handy will help you memorize them.<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P>As you use the software more and more, and become more and more expert, you will learn more and more keyboard shortcuts, and thus become much faster. A lot of people like the radial menus, but for speed, there is nothing as fast as keyboard shortcuts. I know, it\u2019s a very 1980s type of interface design, but in this case it&#8217;s one of those things that just works. It\u2019s not immediately intuitive, but with familiarity comes efficiency, and it does save a lot of screen space and work time.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Keyboard shortcuts in the Solid Edge interface are a great way for experienced users to speed up getting through common tasks. When you\u2019re able to use shortcuts, you can drastically simplify your on-&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61781,"featured_media":3775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,96],"tags":[],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-3766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-tips-tricks"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/09\/shortcuts-on-mouse-pad-2.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61781"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3766"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3778,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766\/revisions\/3778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3766"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=3766"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=3766"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}