Tips with Keyboard and Mouse

This page summarises Tips and Tricks with Keyboard and Mouse to optimize your drawing and editing skills in OCAD.
Click on the links for each function to learn more and see an animation.

Navigation

Space + Mouse Drag	Move the view. See also: Pan Tool
Mouse Wheel Down	Pan while holding the mouse wheel down.
Mouse Wheel + Ctrl	Zoom in/Zoom out. See also: Zoom Tools
Mouse Wheel	Move the view vertically.
Mouse Wheel + Shift	Move the view horizontally.
F5	Redraw
Window > Tile	Fit all opened OCAD projects horizontally or vertically in the OCAD window

There are some Shortcuts by default corresponding to view and navigation functions.

Drawing

Shift +	Continue an existing line or expand areas objects. Press the Shift key and click the start or end point of line or area object to be continued.
Shift +	Drawing circular objects from the center point.
Ctrl +	Following Existing Objects.
Alt +	Draw horizontal or vertical lines. Press the Alt key while drawing. The line snaps in a vertical or horizontal direction.
Tab	Change drawing mode during drawing and editing. Press the Tab key until the desired drawing mode appears to change the drawing mode.
P	Press the P key to change to the last used drawing mode.
Backspace	Delete last vertex.
ESC	Cancel drawing with ESC key.
Status Bar	Length and agle of an line objects are shown in the Status Bar.

Visit the Drawing and Editing Section in the OCAD Preferences to choose your favourite settings.

Editing

	Move Segments
Shift + or	Object not selected: add to the selected objects. As an alternative, drag an area with the Left Mouse Button. Selected object: remove from selected objects. Keep right angle when moving a corner (e.g. building).
Ctrl +	Remove Vertex
Ctrl + + Mouse	Remove Vertex with Mouse Over.
Shift + Ctrl +	Add Vertex
Ctrl + Space +	Toggle between normal-dash-corner or toggle between straight and bezier curve segment.
Alt +	Select an object under a already selected object.
Alt + or	Select next object for editing
Arrow Keys	Move selected objects (fine tuning)
Arrow Keys	Double Click on Vertex and Move Vertex With Arrow Keys.
Tab +	Move neighboring Segments and congruent Vertices in one single step.
Shift + Arrow Keys	Move selected objects (fast)
P	Get latest used drawing tool
A	Change to the Select Object and Edit Vertex mode.
V	Change to the Select and Edit Object mode.

Cutting

Ctrl +	Insert a virtual gap.
Shift +	Dashed line: Insert a gap at the cutting point

Background Map

F9	Adjust a Background Map
F10	Hide all Background Maps

Varia

F2	Normal (Visible and Selectable)
F3	Protect Objects
F4	Hide Objects
File > Open Recently Exported Documents	Shortcut to open exported OCAD Files, PDFs, PNG, ...
File > Open Recently Used OCAD Files	Shortcut to open an OCAD file which you recently opened.