LibreOffice Writer Keyboard Shortcuts

LibreOffice Writer is a free, open-source word processor that helps you easily create documents in Linux, Windows, or macOS. Similar to its proprietary counterparts, LibreOffice Writer allows you to create both simple compositions and complex formatting such as adding custom colors to your documents.

Essential LibreOffice Writer Keyboard Shortcuts

By default, LibreOffice Writer provides a variety of keyboard shortcuts that enables you to quickly access its powerful features. For example, the word processor has a set of keybindings that can manipulate paragraph arrangement, as well as embed videos within the document.

This cheatsheet gives you all necessary keybindings for LibreOffice Writer. Furthermore, it also helps you utilize some of the word processor’s lesser-known features.

Linux/Windows	macOS	Function
File Manipulation
Ctrl + N	Command + N	Create a new LibreOffice Writer document.
Ctrl + O	Command + O	Open an existing LibreOffice Writer document.
Ctrl + S	Command + S	Save the current LibreOffice Writer document.
Ctrl + F4	Command + F4	Close the current LibreOffice Writer document.
F6	F6	Switch focus on the next internal window.
Shift + F6	Shift + F6	Switch focus on the previous internal window.
Ctrl + P	Command + P	Open the Print dialog menu.
Interface Manipulation
Ctrl + Shift + J	Command + Shift + J	Switch between fullscreen and windowed mode.
Ctrl + Shift + R	Command + Shift + R	Render the current document again.
Ctrl + Shift + I	Command + Shift + I	Toggle the cursor in Read Only documents.
F2	F2	Enable the Formula toolbar.
F3	F3	Enable text auto-completion.
Ctrl + F3	Command + F3	Edit the current auto-complete suggestion.
F5	F5	Open the Document Navigator.
F7	F7	Open the Spellchecking Window.
Ctrl + F7	Command + F7	Open the Thesaurus Window.
F11	F11	Open the Document Style Window.
F10	F10	Open the first item in the Menu Bar.
Shift + F10	Shift + F10	Open the Context Menu.
Ctrl + Q	Command + Q	Exit the LibreOffice Writer program.
Help Menu
F1	F1	Open the Built-in Libreoffice Help System.
Shift + F1	Shift + F1	Open the Help System entry for the current mode.
Shift + F2	Shift + F2	Reopen the Tips menu.
Navigation and Selection
Left Arrow	Left Arrow	Move the cursor one character to the left.
Right Arrow	Right Arrow	Move the cursor one character to the right.
Up Arrow	Up Arrow	Move the cursor one line up.
Down Arrow	Down Arrow	Move the cursor one line down.
Ctrl + Left Arrow	Command + Left Arrow	Move the cursor to the start of the current word.
Ctrl + Right Arrow	Command + Right Arrow	Move the cursor to the start of the next word.
Ctrl + Up Arrow	Command + Up Arrow	Move the cursor to the start of the previous paragraph.
Ctrl + Down Arrow	Command + Down Arrow	Move the cursor to the start of the next paragraph.
Shift + Left Arrow	Shift + Left Arrow	Move the cursor one character to the left and select it.
Shift + Right Arrow	Shift + Right Arrow	Move the cursor one character to the right and select it.
Shift + Up Arrow	Shift + Up Arrow	Move the cursor one line up and select everything in between.
Shift + Down Arrow	Shift + Down Arrow	Move the cursor one line down and select everything in between.
Ctrl + Shift + Left Arrow	Command + Shift + Left Arrow	Move the cursor to the start of the current word and select it.
Ctrl + Shift + Right Arrow	Command + Shift + Right Arrow	Move the cursor to the start of the next word and select it.
Ctrl + Shift + Up Arrow	Command + Shift + Up Arrow	Select the entire current paragraph.
Ctrl + Shift + Down Arrow	Command + Shift + Down Arrow	Select the entire next paragraph.
Home		Move the cursor to the start of the line.
End		Move the cursor to the end of the line.
Shift + Home		Move the cursor to the start of the line and select it.
Shift + End		Move the cursor to the end of the line and select it.
Ctrl + Home		Go to the start of the document.
Ctrl + End		Go to the end of the document.
Ctrl + Shift + Home		Go to the start of the document and select all the text in between.
Ctrl + Shift + End		Go to the end of the document and select all the text in between.
Document Editing
Ctrl + Shift + V	Command + Shift + V	Paste the contents of the clipboard with formatting.
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + V	Command + Option + Shift + V	Paste the contents of the clipboard as plain text.
Ctrl + Z	Command + Z	Undo the last change to the document.
Ctrl + Y	Command + Y	Redo the last change to the document.
Backspace	Backspace	Delete the character to the left of the cursor.
Ctrl + Backspace	Command + Backspace	Delete the entire word to the left of the cursor.
Ctrl + Del		Delete the entire word to the right of the cursor.
Ctrl + Shift + Backspace	Command + Shift + Backspace	Delete the entire sentence to the left of the cursor.
Ctrl + Shift + Del		Delete the entire sentence to the right of the cursor.
Document Formatting
Shift + F11	Shift + F11	Create a new document style.
Ctrl + I	Command + I	Italicize the current text selection.
Ctrl + U	Command + U	Underline the current text selection.
Ctrl + B	Command + B	Turn the current text selection to Bold.
Ctrl + Shift + P	Command + Shift + P	Turn the current text selection to Superscript.
Ctrl + Shift + B	Command + Shift + B	Turn the current text selection to Subscript.
Ctrl + M	Command + M	Remove any style and formatting to the current text selection.
Ctrl + J	Command + J	Justify the current paragraph.
Ctrl + L	Command + L	Align the current paragraph to the left.
Ctrl + R	Command + R	Align the current paragraph to the right.
Ctrl + E	Command + E	Center the current paragraph.
Ctrl + 1	Command + 1	Apply the Heading 1 style using the current theme.
Ctrl + 2	Command + 2	Apply the Heading 2 style using the current theme.
Ctrl + 3	Command + 3	Apply the Heading 3 style using the current theme.
Ctrl + 4	Command + 4	Apply the Heading 4 style using the current theme.
Ctrl + 5	Command + 5	Apply the Heading 5 style using the current theme.
Ctrl + 0	Command + 0	Apply the Text Body style using the current theme.
Document Layout
Tab	Tab	Shift the current heading down a level.
Shift + Tab	Shift + Tab	Shift the current heading up a level.
Ctrl + Tab	Command + Tab	Create a tab stop at the beginning of the heading.
Ctrl + Alt + Up Arrow	Command + Option + Up Arrow	Move the current paragraph up.
Ctrl + Alt + Down Arrow	Command + Option + Down Arrow	Move the current paragraph down.
Ctrl + Shift + Space	Command + Shift + Space	Create a space character that will not expand with formatting.
Shift + Enter	Shift + Enter	Create a line break without changing the paragraph layout.
Ctrl + Shift + Enter	Command + Shift + Enter	Break a multi-column page layout at the current point.
Ctrl + Enter	Command + Enter	Create a page break.
Ctrl + F10	Command + F10	Toggle the display of non-printing characters.
Tables
Ctrl + F12	Command + F12	Create a new table.
Ctrl + A	Command + A	Select the current cell. If it’s empty, select the entire table.
Ctrl + Home		Go to the start of the current cell. If it’s empty, go to the beginning of the table.
Ctrl + End		Go to the end of the current cell. If it’s empty, go to the end of the table.
Alt + Left Arrow	Option + Left Arrow	Resize the table to the left by one character.
Alt + Right Arrow	Option + Right Arrow	Resize the table to the right by one character.
Alt + Up	Option + Up	Resize the table by one line up.
Alt + Down	Option + Down	Resize the table by one line down.
Ctrl + Alt + Left Arrow	Command + Option + Left Arrow	Resize the current cell to the left by one character.
Ctrl + Alt + Right Arrow	Command + Option + Right Arrow	Resize the current cell to the right by one character.
Ctrl + Alt + Up	Command + Option + Up	Resize the current cell by one line up.
Ctrl + Alt + Down	Command + Option + Down	Resize the current cell by one line down.
Figures and Images
Alt + Left Arrow	Option + Left Arrow	Move the figure one character to the left.
Alt + Right Arrow	Option + Right Arrow	Move the figure one character to the right.
Alt + Up	Option + Up	Move the figure one line up.
Alt + Down	Option + Down	Move the figure one line down.
Ctrl + Alt + Left Arrow	Command + Option + Left Arrow	Resize the figure to the left by one character.
Ctrl + Alt + Right Arrow	Command + Option + Right Arrow	Resize the figure to the right by one character.
Ctrl + Alt + Up Arrow	Command + Option + Up Arrow	Resize the figure by one line up.
Ctrl + Alt + Down Arrow	Command + Option + Down Arrow	Resize the figure by one line down.
Ctrl + Tab	Command + Tab	Cycle through the different toggle modes for the figure.

_{Image Credit: Unsplash. Alterations by Ramces Red.}