Shortcut keys

QuPath would like you to be able to work easily with your images, and not get in your way.

Learning the shortcut keys for the tools and commands you use most frequently can help a lot to get things done quickly, and with less frustration.

Note for Linux users: Replace Alt with Alt + Super (thanks to Philipp Tschandl for this info).

Viewer shortcuts

The following shortcuts apply to the viewer. They are worth remembering, because they can be used very frequently when navigating and annotating images.

Important! These shortcuts only work whenever the viewer is 'in focus', i.e. it is the last thing that was clicked. If a shortcut doesn't seem to work, click on the viewer once to bring it into focus, then try the shortcut again.

Drawing & navigation

Tool	Shortcut
Move	M
Move (temporary)	Spacebar
Rectangle	R
Ellipse	O
Line	L
Polygon	P
Brush	B
Wand	W
Points	.

The Alt key

• When the Move tool is selected, use the Alt key to click on multiple objects to select them.
• When the Brush or Wand tools are selected, use the Alt key to switch to 'eraser' mode when drawing.

The Shift key

• When the Brush or Wand tools are selected, use the Shift key to continue adding to an existing selected annotation (rather than creating a new one).

Display shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Show/hide detections	H
Show/hide annotations	A
Show/hide TMA grid	G
Show/hide counting grid	Shift + G
Fill/unfill detections	F
Fill/unfill annotations	Shift + F
Show/hide color channel	Numeric keys

Command shortcuts

The following shortcut trigger commands that can also be accessed within the QuPath menus.

Because the shortcuts are shown in the menus as well, only a small number of the most important are shown here to draw attention to them - subjectively ordered according to usefulness.

Main QuPath window

Command	Shortcut
File → Save	Ctrl + S
File → Revert	Ctrl + R
View → Show command list	Ctrl + L
View → Brightness/Contrast	Shift + C
View → Show log	Shift + Ctrl + L
Objects → Duplicate annotation	Shift + D
Objects → Restore last annotation	Shift + E
Objects → Create full image annotation	Shift + Ctrl + A
Objects → Select → Reset selection	Shift + Ctrl + R
Classify → Create detection classifier	Shift + Ctrl + D

Script editor

Command	Shortcut
Run → Run	Ctrl + R
File → Save	Ctrl + S
File → Close script	Ctrl + W
Edit → Find	Ctrl + F

An extra, essential script editor shortcut: for any built-in function, start typing the name and then press Ctrl + space.

If the script editor can find the function you are aiming at, it should then auto-complete the name. If there are multiple options, press Ctrl + space repeatedly to cycle through them.

For example, starting to type

cells = getC

and pressing Ctrl + space should automatically produce

cells = getCellObjects

Pressing Ctrl + space again immediately would produce

cells = getColorRGB

Probably not what you want in this case, admittedly, but useful to know. Especially if, like me, you often do not quite remember the function name or capitalization used.