Blender has many keyboard shortcuts set by default. We can also add or change shortcuts for our most-used functions in Blender. Here’s how to add and change keyboard shortcuts in Blender 3D.
Keep reading, or skip to the video tutorial on Shortcuts.
Search and View Keyboard Shortcuts
We can view and search all of Blender’s current keyboard shortcuts from Blender’s Preferences Panel in the tab labeled “Keymap.”
At the top is a search bar.. Below that are high-level shortcuts such as whether you want to select with the left or right mouse click. Below that is a list of folders containing grouped keyboard shortcuts.
Be warned, there are a lot of them. They are mostly grouped by editors and modes, with many sub-groups of keyboard shortcuts. The keymap gets complicated because the same keyboard shortcut may be used for different actions across different modes or editors within Blender.
At the top of the preference tab, there is a toggle for “Name” and Key-Binding.” When “Name” is selected (and blue), we search for keyboard shortcuts by the name of the action. When “Key-Binding” is selected, we search for the “key binding” or the actual buttons in the shortcut. For example, we could search by name for “Bevel” or search key-binding for “Ctrl B.”
When searching for a keyborad shortcut, we see the same shortcut can be used in different parts of Blender. For example, below we see that “Ctrl B” is used for a variety of actions depending on which editor or mode we are in.
Each keyboard shortcut has a small arrow next to its action. Expanding the arrow shows the key map event and properties details for that action. It’s basically the complicated version of instructions behind each shortcut.
Edit Existing Shortcuts
From the Keymap tab in the preferences, we can locate the shortcut we want to change either by searching for the action’s name or by the keys used in the shortcut as explained above.
Once we’ve found a keyboard shortcut we wish to edit, click on the shortcut and it will change to a prompt of “Press a Key.” Once this displays, Blender will record your next keystroke or combination of strokes.
Example: Changing Bevel Shortcut
In Edit Mode, the keyboard shortcut to bevel the selected geometry is “Control + B.” If we use bevels so often that we want to simplify the shortcut to just be “B” we’d follow these steps:
Find the Shortcut We Wish to Change
Go to Edit – Preferences and choose the “Keymap” setting. Search by name for “Bevel” or search by key-binding for “Ctrl B.”
Note there are actually three bevel shortcuts located. One is for “Edge Bevel.” One is for “Vertex Bevel.” One is for the bevel tool in the toolbar. For this example, we will change the first setting for edge bevel.
Edit the Shortcut
Click on the shortcut where it says “Ctrl B” to get the “Press a Key” prompt.
Press “B” on the keyboard. Blender will record the new shortcut.
Now, to perform an edge bevel of the selected geometry in Edit Mode, we simply press “B” to begin the bevel and use our mouse to adjust the bevel distance.
Revert Custom Shortcut
Notice above that when we changed the keyboard shortcut from “Ctrl B” to “B” the “X” icon next to the shortcut changed to an arrow icon. This lets us know the default shortcut has been changed. Pressing the arrow icon will revert the shortcut back to its default.
Save Preferences
Remember to press “Save Preferences” before closing the preferences menu.
Add New Keyboard Shortcuts
If you want to add a keyboard shortcut to something in Blender, here’s how. This can be done with most checkboxes, button actions, and individual functions.
Anywhere in Blender where we click something to perform an action or adjust a setting, right click instead. If the option “Assign a Shortcut” is available in the context menu, you can assign a shortcut to that action.
Once we click “Assign Shortcut” we are prompted to “Press a Key.” Whichever combination of keystrokes we press next will be recorded as the new shortcut for the selected action.
And that’s how to modify or assign a new keyboard shortcut or “hot key” in Blender 3D.
Video Tutorial
Here’s a short video tutorial covering Blender shortcuts and hotkeys from my YouTube channel.
Brandon Stocking
