Basic keyboard navigation

These are the most basic keyboard commands for working with an outline. For details about every keyboard command, choose Keyboard Commands from the Help menu.
Creating a new item
  • Press Return to create a new item below the one currently selected.
  • To create an item above the current item, use Shift-Return.
Indenting/outdenting
  • By default, pressing Tab will indent the selected item, making it a child of the item above it. (The behavior of Tab can be changed in the Keyboard preferences.)
  • Use Shift-Tab to outdent an item. (The behavior of Shift-Tab can be changed in the Keyboard preferences.)
  • Command–right bracket and Command–left bracket can always be used to indent and outdent, respectively.
Moving around
  • When editing an item's text, the arrow keys will move the cursor around within the text.
  • When not editing text, the Up and Down arrow keys select the previous or next row, while the Left and Right arrow keys hide or show an item's children.
Editing an item's text
  • Press Escape to switch between selecting an item and editing the text of that item.