Appearance
Keyboard shortcuts
Every shortcut that actually works, grouped by the surface that listens for it. Press ? anywhere inside a project to see the in-app cheat sheet.
Read this first
⌘/Ctrl means ⌘ on macOS and Ctrl everywhere else. Fablnx picks one for you from the machine you are on, and the in-app cheat sheet shows only that one.
Shortcuts only exist inside a project. They are registered when a project workspace opens. On the projects dashboard and the sign-in screen nothing is bound — not even ?. The one exception is the show/hide shortcut in the Fablnx app below, which belongs to the window rather than to the web app and works wherever you are.
⌘/Ctrl + K is a leader chord, not a combination. Press and release ⌘/Ctrl + K, then press the second key on its own. You have 1.5 seconds to land the second stroke; after that the chord lapses and the next key does whatever it normally does. Pressing a modifier in between does not break the chord. This page writes a chord as ⌘/Ctrl + K then ].
Bare keys are ignored while you are typing. Any single-key shortcut (F, M, V, ? and the rest) does nothing while the caret is in a text box, a text area or a dropdown. Shortcuts that include ⌘/Ctrl still fire.
Which pane gets the key?
Most keys are claimed by the pane you are working in, and a pane can take a key before the workspace sees it. If a single-key shortcut seems inert, click once inside the pane you meant to drive, then press it again. Split the editor and two panes can be listening at once — the 3D model and the scene editor both answer to F, for instance.
Inside Tekla Structures
One shortcut is registered by the Fablnx app itself rather than by the web page, so it works while you are in Tekla — which is the whole point of it.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + Alt + F | Bring the Fablnx window forward, or put it away if it is already in front |
It is a Windows-wide shortcut, not a Tekla one: it works whatever has the focus. If another program on the machine already claims that combination, Fablnx does not take it from them — the Fablnx icon in the notification area then says just Fablnx instead of naming the shortcut, and starting Fablnx again brings the window forward.
A hidden window is always one click away from the Fablnx icon in the notification area, next to the clock. Right-click it to close Fablnx.
Not in a browser
This one exists only in the Fablnx app. In an ordinary browser there is no window to raise and nothing registers the key.
Global — the workspace shell
These work anywhere inside a project.
Panels and overlays
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌘/Ctrl + B | Show or hide the sidebar (Files, Build, Design spec, Questions and RFIs, Structure) |
| ⌘/Ctrl + J | Show or hide the copilot panel |
| ⌘/Ctrl + P | Quick Open — jump to a sheet, page or scene, and search every sheet's text, your markups and notes, questions and members |
| ? | Open the in-app keyboard-shortcuts overlay |
In any dialog or popup: drag the title bar to move it, drag an edge or corner to resize it, double-click the title bar to put it back at its usual place and size, and Esc closes it. See Move and resize any window.
In the copilot's ask box: Enter sends — or queues the prompt behind the one it is working on — Shift + Enter opens a new line, and Esc throws away what the mic is dictating.
In Quick Open: ↑ / ↓ move the highlight, Enter opens the highlighted row, Esc closes. The arrows walk the jump list and the search results as one list. There is no shortcut for the Files panel's search box — reach it with ⌘/Ctrl + B and a click.
In the Run solver menu: Esc or a click outside closes it. See Run the solver.
There is no shortcut for the sidebar views
⌘/Ctrl + B shows and hides the whole sidebar. Switching between Files, Build, Design spec, Questions and RFIs and Structure is click-only. See the workspace guide.
Splits and groups
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌘/Ctrl + \ | Split the active group to the right |
| ⌘/Ctrl + Shift + \ | Split the active group downward |
| ⌘/Ctrl + K then → | Focus the next group |
| ⌘/Ctrl + K then ← | Focus the previous group |
The split keys are read from the physical backslash key, so they work whatever your keyboard layout prints there.
Tabs
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌘/Ctrl + 1–9 | Go to tab 1–9 of the active group |
| ⌘/Ctrl + K then ] | Next tab |
| ⌘/Ctrl + K then [ | Previous tab |
| ⌘/Ctrl + K then W | Close the active tab |
| ⌘/Ctrl + K then Shift + W | Close every tab in the group |
⌘/Ctrl + 0 is not bound, and a number higher than the group's tab count does nothing. Middle-clicking a tab also closes it.
Page viewer
The drawing pane you get when you open a page. Zoom and fit are driven by the workspace handler, so they only ever act on the page in the active group — they do nothing in a scene, in the 3D model, or in the Levels, Grids and Schedules tabs.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| F | Fit the page in the pane |
| + or = | Zoom in |
| − or _ | Zoom out |
| ⌘/Ctrl + scroll wheel | Zoom the drawing (the browser's own page zoom is suppressed) |
Markups
The cheat sheet lists these under Markup, but they belong to the page viewer — they do nothing in a scene or in the 3D model. See Files and pages.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| M | Turn the marker tool on or off — click to pin, drag for an area |
| Esc | Turn the marker tool off without placing anything |
| Esc (comment open) | Close the comment box without saving |
| ⌘/Ctrl + Enter (comment open) | Save the comment |
Scene editor
Tool keys work whenever a scene tab is in front. A key for a locked tool does nothing — hover the rail button to read why it is locked. See the scene editor guide.
Tools
On a plan the curved grid line and the guide line sit behind the chevron next to Grid line, so these keys are the quickest way to them — they work whether or not the menu is open. An elevation folds nothing: every tool, levels and slants included, has its own button.
| Shortcut | Tool | Available on |
|---|---|---|
| V | Select | both |
| H | Pan — drag to move the sheet (second in the tool rail, under Select) | both |
| G | Grid line | both |
| R | Curved grid line — centre, ring, then its name (under the Grid lines chevron) | plan only |
| S | Guide line on a plan (under the Grid lines chevron), Slant line on an elevation (its own button) | both |
| K | Dimension — two grid lines plus a distance | both |
| C | Column | plan only |
| B | Beam | plan only |
| X | Brace | plan only |
| L | Level line — its own button; an elevation folds nothing | elevation only |
| M | Member — column, beam or brace, worked out from what you drew | elevation only |
| F | Fit the scene in the canvas | both |
Editing
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Esc | Drop the Dimension tool's picked grid lines; cancel a pending first placement point; close the right-click menu, the level chooser or the Diagonal — which is it? chooser |
| ⌘/Ctrl + Z | Undo |
| ⌘/Ctrl + Shift + Z | Redo |
| ⌘/Ctrl + Y | Redo (same thing) |
There is no Save key. Every scene edit saves itself.
Review
While the Review transport is open (the play button on the rail), it takes these keys ahead of the tool keys above.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Play or pause the auto-advance |
| → | Next item |
| ← | Previous item |
| R, Delete or Backspace | Remove the item under review |
| Esc | Leave review |
3D model
The Model tab. See the 3D model guide.
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Left-drag | Orbit |
| Middle-drag or right-drag | Pan |
| Scroll | Zoom towards the cursor |
| Click a part | Select it, here and in Tekla; clicking empty space deselects |
| ⌘/Ctrl or Shift + click | Add or remove a part from the selection |
| Double-click a part | Orbit around that point |
| F | Fit the selection, or the whole model when nothing is selected |
| Esc | Deselect |
F and Esc work while the pointer is over the 3D view.
If a control is not doing what its tooltip says, check Troubleshooting — most of the time the control is disabled for a reason the tooltip spells out.