Shortcuts

SynapseRack has a number of operations that do not appear in any menu or on any button. This page collects them in one place.

About the notation:

• Ctrl/Cmd … Ctrl on Windows, Cmd on macOS. Both work the same way
• Ctrl … the Ctrl key on Windows and on macOS alike (reading it as Cmd on macOS will not work)

Common to all windows

The windows laid out inside SynapseRack (Preview / Node Editor / Layer / Media Browser and so on) are all handled the same way.

Action	What it does	Notes
F10	Detaches the selected window as an independent OS window	To bring it back, close that window. Pressing F10 again does not bring it back
Ctrl + F	Moves the selected window to the center of the screen	Ctrl, not Cmd, even on Mac. The implementation only looks at the left Ctrl; the right Ctrl does not work
Shift + drag the title bar	Moves snapped to a 20px grid
Shift + drag the bottom right corner	Resizes snapped to a 20px grid	The minimum size is 100 × 100
Double-click the title bar	Rename (only on windows that support it)	Enter to confirm, Esc to cancel

“The selected window” is the window you clicked last. There is no mark on screen. The reliable way is to click the window you mean once, just before pressing F10 or Ctrl + F.

The details of detaching (F10) are in Output to a projector.

Node Editor

These only work while the pointer is over the Node Editor.

Key	What it does
Delete	Delete the selected nodes and edges
Ctrl/Cmd + C / V	Copy / paste (pasted 30px offset from the original position)
Ctrl/Cmd + D	Duplicate
Ctrl/Cmd + G	Group the selection
Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + G	Ungroup
Ctrl/Cmd + Z	Undo
Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z / Ctrl/Cmd + Y	Redo

Only these two work wherever you are, regardless of the pointer position.

Key	What it does
Ctrl/Cmd + A	Select all nodes. This covers every node, including the ones inside groups
Esc	Deselect the nodes

Ctrl/Cmd + A works even when you press it outside the Node Editor. What is more, what gets selected is not only the graph you are currently showing but every node, including the ones inside groups. Pressing Delete after that erases all of them as long as the pointer is over the Node Editor, so be careful with the habit of “selecting all just in case” (Ctrl/Cmd + Z gets it back).

For the detailed behavior of Delete / Ctrl/Cmd + Z, see Node Editor.

The node creation popup (right-click the canvas)

Key	What it does
↑ / ↓	Move through the items
← / →	Move between the category side and the list side
Enter	Confirm and create
Esc	Close

While the popup is open, anything you type goes into the search field (the search field is focused automatically right after it opens). During this time the wheel moves through the list instead of zooming.

Widget Panel

These only work while the pointer is over that panel and it is not frozen.

Key	What it does
Ctrl/Cmd + C / V	Copy / paste the selected widget (you can paste it into another panel too)
Ctrl/Cmd + D	Duplicate
Delete	Delete
Ctrl/Cmd + Z	Undo
Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z / Ctrl/Cmd + Y	Redo

See Widget Panel for details.

Undo changes its target depending on where the pointer is

Ctrl/Cmd + Z is a single key, but what it undoes changes with the pointer position at the moment you press it.

Where the pointer is	What gets undone
Over the Node Editor	The node graph (creation, deletion, movement, connection, parameter changes)
Over a Widget Panel	That panel’s layout, bindings and appearance
Outside the Node Editor	The layer structure (the tree of the Layer Hierarchy)

Over a Widget Panel, both the panel’s Undo and the layer structure’s Undo run. It is built so that “anything outside the Node Editor always includes the layer structure”, so hammering Ctrl/Cmd + Z over a panel after reordering layers rolls the layers back as well.

None of them push “value operations” onto the history. Live operations such as moving a fader are the performance itself, so they are not subject to undo (only parameter changes in the Node Editor are recorded, as part of the graph’s history).

Output and external windows

This is the one place where the operations are on the OS side rather than SynapseRack shortcuts.

OS	Action	What it does
Windows	Alt + Enter	Makes the output window fullscreen
macOS	The green button at the left of the title bar	The same
Windows	Alt + Space (or right-click the title bar) → Always on Top	Pins a detached window in front
macOS	The 📌 button at the right of the title bar	The same

Always on Top applies to windows detached with F10. The state is saved together with the .synapse.

Other

Situation	Key	What it does
Name and numeric input fields	Enter	Confirm
Name and numeric input fields	Esc	Cancel and return to the original value
While assigning in a Widget Panel	Esc (or right-click)	Abort the assignment
WebView nodes	F5 / Ctrl/Cmd + R	Reload the page

While a WebView node has focus, keys are handed to the browser. Ctrl/Cmd + C / V / A and so on work inside the page, and SynapseRack’s shortcuts do not fire.

The feature for assigning a single keyboard key to a node or layer operation is a separate thing. See Keyboard mapping for how to use it (only single keys can be assigned; combinations with modifier keys such as Ctrl + 1 cannot be registered).

Implicit mouse operations

Node Editor

Action	What it does
Middle-button drag or Ctrl + left drag	Pan. Ctrl, not Cmd, even on Mac
Wheel	Zoom (0.05× to 30×, centered on the cursor position)
Shift + click a node	Add to the selection
Box-select and release while holding Ctrl	Add to the existing selection. Ctrl + left drag is panning, so it cannot be used to start a box selection
Right-click empty space	The node creation popup at that position
Right-click the body of a node	The same as above (nodes have no dedicated right-click menu)
Right-click a port	The port’s menu (Move all edges and so on)
Click the triangle in the middle of a line	Mute or unmute that connection
Double-click a node’s title	Rename the node
Left-drag inside the minimap	Move to that position

Numeric input fields (node parameters in general)

This is the hardest operation to find.

Action	What it does
Drag with the right button	Scrub the value (horizontally). The left button still edits on click as before
Shift + right-button drag	Fine adjustment at 1/10 of the resolution

The amount of change scales with the current value (the larger the value, the more it moves, with a lower bound so that it still moves near 0). Scrubbing only starts once you have moved 2px or more, so the value does not change if you press and release immediately.

Right-clicking over a numeric field does not bring up the node creation menu. It yields to scrubbing. When you want the menu, right-click on empty space outside the node.

Media Browser

Action	What it does
Click a thumbnail	Select it and assign it to a layer at the same time
Ctrl/Cmd + click	Only toggles the selection (no assignment)
Shift + click	Range selection (no assignment)
Right-click a thumbnail	Context menu
Ctrl + right-click	Rebuilds just that thumbnail without bringing up the menu. Ctrl, not Cmd, even on Mac
Drop onto a folder while holding Alt (Option)	Moves instead of copying

See Media Browser for details.

Layer

Action	What it does
Right-click the preview area of a Layer	In the Media Browser you touched most recently, opens and selects the folder of the clip that layer is currently using (only when a Media Browser is open and that layer has a clip in it)
Click the waveform of a Waveform	Seek to the position you clicked
Left-click a Waveform hot cue (A to H)	Sets the current position if it is unset, jumps there if it is already set
Right-click a hot cue	Clears that cue

When nothing happens

Shortcuts do not fire while you are entering text. While you are editing a node name, a layer name or a numeric field, Ctrl/Cmd + Z and everything else is handed to the input field. Finish the input with Enter or Esc first, then press.

Most shortcuts decide their target from the pointer position. When “it won’t delete”, “it won’t paste” or “Undo undid something else”, the pointer is usually over a different window. The exceptions are Ctrl/Cmd + A and Esc (which act on the Node Editor’s selection from anywhere), and F10 and Ctrl + F (which target the window you clicked last).

There is no shortcut for saving a project. Ctrl/Cmd + S is not assigned. Save from the menu bar.

Related

• Node Editor — the whole picture of working with nodes
• Widget Panel — the panel’s own shortcuts and Freeze
• Output to a projector — detaching with F10 and the output window
• Keyboard mapping — assigning keys for performance