Pro Tools Keyboards and Hot Keys

Published 2020-03-01. Last modified 2025-02-15.
Time to read: 5 minutes.

This page is part of the av_studio collection.

I have written eighteen articles about Pro Tools. They are somewhat ordered, but largely are meant to be read in any order.

Keyboards

For best results, use a full-size keyboard with Pro Tools. Unlike most other programs, the numeric keypad is useful for Pro Tools.

However, when you use a laptop, you usually do not want to plug in an external keyboard. You can learn the key bindings for your keyboard by referring to Pro Tools Keyboard Shortcuts.

For a 10keyless keyboard with Windows, select the PC Generic keyboard.

Starting with Pro Tools 2022.4 you can create your own custom key map. For Windows, type Start-Shift-K to see and modify the key map. For Mac, type CTRL-Shift-K instead.

Windows Power Toys

Windows Power Toys allows you to remap keys. This is especially useful if you do not have a full-size keyboard.

Command Focus

You can use the keyboard to navigate; this is called command focus. Command focus is enabled by clicking on the A/Z Edit Key icon. The icon will display in yellow if it is enabled, or in black-and-white if not.

This icon appears in two places, and they are mutually exclusive because command focus can only apply to one area at a time.

Edit window: In the upper right-hand corner of the edit area, to the right of the Clips area (if visible).
In the Groups panel on the left of the Pro Tools window.

Command Focus Hotkeys

P Up

; Down

L Left

, right

Tracks

ALT-click on a track’s volume slider knob sets the input level of the track to 0 dB.

CTRL-G Group selected tracks

CTRL-Shift-N New track

Win-P Select previous track

Win-; Select next track

Misc

ALT-keypad 7 Toggle Universe strip (rainbow colored horizontal strip above tracks)

CTRL-= Toggle Mix sub-window on top

ALT-WIN-= Toggle score editor

CTRL-ALT-B Bounce mix (mixdown)

CTRL-D duplicate selection

CTRL-Shift-L Loop toggle

CTRL-N new session

CTRL-Shift-W Close session

Recording

Enter Return to start of session

CTRL-Space Start recording

Space Stop recording

CTRL-. Stop recording and discard take

ALT-L Loop record toggle

CTRL-ALT-L Loop record toggle

Clips

ALT-numpad 0 Open quantize dialog for selected notes / clips.

CTRL-, Add / remove sync point at cursor.

CTRL-E Cut clip at selection

Clip List

Described on pages 42-43 of the official Pro Tools Shortcuts Guide.

CNTRL-SHIFT-B Select unused clips.

CNTRL-SHIFT-U Clear (delete) unused clips.

ALT-click on delete or move to trash.

Edit Modes and Tools

Cycle through edit modes: ` (backquote key)

Shuffle Mode: F1 or ALT-1

Slip Mode: F2 or ALT-2

Spot Mode: F3 or ALT-3

Enable snap to grid while in another edit mode: SHIFT-F4

Enable snap to grid and shuffle mode: F1+ F4 simultaneously

Enable snap to grid and slip Mode: F2+ F4 simultaneously

Enable snap to grid and spot Mode: F3+ F4 simultaneously

Cycle zoomer tool: F5 or CTRL-1

Cycle trimmer tool: F6 or CTRL-2

~~Cycle selector tool: F7 or CTRL-3~~

Grabber tool: F8 or CTRL-4

Scrubber tool: F9 or CTRL-5

Pencil tool: F10 or CTRL-6

Smart tool: F6+F7 simultaneously or CTRL-7

Cycle through edit tools: ESC

Lock/unlock shuffle mode: CTRL-click Shuffle button

Tracks, Groups & Playlists

ALT-Shift-D Duplicate track

Groups

Win-click mute, solo and record only one track in a group.

CTRL-Shift-G Disable/enable all groups

Playlists

ALT-Shift-N Move selection to new playlist.

Shift-S Solo playlists with cursor.

Win-ALT-v copy selected portion of selected playlist to main playlist

CTRL-Win-\ duplicate selected track to playlist.
CTRL-Win-ALT-\ duplicate all tracks to playlists.
CTRL-Win-ALT-Shift-\ duplicate selected tracks to playlists.

Win-\ add a new playlist to a single selected track.
Win-ALT-\ creates a new Pro Tools playlist on all tracks (including inactive ones).
Win-ALT-Shift-\ creates new playlists only on selected tracks.

Grid Mode

CTRL-Mouse Slip tracks

During Playback

Down arrow start selection

Up arrow extend selection

Transport

Enter Go to start of session

Space Start/stop playback / Record stop

CTRL-Space / F12 Record start

Shift-R Record enable selected tracks

Markers

Ctrl-numberpad 5 Open the Memory Locators window.

Numberpad Enter Define new memory location.

. [1-9]+ . (period followed by the marker number, followed by the period key again; use the numberpad for all characters) Jump to marker.
- Or -
Click on the left-most column in the Memory Locations window.

Click in the marker ruler area, then use Tab and Ctrl-Tab to move to the next/previous marker.

Shift-click on edit window: Extend selection from marker to current location (selects all notes within the selection area).

Win-click on marker: Edit a Memory Location.

By default, memory locations are presented in the order they were defined. To sort memory locations by their timecode, open the pull-down menu to the right of the Memory Locations window, then select Sort By / Time. This is a per-user setting, affecting all Pro Tools sessions.

For further information:

Keyframes

To insert a keyframe, use ALT-Shift-click.

To freely move a keyframe, use click-drag.

To move a keyframe left and right while keeping the value unchanged, use ALT-Shift-click-drag.

MIDI

Double-click on any Instrument or MIDI track to open it in the docked MIDI Editor pane in the lower portion of the Pro Tools window.

ALT-= Toggle MIDI event list

ALT-Win-Shift-= Toggle the MIDI Editor visibility.

In the MIDI editor, the right and left arrow keys move forward and back through the notes. Doubled notes can be noticed by the next visible MIDI note not being selected.

In the main editor, use Win-- to toggle the selected Instrument orMIDI track between the notes view and the clips view. Alt-- toggles all Instrument and MIDI tracks between the notes view and the clips view.

CTRL-SHIFT-] Vertical zoom in

CTRL-SHIFT-[ Vertical zoom out

Vertical zoom to show all notes (lowest to highest) in MIDI and Instrument (MIDI) Command+Control+Shift+[ Control+Start+Shift+[

Zoom

ALT-A fit all clips horizontally

ALT-F fit the selected clips vertically

CTRL-[ horizontal zoom out

CTRL-] horizontal zoom in

References

I have written eighteen articles about Pro Tools. They are somewhat ordered, but largely are meant to be read in any order.

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