Pro Tools Keyboards and Hot Keys

Published 2020-03-01. Last modified 2024-12-10.
Time to read: 4 minutes.

This page is part of the av_studio collection.

Also see these related articles about Pro Tools:

See the official Pro Tools Shortcuts Guide.

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.

Key Modifiers

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.

The command focus hotkeys are:

P Up

; Down

L Left

, right

See Pro Tools Shortcuts: Selecting and Editing for further information.

Track Volume

CTRL-= Maximize input level of the selected track.

ALT-click on the slider knob. Set input level of the selected track to 0 dB.

Misc

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

CTRL-= Toggle Mix sub-window on top

CTRL-D duplicate selection

CTRL-E Cut clip at selection

CTRL-G Group selected tracks

CTRL-N new session

CTRL-Shift-L Loop toggle

CTRL-Shift-N New track

CTRL-Shift-W Close session

CTRL-ALT-B Bounce mix (mixdown)

Win-P Select previous track

Win-; Select next track

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.

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.

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.

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-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.

Zoom

ALT-A fit all clips horizontally

CTRL-[ horizontal zoom out

CTRL-] horizontal zoom in

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