Atom has a keyboard shortcut for a lot of what you click every day. Here are 50 that work on Windows, grouped by what you’re trying to do.
We checked every one against Atom source: default Windows keymap (win32.cson) on October 21, 2026.
Heads up: GitHub archived Atom on December 15, 2022, so it gets no more updates or security fixes.
Files and Windows
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + N | Create a new file |
| Ctrl + O | Open a file |
| Ctrl + Shift + O | Open a folder |
| Ctrl + S | Save the file |
| Ctrl + Shift + S | Save the file under a new name |
| Ctrl + W | Close the current tab |
| Ctrl + Shift + T | Reopen the last closed tab |
| Ctrl + Shift + N | Open a new window |
| Ctrl + , | Open Settings |
| Ctrl + Shift + P | Open the Command Palette |
Editing
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + Z | Undo |
| Ctrl + Y | Redo |
| Ctrl + X | Cut |
| Ctrl + C | Copy |
| Ctrl + V | Paste |
| Ctrl + / | Toggle a line comment |
| Ctrl + Shift + D | Duplicate the current line |
| Ctrl + J | Join the next line onto this one |
| Ctrl + Up Arrow | Move the line up |
| Ctrl + Down Arrow | Move the line down |
| Ctrl + Enter | Insert a new line below |
| Ctrl + Shift + Enter | Insert a new line above |
| Ctrl + ] | Indent the selected lines |
| Ctrl + [ | Outdent the selected lines |
| Ctrl + K, then Ctrl + U | Convert the selection to UPPERCASE |
| Ctrl + K, then Ctrl + L | Convert the selection to lowercase |
Selection and Multi-Cursor
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + A | Select all |
| Ctrl + L | Select the current line |
| Ctrl + D | Select the word, press again to add the next match |
| Ctrl + U | Undo the last added selection |
Find and Navigate
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + F | Open Find and Replace in the current file |
| Ctrl + Shift + F | Find and replace across the project |
| F3 | Find the next match |
| Shift + F3 | Find the previous match |
| Ctrl + P | Find and open a file by name |
| Ctrl + G | Go to a line number |
| Ctrl + R | Go to a symbol in the current file |
| Ctrl + M | Jump to the matching bracket |
| Ctrl + Tab | Switch to the most recently used tab |
| Ctrl + Page Down | Go to the next tab |
Panes and Views
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + \ | Show or hide the file tree |
| Ctrl + K, then Right Arrow | Split the pane to the right |
| Ctrl + Alt + [ | Fold the current block |
| Ctrl + Alt + ] | Unfold the current block |
| Ctrl + Shift + M | Toggle the Markdown preview |
| Ctrl + Shift + 9 | Show or hide the Git panel |
| Ctrl + Shift + 8 | Show or hide the GitHub panel |
| Ctrl + = | Make the font bigger |
| Ctrl + – | Make the font smaller |
| F11 | Toggle full screen |
Good to know: Keys come from Atom’s last released keymaps (core plus built-in packages such as find-and-replace and tree-view). Installed packages can change them.
Get the Excel and PDF Version
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If you’d rather have it on your desk, the download below is a sortable Excel file plus a printable one-page PDF of all 50 shortcuts, for $0.99.
Want One Key to Do More?
Built-in shortcuts only work while Atom is the active window, and you can’t add new ones. These tools let you pick your own hotkeys:
- Prompt Assistant: paste a saved code snippet or a file header into Atom (or whatever editor you move to) with a hotkey
- AHK Script Maker: an editor for writing your own AutoHotkey hotkey scripts
