Speed and shortcuts

Every shortcut in the editor, how to rebind them, and the four things that save the most time

The four biggest time savers

• Run Command (Ctrl+Shift+P) - everything the editor can do, searchable by name. Faster than remembering which panel a button is on
• Search Content (Ctrl+F) - jump to an object or an audio track by name. The playhead goes with you
• Ping - the viewport frames the selection, the timeline and the hierarchy scroll to it, all at once. Pressing it again steps to the next object of a multi-selection
• Arrow keys on a timeline - they move by direction, not by position in a list. Stepping between neighbouring keys needs no mouse

The defaults

The groups and names below are the ones Settings → Keybindings shows

Playback

Edit

Selection

View

Timeline

Z X C V B N follow the timeline toolbar from left to right, and Q W E R T follow the tab strip. A timeline with fewer tools drops them from the right: the local timeline has only Z X C V. A letter the open timeline has no tool for does nothing

Gizmos

Window

Navigation

Bare keys such as the gizmo digits, the timeline letters and Space do nothing while you type in a text field. Typing a 2 into a frame field does not switch the gizmo

Arrow keys on a timeline

An arrow picks the nearest item in that direction on screen. The same press finds the same item at any zoom

• From a multi-selection, an arrow starts at the item furthest along the pressed direction. It never steps back into the block you selected
• An arrow move always replaces the selection. It never adds to it
• The timeline scrolls only as much as it needs to show the new item. Clicking the playhead readout still centres the view
• While the preview player is on, the arrows steer it, not the timeline. The hierarchy and the Raw Data tab keep their arrows once you click into them

Seeing the level

Preview. Hold ` to hide the editor's interface and look at the level alone. It is a hold, not a switch: release the key and everything is back. The level, the letterbox bars, the player and the camera bounds stay visible. There is no button or setting for it. The key is rebindable as Preview (hold)

The viewport grid is switched with its toolbar button or the Viewport Grid command. It starts off. Settings → Game Editor → Grid On By Default changes that, and whether you switched it on is not remembered between sessions

The gizmo magnet snaps what a gizmo drags to the grid. It is on by default and does not depend on the gizmo mode. Its toolbar button and the Gizmo Magnet command switch it

Paused is the normal state for looking. The grid, the colliders, the bot overlay, the gizmo handles and the selection border all keep drawing while playback is paused. Grabbing a gizmo handle pauses playback

Rebinding

Any shortcut can be rebound: Settings → Keybindings

Only the shortcuts you changed are stored. The rest come from the defaults. So an improved default reaches you if you never rebound that shortcut. Reset Keybindings simply removes your changes, and every shortcut goes back to its default

Pressed and held shortcuts

A pressed shortcut fires only when its modifiers match exactly. Ctrl+Shift+P cannot also fire what Ctrl+P would, and a bare T does not fire while Ctrl is down

A held shortcut fires when its modifiers are among the ones held down. It refines a gesture already happening

Next: The order of work, Reuse: prefabs, copying, generators