# Keyboard shortcuts?

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/keyboard-shortcuts/39>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [2 May 2018 08:17 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/keyboard-shortcuts/39 "2018-05-02T08:17:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![JimDean829](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce7236/32.png) [@JimDean829](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/JimDean829)\
**Post date:** [23 March 2026 23:41 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/keyboard-shortcuts/39/21 "2026-03-23T23:41:05Z")

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It would be super helpful to have a shortcut for to do item: "- [] "

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**Author:** ![LeoW](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/leow/32/22171_2.png) [@LeoW](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/LeoW)\
**Post date:** [24 March 2026 07:29 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/keyboard-shortcuts/39/22 "2026-03-24T07:29:23Z")

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Have you ever used or looked at powertoys from Microsoft?

It has the ability to manage and create keyboard shortcuts and it might be able to do exactly what you're looking for.

Another keyboard mapping or remapping utility that is excellent is called autohotkey. You can get it to do pretty much anything.

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**Author:** ![JimDean829](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce7236/32.png) [@JimDean829](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/JimDean829)\
**Post date:** [24 March 2026 08:35 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/keyboard-shortcuts/39/23 "2026-03-24T08:35:00Z")

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Thanks for your answer.

Yeah I know those tools. But this is a workaround. For really complex actions, this would make sense. But having a shortcut for a todo list item in Joplin is a core feature imo.

Like there are shortcuts for ordered and unordered list items as well.

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**Author:** ![schlagmichdoch](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/schlagmichdoch/32/15362_2.png) [@schlagmichdoch](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/schlagmichdoch)\
**Post date:** [24 March 2026 12:03 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/keyboard-shortcuts/39/24 "2026-03-24T12:03:02Z")

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You can add a shortcut for all of Joplins commands that you can find under `Menu bar > Tools > Command palette...`

In your case you want to add a shortcut for the command `Checkbox (textCheckbox)`. The string in the parenthesis is the identifier that you need.

Now that we know the identifier we can add a shortcut for the command to Joplin:  
Open the file `keymap-desktop.json` in the Joplin config directory and add a shortcut to the JSON inside:

```json
[
  { ... },
  {
    "command": "textCheckbox",
    "accelerator": "Ctrl+Shift+T"
  }
]

```

After restarting Joplin you should now be able to add and remove todo items with the shortcut `CTRL + Shift + T`

If you want another shortcut for a bullet list you can do it analogously:

```json
[
  { ... },
  {
    "command": "textBulletedList",
    "accelerator": "Ctrl+-"
  }
]

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JimDean829](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce7236/32.png) [@JimDean829](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/JimDean829)\
**Post date:** [24 March 2026 15:36 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/keyboard-shortcuts/39/25 "2026-03-24T15:36:26Z")

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Hell yeah 🤘Thats amazing and extremely helpful!! I did not know this is possible. Thanks for the tip!

I will definetly make use of it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![schlagmichdoch](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/schlagmichdoch/32/15362_2.png) [@schlagmichdoch](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/schlagmichdoch)\
**Post date:** [24 March 2026 16:45 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/keyboard-shortcuts/39/26 "2026-03-24T16:45:58Z")

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Just for reference: You can hightlight/mark text analogously to my last answer regarding checkmarks/todos:

```json
[
  { ... },
  {
    "command": "textMark",
    "accelerator": "Ctrl+Shift+H"
  }
]

```

## More commands

> - Attach Image (already there)
> - Links
> - Italic
> - Bold
> - Table
> - Code

[Comment](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/keyboard-shortcuts/39/7) from @AtBios

| Function | Command |
| --- | --- |
| Attach Image | `attachFile` |
| Links | `textLink` |
| Italic | `textItalic` |
| Bold | `textBold` |
| Table | `richTables.insertTable` (requires [Rich Tables plugin](https://joplinapp.org/plugins/plugin/com.bwat47.rich-tables/)) |
| Code | `textCode` |

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