Basic and Not-so-Basic Text Selection Shortcuts

James Fritz

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While these Adobe InDesign text selection shortcuts are probably a refresher for most people, take some time to review them because you might find one that you never knew about. In fact, I never even noticed that you could double-click and drag to select more than a word. Sometimes it is the obvious, little tricks that can make your day. If I missed any shortcuts, please put them in the comments and I will update the article.

Mouse Selections

Select Cursor Position – Single Click

Select Word – Double-Click

Select Line – Triple-Click

Select Paragraph – Quad-Click  (4 clicks) This is the preferred method of selecting a paragraph. If you click and drag, you might miss the end of the paragraph.

Select Story – Quin-Click (5 clicks)

Select a Word and More – Double-Click and drag your mouse. This also works with triple/quad clicks.

Add to a Selection – Shift-Click when you have a selection to add to that selection.

Table Selections

Select Table – Opt/Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+A

Select Column – Opt/Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+3

Select Row – Cmd/Ctrl+3

Select Cell – Cmd/Ctrl+/ or ESC

Select Cells Above – Shift+Up Arrow

Select Cells Below – Shift+Down Arrow

Select Cells to the Left – Shift+Left Arrow

Select Cells to the Right – Shift+Right Arrow

Keyboard Selecting

Select line – Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+\

Select one character to the left – Shift+Left Arrow

Select one character to the right – Shift+Right Arrow

Select one line above – Shift+Up Arrow

Select one line below – Shift+Down Arrow

Select one paragraph before – Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+Up Arrow

Select one paragraph forward – Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+Down Arrow

Select one word to the left – Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+Left Arrow

Select one word to the right – Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+Right Arrow

Select to beginning of story – Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+Home

Select to end of story – Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+End

Select to the end of the line – Shift+End

Select to the start of the line – Shift+Home

Select entire story – Cmd/Ctrl+A

Select first frame in thread – Opt/Alt+Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+Page Up

Select last frame in thread -Opt/Alt+Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+Page Down

Select next frame in thread – Opt/Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+Page Down

Select previous frame in thread – Opt/Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+Page Up