This is a companion post to my article on ARCHICAD 19 Work Environment updates. The video in that post talks about shortcuts, but I decided to move the shortcut discussion to its own post. So after you read this post (or before), you should also check that post out as well.

Keyboard Short Cuts

When ARCHICAD 19 was released, I went through every single keyboard shortcut I had and updated them to align with the GRAPHISOFT standard. I compared my customized ARCHICAD 18 shortcuts to the default ARCHICAD 19 shortcuts. I also looked at where the holes where-shortcuts that I created because none existed. Fortunately there’s a button in Work Environment dialog window to list all the shortcuts in your browser. Once I had the shortcuts in my web browser, I copy and pasted them into a spreadsheet and started comparing, deleting, and updating. Once I organized all the data, I of course created a chart, because I love charts, graphs, and diagrams. I also then went back into ARCHICAD to create all the shortcuts I needed to.If you want to see the entire list of shortcuts that the chart above condenses, here’s a link to download a PDF of the entire spreadsheet. It shows all my shortcuts and how each changed from ARCHICAD 18 to 19. If you don’t want to examine all two hundred plus shortcuts in that PDF, here’s an overview of what I learned:

• ARCHICAD has a crazy amount of shortcuts. Out of the 206 in my Work Environment, only 39 are customized. That means there are 167 default keyboard shortcuts in ARCHICAD 19. Actually 168 because of those 39, one is replacing an existing default. That change is Polyline. L should be Polyline, not Show/Hide Guidelines. That’s dumb.
• ARCHICAD actually has more than 168 default keyboard shortcuts because that number (and my spreadsheet) doesn’t include the twenty or so non-customizable shortcuts.
• A few of the shortcuts in the PDF appear to be missing because I made the list in a spreadsheet program, and putting ‘ or + or = in an empty cell causes problems.
• Break old habits. Just because you have been using the same keyboard shortcuts for the past decade is not an acceptable reason to use them for the next ten years. Unlearning is as important as learning.
• My ARCHICAD 19 keyboard shortcuts are a lot cleaner, more systematic, and valuable than my previous ones. Also since all but one of the custom keyboard shortcuts are additions, not replacements, I’m adding functionality rather than just customizing for my own glorification. When customizing ARCHICAD-whether template development, Work Environments, Object creation, etc-remember to ask yourself “Am I improving functionality or just making changes for the sake of claiming ownership?” Don’t waste time adding unnecessary changes. Don’t exert effort making things worse in an attempt to make things yours. And don’t waste energy making everyone learn a customized version when the default is good enough**. As my investigation into keyboard shortcuts showed me, there was plenty of stubborn foolishness in my ARCHICAD 18 shortcuts.
• I tried to be very logical about how keyboard shortcuts relate to each other. Most of the keyboard shortcuts in the list below try to group similar tools. Notice the shortcuts Opt+1 and Command+1, Opt+2 and Command+2, etc. I’ve found that those work beautifully.
• As I have been for years, I am a big believer in keeping keyboard shortcuts organized around hand positions and muscle memory, rather than T is for Text and B is for Banana. In general I have two primary shortcut groupings. One where my left hand rests with my thumb hovering over the option and command keys to the left of the space bar and another where my left thumb sits over the option and command keys to the right of the space bar. Depending on the type of work I’m doing, my hand will spend more time on the left or right side of the keyboard.
• I made it easier to get to the Label tool than the Text tool. I want to default to using Labels rather than Text. My keyboard shortcuts of K for Label and Option+K for Text support that. K is so much easier to use. And K was my shortcut for Text up until this summer. I have written a lot about Labels in ARCHICAD 19. If you aren’t sold on the power of Labels in ARCHICAD 19, read these posts.

I’ve talked a lot about short cuts over the years (my favorites, how to customize them, why you need to use them, how videogamers can inspire us, how decades of playing the bass guitar have taught me the importance of hand positions…). Here’s a bunch of those posts. If you are inspired to revamp your shortcuts, you might also want a primer on how to define and update keyboard shortcuts. The video below is old, but should still cover everything you need to know. Just remember, if I contradict myself in this video, 2015 Jared knows more than 2012 Jared.

ArchiCAD Tip #15: Defining new Keyboard Shortcuts in ArchiCAD (2012)

Finally, if you like my shortcuts and want to use them, they are part of my Work Environment. Click here to download it.

I don’t have a keyboard shortcut for subscribe, so you’ll have to click some links. Follow Shoegnome on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube for more…

**I’m definitely NOT advocating always going with the defaults of everything in ARCHICAD. But it’s critical to understand what needs changing and what doesn’t. I talked about this a bit when I released my Shoegnome Open Template for ARCHICAD 19.