Keyboard shortcuts for common actions in Files

[nimishavijay]

Files right now is not super accessible by keyboard, with other software like Gdrive, Onedrive and Dropbox having nice keyboard shortcuts for common actions. It would be great if NC also had better keyboard accessibility. Here are the most common actions and their keyboard shortcuts across different software, and any similar actions in other Nextcloud apps also. Since there are sometimes slightly different shortcuts for different actions across softwares, we can't have something that's 100% familiar to everyone, but we can use the most common shortcut key.

UPDATE: as of Jan 2025 Google Drive signicantly changed their shortcuts, leaning towards more Alt-key based combos instead, edited to reflect the updated shortcuts

Action	Gdrive	Dropbox	Onedrive	Other Nextcloud apps	Recommended shortcut
Navigate through files	↑ ↓ → ← / k j h l	↑ ↓	↑ ↓ → ←	↑ ↓ in Mail	↑ ↓ → ← (left and right to support grid view)
Select/unselect	Ctrl+Space		Space		Ctrl+Space
Select range	Shift+↑ ↓ → ←
Select all	Ctrl + a	Ctrl + a	Ctrl + a		Ctrl + a
Unselect all	Esc	Esc	Ctrl + d		Esc (Ctrl + n is used in Firefox for opening a new window, so Esc can be used for unselect as long as no popup is open)
Search	/	/	/	/ for quick find	/
Delete	Del	Del	Del		Del
Rename	Ctrl+Alt+E or F2	F2	F2		F2
Open file/folder	Enter	→	Enter	Enter in Mail	Enter
Close open file/popup	Esc		Esc		Esc
Go up a folder	Alt+g and then p, or Alt+↑	←	Alt + ↑		Alt + ↑
Upload	Alt+c and then u (upload file), Alt+c and then i (upload folder)				Shift + u (open upload menu)
Share	Ctrl+Alt+A		s		. (s is used for favouriting)
Favourite/star	s			s in Mail	s
Toggle sidebar/details	Alt+g and then d		i		d
Open actions menu	Alt+a, or Shift+F10		Shift + F10		a (we could implement this across all apps)
Cut/copy/paste	Ctrl+Alt+m (move), Ctrl + c/v (copy/paste)	Ctrl + x/c/v			Ctrl + x/c/v
Switch grid/list view	Alt+v and then L				v
Go to navigation	Alt+g and then n				n (we could implement this across all the apps)
Show keyboard shortcuts	Ctrl+/	?	?		?

What do you think?
cc @jancborchardt who also worked on this and @skjnldsv for Files

[Spartachetto]

In case you don't remember it, there is the old issue #1444 .

I cite it because it has a synthesis of the shortcuts of the different apps. No idea if it is up to date, though.

[MacsKavana]

This is a super important feature. Can we expect anything?

[nickvergessen]

Server PR for a global setting to opt out of keyboard shortcuts to satisfy accessibility is in:

• Add global setting to disable keyboad shortcuts #34081

Method to check: OCP.Accessibility.disableKeyboardShortcuts()

If that is true the app(s) must not register ANY shortcuts.

[skjnldsv]

@nimishavijay do you have a bit more insight on the mac Meta key?
Does it replace Ctrl on the keyboard shortcuts you listed? :)

[skjnldsv]

Relevant

• [Enhancement?] Use Keyboard to select multiple items? #31765
• Keyboard shortcut support #1444

[Aveyron-RetD]

Browsing through Nextcloud github issues trying to find the best place to request a way for adding a shortcut to tags i think this might be the best place. Ignore my comment if not.
i would suggest the letter t for tags
Tags are on three main apps and the core of nextcloud
Tags for the file app, tags for the photo app
Tags for the mail app
To add a tag on any of the core app is quite a chore on V28
BTW we have lost the possibility to tags multiple item on V28 if you would like me to open a bug report let me know.

Files app
Find the document you want to tag => Right click => Open the details => Right click on the submenu => Add a tag => Select the tags you want to add
Photo app
Find the picture you want to tag => Open the picture => Open the details => Right click on the submenu => Add a tag => Select the tags you want to add
Mail app
Select the mail you want to tag => Right click on the sub menu => Modify the tags ?? => Add a tag

Could i suggest also the @ for sharing

[skjnldsv]

Let's continue in dedicated tickets:

• Upload lib PR: feat: add upload menu shortcuts  nextcloud-libraries/nextcloud-upload#1529
• Navigation PR: feat(NcAppNavigation): add n hotkey to toggle navigation nextcloud-libraries/nextcloud-vue#6311
• Copy/paste Issue: Allow copy/cut/paste of selection #49892
• Share shortcut issue: [Files] Shortcut to share a file #49910