Configure keyboard shortcuts

File | Settings | Keymap for Windows and Linux

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MPS includes several predefined keymaps and lets you customize frequently used shortcuts.

To view the keymap configuration, open the Settings dialog Ctrl+Alt+S and select Keymap.

MPS automatically suggests a predefined keymap based on your environment. Make sure that it matches the OS you are using or select the one that matches shortcuts from another IDE or editor you are used to (for example, Eclipse or NetBeans).

A keymap is a list of actions with corresponding keyboard and mouse shortcuts and abbreviations. You cannot change predefined keymaps. Instead, when you modify any shortcut of a predefined keymap, MPS creates a copy of that keymap, which you can configure. Click to duplicate the selected keymap, rename, remove, or restore it to default values. For more information about keymap files, refer to Location of user-defined keymaps.

Some actions inherit their keyboard shortcuts or mouse shortcuts from other actions. On the Keymap page, you can navigate to the parent action using the inherited from link. When you change a shortcut of a parent action, all shortcuts of its child actions change accordingly. When you change a shortcut of a child action, it does not affect the shortcuts of its parent action, but the inheritance link is removed making both actions independent.

To find an action by name, type it in the search field of the Keymap page. If you know the shortcut of an action, click and press the key combination in the Find Shortcut dialog.

When consulting this page and other pages in MPS documentation, you can see keyboard shortcuts for the keymap that you use in the IDE — choose it using the selector at the top of a page.

Add a keyboard shortcut

On the Keymap page of the Settings dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, use the search field to find the desired action.
Right-click the action and select Add Keyboard Shortcut.
In the Keyboard Shortcut dialog, press the necessary key combination.
Pressing some keys or key combinations, such as Enter or Escape, will result in the actual action, such as closing the dialog. If you want to use them as shortcuts, click in the Keyboard Shortcut dialog and select the necessary key or combination.
If necessary, select the Second stroke checkbox to define a complex shortcut with two sequential key combinations.
Click OK to save the shortcut.

The key combination that you press is displayed in the Keyboard Shortcut dialog, as well as a warning if it conflicts with existing shortcuts.

Add a mouse shortcut

On the Keymap page of the Settings dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, right-click an action and select Add Mouse Shortcut.
In the Mouse Shortcut dialog, move the mouse pointer to the central area and click or scroll as necessary.
Click OK to save the shortcut.

The performed mouse manipulations are displayed in the Mouse Shortcut dialog, as well as a warning if it conflicts with existing shortcuts.

Add an abbreviation

An abbreviation can be used to quickly find an action without a shortcut. For example, you can press Ctrl+Shift+A and type the name of the Jump to Colors and Fonts action to quickly modify the color and font settings of the element under the current caret position. If you assign an abbreviation for this action (like JCF), you can then type it instead of the full action name.

On the Keymap page of the Settings dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, right-click an action and select Add Abbreviation.
In the Abbreviation dialog, type the desired abbreviation and click OK.

Reset action shortcuts to default

If you changed, added, or removed a shortcut for an action, you can reset it to the initial configuration.

On the Keymap page of the Settings dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, right-click an action and select Reset Shortcuts.

Location of user-defined keymaps

When you modify one of the default keymaps, MPS creates a custom keymap file in the keymaps directory under the MPS IDE configuration directory:

Syntax: %APPDATA%\JetBrains\<product><version>\keymaps
Example: C:\Users\JohnS\AppData\Roaming\JetBrains\MPS2024.1\keymaps

Syntax: ~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains/<product><version>/keymaps
Example: ~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains/MPS2024.1/keymaps

Syntax: ~/.config/JetBrains/<product><version>/keymaps
Example: ~/.config/JetBrains/MPS2024.1/keymaps

A custom keymap file contains only the differences relative to its parent keymap. For example, if you modify the default Windows keymap, your custom keymap will be its child. The file will contain only the shortcuts that you added or modified, while all other shortcuts of your custom keymap will be the same as the default Windows keymap.

You can share your custom keymaps with team members or between your IDE instances. Copy the corresponding keymap file and put it in the keymaps directory on another MPS installation. Then select the copied keymap on the Keymap settings page.

Conflicts with global OS shortcuts

Predefined keymaps do not cover every possible platform, version, and configuration. Some shortcuts can conflict with global system actions and shortcuts for third-party software. To fix these conflicts, you can reassign or disable the conflicting shortcut.

MPS detects conflicts with system shortcuts and notifies you with a popup message:

Click Modify Shortcuts to open the Keymap settings dialog where you can make the necessary adjustments:

Here are a few examples of possible system shortcut conflicts with the default keymap in MPS. Make sure that function keys are enabled on your system.

Shortcut	System action	MPS action
`⌃ Space`	Select the previous input source	Basic code completion
`⇧ ⌘ A`	Search man Page Index in Terminal	Find Action

Shortcut	System action	MPS action
`Ctrl+Alt+S`	Shade window	Open the Settings dialog
`Ctrl+Alt+L`	Lock screen	Reformat Code
`Ctrl+Alt+T`	Launch Terminal	Surround With
`Ctrl+Alt+F12`	Open the tty12 virtual console	File path
`Ctrl+Alt+Left` `Ctrl+Alt+Right`	Switch between Workspaces	Undo/redo navigation operations
`Alt+F7`	Move window	Find Usages
`Alt+F8`	Resize window	Evaluate Expression

Last modified: 13 March 2024