Keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are customizable in Tools>Preferences>General>Keyboard shortcuts.

The keyboard shortcuts displayed below are relevant for macOS. Click here to switch to shortcuts for Windows or Linux.

Navigation in panels

`Tab`	jump over from the active panel to the inactive panel
`Space`	change location in the active panel
`/`	edit location in the active panel
`Backspace`	go to the parent folder
`Shift`+`Tab`	clone the location from the active panel to the inactive panel and jump over to the inactive panel
`Cmd`+`1`, `Cmd`+`2`, `Cmd`+`3`	sort the corresponding column (Name, Size or Time) of an active panel in ascending or descending order
`Cmd`+`Up`/`Down`	change the order of current column in the active panel (e.g. order the "Name" column alphabetically and vice versa or order the "Size" column ascending or descending)
`Cmd`+`Left`/`Right`	change a current column in the active panel to modify order of items (the "Name", the "Size" and the "Date" columns)
`Option`+`Left`	go to previous location in the active panel
`Option`+`Right`	go to next location in the active panel
`Cmd`+`B`	create a new bookmark or edit existing one

`Shift`+`Up`/`Down`	toggle selection the selection of the current item and jump up or down
`Shift`+`PageUp`/`PageDown`	toggle selection from the current item by jumping one page up or down
`Shift`+`Home`/`End`	toggle selection from the current item to the beginning or end of the list
`Insert`	Windows and Linux only: toggle selection of the current item and go to the next item (same as `Shift`+`Down`)
`Cmd`+`A`	select all currently visible items in the active list view; or if all are already selected then deselect all
`Cmd`+`Shift`+`A`	invert selection of all currently visible items in the active list view
`Cmd`+`E`	toggle selection for the files with the same extension as the current item
`Escape`	clear the selection in the active list view

`any letter or number`	edit quick-filter
`Shift`+`Space`	open "Filter items" dialog
`Backspace`	remove the last character from the quick-filter (if quick-filter is active)
`Escape`	reset the active quick-filter or filter

`Cmd`+`X`	cut to clipboard (the items will be moved after the subsequent paste operation)
`Cmd`+`C`	copy to clipboard (the items will be copied after the subsequent paste operation)
`Cmd`+`V`	paste items from clipboard to the current folder
`F8`	copy the path of the selected items

`F3`	view current file in text, binary of image viewer
`Shift`+`F3`	turn ON/OFF thumbnail mode
`F4`	edit the current file in external text editor
`Shift`+`F4`	create and edit a new file
`Enter`	open folder, archive or open a file with the default application or run a program
`Shift`+`Enter`	specify how to open the current item
`Option`+`Enter`	open item Properties dialog
`Cmd`+`Enter`	counts statistics (total size occupied, most recent modified date) for folder contents

`F2`	rename selected item or items
`Cmd`+`D`	duplicate the selected items (similar to `Cmd`+`C` followed by `Cmd`+`V`)
`Cmd`+`L`	create a shortcut (Windows) or symlink (macOS and Linux) to the current item
`F5`	copy selected items
`Shift`+`F5`	compress selected items to a new archive
`F6`	move selected items
`F7`	make a new folder in the active folder
`Delete`	move selected items to trash (`Fn`+`Backspace` on MacBooks)
`Shift`+`Delete`	permanently delete the selected items (`Shift`+`Fn`+`Backspace` on MacBooks)

`Cmd`+`Plus`	zoom in (i.e. increase font size)
`Cmd`+`Minus`	zoom out (i.e. decrease font size)
`Cmd`+`0`	reset zoom to default size
`Cmd`+`,`	open Preferences dialog
`Cmd`+`.`	show/hide hidden files (note: hidden files start with a dot on Unix-like systems)

`F9`	open Terminal with the current location as the working directory
`F10`	open Command center
`Cmd`+`F`	find file or folder
`Cmd`+`Shift`+`F`	find text in files
`Cmd`+`Shift`+`D`	finds duplicate files
`Cmd`+`R`	open window with recently used files
`Cmd`+`S`	compare and synchronize folders
`F1`	display help

`Cmd`+`T`	open a new tab with the same locations as in the current one
`Cmd`+`W`	close the current tab and switch to the previous one
`Cmd`+`Tab`	switch to the next tab
`Cmd`+`Shift`+`Tab`	switch to the previous tab

Tip: These four shortcuts are the same as are used in web browsers to work with tabs.

`Cmd`+`left click`	toggle selection of the clicked item
`Shift`+`left click`	extend (toggle) selection from the current item to the clicked item
`Cmd`+`right click`	show secondary context menu (Windows only)
`long hold of left mouse button`	turn on mouse-selection mode (indicated by "hand" mouse cursor)
`Escape` or `right click`	turn off mouse-selection mode

Escape key has various functions depending on the context. The priority order from the highest to the lowest:

Space key is a powerful key in HiFile and has several different uses depending on context:

press once in the main window - displays a list of bookmarks and drives in the active panel
press twice in the main window - displays a list of recently used folders
similarly, it can be used in dialogs in dedicated path edit boxes
pressing space on a certain item in a window such as "Find files and folders" will open this item in the active panel of the main window
in other cases it works as a normal space key