Keyboard Shortcuts

Bubbl.us mind map editor has many keyboard shortcuts, designed to reduce user's reliance on the mouse while brainstorming. Use of the following shortcuts depends on the current context, i.e. whether you're editing text in a bubble, or a line at the moment.

Undo and redo

Press Ctrl + Z to undo your last action.

Press Ctrl + Y, or Ctrl + Shift + Z to redo.

Creating new bubbles

Ctrl + Click + Drag to create and start placing a new bubble at mouse cursor. Release the mouse button to accept position.

Ctrl + Click or Double Click to create a new bubble at mouse cursor.

Press Ctrl + Enter to create a new bubble at the center of the screen.

View

Press Home key to fit all bubbles into view.

Press + and - to zoom in and out.

Use + Mouse Wheel to zoom in and out towards mouse cursor.

Arrow keys will scroll the view in their respective directions.

Pressing Alt + Enter will enter Presentation Mode.

Selecting

Shift + Click + Drag in empty space to start selecting bubbles using a rectangular marquee. Release the mouse button to add all bubbles overlapping the selection box to selection.

If you release the Shift key while dragging, but before releasing the mouse button, then the bubbles inside the selection will replace selection instead of adding to it.

Hold Alt key while dragging to deselect ( subtract bubbles from selection ), instead of adding to it.

Shift + Click on a bubble to select / deselect it.

Press Ctrl + A to select all bubbles.

Shift + Click or press Escape in empty space to deselect all bubbles.

Selection Operations

When one or more bubbles are selected, press Delete or Backspace to delete entire selection.

Press Ctrl + C to copy selected bubbles to Bubbl.us clipboard. Press Ctrl + V to paste copied bubbles to the same or a different mind map. Note that Bubbl.us clipboard is separate from your computer's clipboard; you can still copy and paste text from and to bubbles when editing them. Also, Bubbl.us clipboard is saved and restored when you sign out / sign into Bubbl.us.

Editing bubbles

Press Ctrl + Enter to create a new child bubble.

Press Tab to move editing focus to the next sibling of the currently edited bubble. If the bubble has no siblings after it, a new bubble will be created under the same parent. If you're editing a top level bubble, another top level bubble will be added instead.

Press Shift + Tab to move editing focus from the current bubble to its previous sibling. If there are no previous siblings, the focus will move to bubble's parent. This allows you to quickly switch to and edit previous bubbles up the hierarchy.

Formatting bubble text

Select some text and press Ctrl + B to make it bold.

Pressing Ctrl + I will turn selected text italic.

Press Ctrl + U to underline the selection.

Press Ctrl + H without any text being selected, to turn current paragraph into a heading. Pressing it again when cursor is inside heading will turn it off.

Or, at the beginning of a new line, type # and press the Space key. A new heading will be created.

To create a bulleted list, at the beginning of a new line, type * and press the Space key. A bulleted list will be created. Add more bullets by pressing Enter at the end of each bullet. End the list by pressing the Enter key at the end of an empty bullet.

Formatting line label text

To make new lines in line label text, press Shift + Enter.

Select some text and press Ctrl + B to make it bold.

Pressing Ctrl + I will turn selected text italic.

Press Ctrl + U to underline the selection.