Affinity Publisher can be a powerful tool for typesetting, but manually adjusting text, layouts, and formatting can be time-consuming. Using keyboard shortcuts can speed up your workflow, reduce repetitive tasks, and make typesetting more efficient.

I've previously shared how I use specific shortcuts with my shortcut keyboard to improve efficiency and reduce strain on my hands. This tutorial will provide a more comprehensive overview, covering a wide range of shortcuts for different aspects of the typesetting process.

Affinity_Publisher_Shortcuts.pdf

Text Formatting Shortcuts

Instead of navigating to the Text Panel, use these shortcuts while working directly on the text to adjust styles instantly.

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You can make custom shortcuts for character and paragraph styles!

That way when formatting Fics that have passages of handwriting, or news articles, or flashbacks that you want to have different styles, you can adjust text on the fly and much more quickly. This is also a great hack to use for Chapter Header Styles!

• After creating your text style to add a shortcut → Open the Text Styles panel, click on a listed style's options menu and select Edit → In the dialog, select the Style section and then click inside the Keyboard shortcut box → Press your required key combination →Click OK
• If a warning icon appears in the box, the shortcut is already assigned to another action or text style. Hover over the icon to see what that action or text style is </aside>

Paragraph Alignment & Spacing Shortcuts

Use these shortcuts while working in text frames to quickly align and space paragraphs without opening additional menus.

Navigating and Selecting Text Shortcuts

Use these shortcuts to quickly select and edit specific text sections without relying on a mouse.

Text Frame Shortcuts

Instead of manually adjusting text frames, use the "Expand Text Frame" shortcut to quickly fit text without overflow.

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Auto-Flow Text Shortcut:

If your text frame has overflow text (indicated by a red triangle in the bottom-right corner) by holding Shift + clicking the text overflow indicator, Affinity Publisher will automatically add new pages of the current master spread layout until all text is visible. Meaning you don’t have to link your text flow manually!

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Object & Layout Shortcuts

Speed up page layout adjustments. Use duplication (Ctrl + J / Cmd + J) instead of manually copying and pasting repeated elements like captions or headers.

Page Management Shortcuts