Move around the canvas
The canvas is much larger than your screen. This page shows how to pan, zoom, select and move nodes, with the mouse or with the keyboard alone.
Figure: A busy canvas, zoomed out. The zoom controls are at the bottom right.
On a Mac, use Cmd where this page says Ctrl.
Pan
To move the view, do one of these:
- Scroll with the mouse wheel or the touchpad.
- Hold
Spaceand drag with the mouse. - Drag with the middle mouse button.
Note
Over a terminal you clicked into, the wheel scrolls the terminal’s history instead. The same goes for a browser portal, a file tree or a file you clicked. Move the pointer off it to pan.
Zoom
- Hold
Ctrland scroll. The canvas zooms around the pointer. - Press
Ctrl+=to zoom in andCtrl+-to zoom out. - Press
Ctrl+0to go back to 100%. - Or use the zoom controls at the bottom right: −, the zoom level, + and Fit. Click the zoom level to go back to 100%.
You can zoom from 25% to 300%. When you zoom far out, Cuewire draws less: first the text inside nodes goes, then their titles. This keeps the canvas fast. Zoom in again to read.
Fit and focus
| Keys | What they do |
|---|---|
Ctrl+1 | Fit every node into the view (same as Fit) |
Ctrl+2 | Fit the selected nodes into the view |
F | Zoom to the one selected node |
Esc | After F: go back to where you were |
Save a view and come back to it
You can keep up to nine views of a canvas: a place and a zoom level.
- Pan and zoom to a view you want to keep.
- Press
Ctrl+Alt+3(any number from 1 to 9). Cuewire says View 3 saved · Alt+3 returns here. - Later, press
Alt+3to go back there.
The command palette (Ctrl+K) lists your saved views as Go to view 3, and
Delete view 3 removes one. Saved views are kept with the canvas.
Select
| To do this | Do this |
|---|---|
| Select a node | Click it |
| Select a terminal without typing into it | Click its title bar |
| Add a node to the selection, or take it out | Shift+click it |
| Select every node in an area | Drag across empty canvas |
| Add an area to the selection | Shift+drag across empty canvas |
| Select everything | Ctrl+A |
| Clear the selection | Esc, or click empty canvas |
A selected node has a coloured outline. A drag across empty canvas draws a box. Every node the box touches is selected.
Figure: Drag across empty canvas to select every node the box touches.
Clicking inside a terminal, a note, a browser portal or a file does more than select it. A click in a terminal or a portal sends your keys there. A click in a note or a file lets you edit it. To only select one of these, click its title bar.
Move nodes
- Drag a node by its title bar. Labels, text and rectangles have no title bar: drag them anywhere.
- To move several nodes, select them, then drag one of them.
- Press the arrow keys to move the selection one grid step. Hold
Shiftto move four steps.
The dots on the canvas are a grid. When you drop or resize a node, it snaps to the grid. This keeps your canvas tidy.
A node you click or drag comes to the front. A locked node does not move. See Terminals, notes and shapes.
Tip
Tidy up in the command palette arranges your agents for you. Agents line up by who hands tasks to whom, with their notes and portals under them. Press
Ctrl+Zto undo it.
Use the keyboard only
You can reach every node without a mouse.
Figure: Tab visits nodes row by row, left to right. Nodes whose tops are nearly level count as
one row.
- Press
Tabto select the next node.Shift+Tabselects the one before. If the node is off screen, the view moves to it. The zoom level stays the same. - Press
Enterto go into the selected node:- a terminal or a browser portal takes your keys;
- a note or a file opens for editing;
- a file tree takes the mouse wheel.
- Press
Shift+Escto come back out. The node stays selected. In a note or a file,Escalso works.
In a terminal, every other key goes to the program in it, including Esc and Tab. That is why
leaving takes Shift+Esc.
Screen readers hear which node is selected. See Keyboard shortcuts.