Unity Keyboard Shortcuts for Faster Game Development
Introduction
Keyboard shortcuts offer quick access to often used tools and features within an application. Getting to know Unity’s keyboard shortcuts will lead to faster game development. Memorizing just a few of these will have you zooming through the Unity editor with such ease and fluidity some might say “you’re a wizard Harry”.
Hotkeys for Play Mode Controls
These hotkeys will allow you to quickly play, stop, pause, and step through frames in the game view.
| Play Mode Controls | ||
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Action | Mac |
| Ctrl + P | Play / Stop | Cmd + P |
| Ctrl + Shift + P | Pause | Cmd + Shift + P |
| Ctrl + Alt + P | Step | Cmd + Alt + P |
Keyboard Shortcuts for Unity Editor Navigation
Here are the keyboard shortcuts that will allow you to switch or bring up new windows in Unity without ever touching the mouse.
| Unity Editor Navigation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Action | Mac |
| Ctrl + 1 | Scene Window | Cmd + 1 |
| Ctrl + 2 | Game Window | Cmd + 2 |
| Ctrl + 3 | Inspector Window | Cmd + 3 |
| Ctrl + 4 | Hierarchy Window | Cmd + 4 |
| Ctrl + 5 | Project Window | Cmd + 5 |
| Ctrl + 6 | Animation Window | Cmd + 6 |
| Ctrl + 7 | Profiler Window | Cmd + 7 |
| Ctrl + 8 | Audio Mixer Window | Cmd + 8 |
| Ctrl + 9 | Asset Store Window (no longer in use) | Cmd + 9 |
| Ctrl + 0 | Console Window | Cmd + 0 |
Hotkeys for Manipulating GameObjects
Next, these are the hotkeys for creating, moving, and viewing GameObjects without having to sort through menus or drag things around.
| Manipulating GameObjects | ||
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Action | Mac |
| Ctrl + Shift + N | Create a New Empty GameObject | Cmd + Shift + N |
| Alt + Shift + N | Create a New Empty GameObject as a Child of the Selected GameObject | Alt + Shift + N |
| Ctrl + Alt + F | Move GameObject to View | Cmd + Alt + F |
| Ctrl + Shift + F | Align GameObject with View | Cmd + Shift + F |
| Shift + F | Locks Scene View to the Select GameObject | Shift + F |
| Double Tap F | Locks Scene View to the Select GameObject | Double Tap F |
Keyboard Shortcuts for Animating
Animating can be a time-consuming process. Do not drag your mouse back and forth from your animation to the timeline. Use these keyboard shortcuts instead.
| Animation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Action | Mac |
| Shift + Comma | First Keyframe | Shift + Comma |
| Shift + K | Key Modified | Shift + K |
| K | Key Selected | K |
| Shift + Period | Last Keyframe | Shift + Period |
| Period | Next Frame | Period |
| Alt + Period | Next Keyframe | Alt + Period |
| Space | Play Animation | Space |
| Comma | Previous Frame | Comma |
| Alt + Comma | Previous Keyframe | Alt + Comma |
Hotkeys for Tools
Going back and forth between the toolbar and the objects you are manipulating inside Unity’s scene view can be nauseating. Speed up the process with these quick and easy keyboard shortcuts for the most commonly used tools.
| Tools | ||
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Action | Mac |
| Q | Pan | Q |
| W | Move | W |
| E | Rotate | E |
| R | Scale | R |
| T | Rect Tool | T |
| Z | Pivot Mode Toggle | Z |
| X | Pivot Mode Toggle | X |
| V | Vertex Snap | V |
| Ctrl + Left Mouse Button | Snap | Cmd + Left Mouse Button |
Keyboard Shortcuts for General Functions
Most of these general tasks can be accomplished in Unity with roughly the same hotkeys as other applications. Here is the list.
| General Functions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Action | Mac |
| Ctrl + Z | Undo | Cmd + Z |
| Ctrl + Y | Redo | Cmd + Shift + Z |
| Ctrl + X | Cut | Cmd + X |
| Ctrl + C | Copy | Cmd + C |
| Ctrl + V | Paste | Cmd + V |
| Ctrl + D | Duplicate | Cmd + D |
| Shift + Del | Delete | Shift + Del |
| F | Center Selection in Frame | F |
| Ctrl + F | Find | Cmd + F |
| Ctrl + A | Select All | Cmd + A |
| Ctrl + R | Refresh | Cmd + R |
And now you are ready to speed up your game development by using keyboard shortcuts in Unity. Thank you for stopping by. Stick around and check out more of our tutorials or posts like our piece on How to Animate a Character inside of Unity. Also, leave a comment telling us what you liked or did not like about the tutorial. Do you know of any shortcuts we left out? Was it easy to follow along? What do you want to learn next? As always check out some of our published apps below.