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Keyboard Shortcuts

BusyCal offers a long list of built-in keyboard shortcuts, enabling you to perform almost any action without moving your hand to a mouse or trackpad, such as copying or duplicating events.

Month View Navigation Shortcuts
⌘-→
⌘-←
Scroll forward one month
Scroll backward one month
⌘-Option-→
⌘-Option-←
Scroll forward one week
Scroll backward one week
Vertical swipe or scrollScroll forward/backward by week
Vertical Option-swipe or Option-scrollOverride day cell scrollling and force Month view scrolling
Day & Week View Navigation Shortcuts
⌘-→
⌘-←
Scroll forward one week
Scroll backward one week
⌘-Option-→
⌘-Option-←
Scroll forward one day
Scroll backward one day
Horizontal swipeScroll forward/backward by day
Vertical swipe or scrollScroll the all-day section or hourly grid
Vertical option-swipe or option-scrollChange the number hours shown in the hourly grid
Option-click-and-dragDrag an existing event to create a duplicate of
⌘-Option-click-and-dragCreate a new event in a time slot where events already exist
⌘-click-and-dragCreate a Timed To Do in a time slot
Calendar Shortcuts
Arrow keysSelect next/previous day in calendar
⌘-click any calendar’s checkboxSelect or deselect all the active calendars in the Calendar List
Space barSelect or deselect the active calendar in the Calendar List
Control-click a calendarDisplay a contextual menu for editing the selected calendar
Double-click a calendarOpen Calendar Info dialog
Double-click in calendarCreate a new event on selected date
Event Shortcuts
Tab
Shift-Tab
Select the next/previous event or to do item in the main calendar view
⌘-E,
⌘-I, or
⌘-Return
Toggle the selection between the Info Panel and calendar view and commit your changes
Double-click an eventOpen Info Panel for the event
Control-click an eventDisplay a contextual menu for editing the selected event(s)
Option-click a graphicSelect the graphic
Click title bar of a sticky, and then press DeleteDeletes the selected sticky
Info Panel
Tab
Shift-Tab
Select the next/previous field on the Info Panel

Increments start or end time by 1 minute
Option-↑
Option-↓
Increments start or end time by 15 minutes
10
10p
10.30
10.30p
10:30
10:30p
10→30
10→30p
10→30→p
You can move between the hour, minute, and AM/PM fields by typing a period (.), colon (:), or tab (→). You can skip the minute field entirely if the time starts on the hour by typing '10a' or '10p' in the hour field.
⌘-'Enter a Date & Time stamp into the Notes field.
BusyCal Menu Shortcuts
⌘-commaOpen BusyCal Preferences
⌘-HHide the BusyCal application
⌘-Option-HHide all other applications
⌘-QQuit the BusyCal application
File Menu Shortcuts
⌘-Option-NCreate a new event using Quick Entry
⌘-NCreate a new event
⌘-KCreate a new dated to do
⌘-Option-KCreate a new timed to do
⌘-UCreate a new undated to do
⌘-BCreate a new banner (all-day event)
⌘-JCreate a new journal
⌘-YCreate a new sticky
Shift-⌘-NCreate a new calendar group
⌘-WClose the BusyCal window
⌘-PPrint calendar view
Edit Menu Shortcuts
⌘-ZUndo your last action
Shift-⌘-ZRedo the action you just undid
⌘-XCut the selected text or event
⌘-CCopy the selected text or event
⌘-VPaste the cut or copied text or event
⌘-Shift-VPaste copied text as a list of Tasks
Option-Shift-⌘-VPaste the cut or copied text and match the existing style
⌘-ASelect all text or all events in the current calendar
⌘-DDuplicate the selected text or event
⌘-IShow or hide the Info Panel for the selected calendar, event, or to do item
⌘-/Mark selected to do as Done or Not Done
⌘-Option-FFilter (go to Search field in Filter mode)
⌘-FFind (go to Search field in Search mode)
VIew Menu Shortcuts
⌘-1Switch to Day view
⌘-2Switch to Week view
⌘-3Switch to Month view
⌘-4Switch to Year view
⌘-5Switch to List view
⌘-Option-PlusIncrease number of days in Week view
Increase number weeks in Month view
⌘-Option-MinusDecrease number of days in Week view
Decrease number of weeks in Month view
⌘-Option-0One month in Month view
One week in Week view
⌘-Option-1One week in Month view
Two weeks in Week view
⌘-Option-2Two weeks in Month view
Two Days in Week view
⌘-Option-3Three weeks in Month view
Three days in Week view
⌘-Option-4Four weeks in Month view
Four days in Week view
⌘-Option-5Five weeks in Month view
Five days in Week view
⌘-Option-6Six weeks in Month view
Six days in Week view
⌘-Option-7Seven weeks in Month view
Seven days in Week view
⌘-Option-8Eight weeks in Month view
Eight days in Week view
⌘-Option-9Nine weeks in Month view
Nine days in Week view
⌘-←Previous page
⌘-Option-←Previous column or row
⌘-→Next page
⌘-Option-→Next column or row
⌘-TShow today’s date in the main calendar view
Shift-⌘-TGo to a specific date in the main calendar view
⌘-Control-HShow or hide the Filter bar
⌘-Option-CShow or hide the Calendar List
⌘-Option-MShow or hide the mini months
⌘-Option-TShow or hide the To Do List
⌘-Option-IShow or hide the Info Panel
Shift-⌘-WEnable or disable word wrap in the calendar view
Shift-⌘-HShow rich text or plain text in the calendar view
Shift-⌘-KShow or hide weekends
⌘-RRefresh calendars
Format Menu Shortcuts
Shift-⌘-FShow fonts
Shift-⌘-BMake selected text bold
Shift-⌘-IMake selected text italic
Shift-⌘-UMake selected text underline
⌘-PlusMake selected text bigger
⌘-MinusMake selected text smaller
Shift-⌘-CShow colors
Shift-⌘-CCopy style of selected text
⌘-Option-VPaste the cut or copied text style
Shift-⌘-PChange style of the selected text to plain text
Window Menu Shortcuts
⌘-MMinimize the BusyCal window to the Dock
⌘-Option-GShow or hide the Graphics Panel
⌘-0Show the BusyCal window
BusyCal Menu in Menu Bar
⌘-Control-BShow or hide BusyCal Menu
EscapeHide BusyCal Menu
Enter textCreate event in Quick Entry field
Up/Down Arrow keysSelect previous/next event in the BusyCal Menu
TabShow or hide event details
ReturnOpen selected event in BusyCal
SpaceMark selected to do as completed
Alarm Window
Type a numberEnter a snooze value
Type "m"Select "minutes" from snooze interval pop-up menu
Type "h"Select "hours" from snooze interval pop-up menu
Type "d"Select "days" from snooze interval pop-up menu
Type "b"Select "minutes before" from snooze interval pop-up menu
TabToggle selection between Alarms and snooze interval field
Arrow keysSelect Alarms in the list
Shift-click or ⌘-click alarmsSelect multiple alarms to dismiss or snooze them
ReturnApply default button (Snooze or Dismiss) to selected Alarms
⌘-DDismiss selected alarm
⌘-SSnooze selected alarm
ShiftChange Snooze and Dismiss buttons to Snooze All and Dismiss All

Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts

You can override the keyboard shortcuts for any app, including BusyCal, in System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts.

For example, if you wanted to change the keyboard shortcut for the File > New Event command from ⌘-N to Control-N, you would do this:

  1. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts.
  2. Select App Shortcuts in the left sidebar.
  3. Click the + (plus) button.
  4. Choose BusyCal from the Application pop-up menu.
  5. Enter New Event without the quotes in the Menu Title field.
  6. Click in the Keyboard Shortcut field and press Control-N.
  7. Click Add.

Now, when you click the File menu in BusyCal you’ll see that the New Event menu command uses the new keyboard shortcut of Control-N.

Note: When creating keyboard shortcuts, you must be careful not to create conflicts with any existing keyboard shortcuts.