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Keyboard Shortcuts

This is the full reference. For most workflows, you’ll mostly use L / E to switch modes, A to select all, and S to stack — those alone cover ~80% of the keyboard usage.

ShortcutAction
LSwitch to Library view (or, if already in Library and frames are loaded, set the Last frame + select the range from First to Last)
ESwitch to the Editor
⌘O / Ctrl+OFile → Open Folder…
⌘⇧O / Ctrl+Shift+OFile → Open Files… — load a hand-picked set of images
⌘S / Ctrl+SFile → Save… (in the Editor)
⌘, / Ctrl+,File → Preferences… (macOS apps menu on Mac)
⌘Q / Ctrl+QQuit

The two mode keys are remappable like the rest, and the LIBRARY / EDITOR tabs at the top of the window name whichever key they currently hold — LIBRARY [L], EDITOR [E] — so the tab keeps telling you the truth after you move one.

In the filmstrip and source-control bar:

ShortcutAction
FSet First frame — marks the start of a selection range
LSet Last frame — marks the end of the range and selects everything between First and Last. Set Last frame is its own remappable action, so you can move it independently of the Library key — see the note below
A or ⌘A / Ctrl+ASelect All frames in the filmstrip — or, when they’re all already selected, deselect them
⌘D / Ctrl+DDeselect All — drops the selection and the First/Last range, leaving the frame you’re previewing where it is. Matches Lightroom. (Esc does the same and exits Compare)
DAdd / remove the frame you’re previewing from the selection — arrow through the frames and press D on the ones you don’t want (the Deselect button does the same)
COpen A/B Compare (enabled when exactly 2 frames are selected)
Return / EnterEdit selected image — opens a single selected frame in the Editor (double-clicking the thumbnail does the same)
SStack — runs the focus stack on the selected frames
Z or SpaceToggle the source preview between Fit and 100% (1:1)
⌘= / Ctrl+= · ⌘- / Ctrl+-Zoom the source preview in / out a step

Rate the photo you’re previewing. Same keys as Lightroom, and the rating is saved next to the photo so Lightroom, Bridge and Capture One can read it — see Star ratings.

ShortcutAction
15Rate the photo 1 to 5 stars
0Remove the rating

The rating always applies to the photo you’re previewing, even when several frames are selected. That’s deliberate: in Macro Studio a selection is the set of frames that will be stacked, so rating “the selection” would re-rate a whole burst in one keypress.

These keys only do anything in the Library, which is how they can share 15 with the brush Strength shortcut in the Editor.

Mouse interactions:

ActionResult
Single click on folderLoad images from that folder
Double click on folderSame as single click, but also expands the disclosure triangle
Click on thumbnailMake it the active frame. Leaves any selection of two or more frames alone, so you can click through the frames mid-cull without losing it (Esc clears a selection)
⌘-click / Ctrl-clickAdd that frame to the selection, or remove it if it’s already in
Shift-clickSelect everything between the active frame and the clicked one
Right-click on thumbnailContext menu: Edit single image, Reveal in Finder, Copy file path, Rename file…, Copy to folder…, Move to folder…, Delete. See the thumbnail right-click menu
Right-click on folderContext menu: Load N images, Add to Favorites, Reveal in Finder, Copy to folder…, Move to folder…, Rename…, Delete…. See the folder right-click menu
Right-click the large previewCopy coordinates — the pixel you clicked — plus the on/off switch for the coordinate readout. See Show cursor coordinates
Scroll over the filmstripStep through frames one at a time
⇧ + scroll / Shift + scrollStep through frames from anywhere in the Library — the preview, a compare panel, or the filmstrip. No need to put the cursor on the filmstrip first; plain scroll over the preview zooms, so Shift is what browses
Drag a folder in from Finder / File ExplorerDropped on empty space in the folder browser, adds it to the FOLDERS tree; dropped on a folder row, moves it inside that folder on disk. Dropped anywhere else in the window, it loads those images instead

Header toolbar shortcuts:

ShortcutAction
CCompare — A/B-compare two history entries (requires ≥2 entries)
RCrop — enter the crop editor; press R again to apply and exit (matches Lightroom)
\Before / After — toggle to show the original (adjustments off); press again to restore. Only while viewing the result (not inside Crop, Spot Correct, Defringe, Retouch or the mask brush, and not in Compare)
TRetouch — paint pixels from an aligned source frame into the result (Advanced mode only, like the button; multi-frame stacks only)
QSpot Correct — enter the spot-removal brush (Lightroom’s Spot Removal key; Advanced mode only, like the button). Press Esc to cancel, or Apply to commit; unlike Crop’s R, a second Q does not apply
DDefringe — enter the chromatic-aberration brush (Advanced mode only, like the button; in Standard it does nothing). Enter only; a second D does not apply (use Apply, or Esc to cancel). In the Library, D is the add/remove-from-selection key instead — the two never overlap
K · M · ⇧MSelect the Brush / Linear / Radial mask (Lightroom’s mask keys). Only while you’re looking at the result — inside Retouch, M is Match tone instead
OToggle the magenta mask overlay on the canvas
S (hold)Only inside the Retouch editor: show the selected source frame in the result pane. Outside Retouch, S stays the Library’s Stack key — the two never overlap
P / MOnly inside the Retouch editor: toggle Preview in brush / Match tone. Both are free everywhere else
FOnly inside the Retouch editor: Find focus — jump the source pane to the frame that’s in focus under the brush. Outside Retouch, F stays the Library’s Set First frame key — the two never overlap
AOnly inside Retouch, Spot Correct or Defringe: toggle that editor’s Adjustments checkbox. Each of the three remembers its own setting, but they share the one key. Outside those editors, A stays the Library’s Select All key — the two never overlap
/ Step to the previous / next image in the history strip
⌘S / Ctrl+S (or ⌘⇧E / Ctrl+Shift+E)Save… — only while you’re looking at the result. Inside a tool editor it refuses with “Apply or Cancel <tool> before saving”, naming that tool’s own buttons, so an un-applied edit can’t be left out of the file

In-canvas interactions:

ActionResult
Z or SpaceToggle zoom between Fit and 100% (1:1)
⌘= / Ctrl+= (or ⌘+)Zoom in a step
⌘- / Ctrl+-Zoom out a step
ScrollZoom in/out centered on cursor
Pinch (trackpad)Zoom
Click-drag (when zoomed)Pan
Double-clickReset zoom to fit
Right-click the canvasCopy coordinates — the pixel you clicked, ready to paste into a bug report — plus the on/off switch for the coordinate readout. See Show cursor coordinates
Click on history thumbnailMake it the active result
Scroll over the history stripStep through history entries one at a time
⇧ + scroll / Shift + scroll over the history stripSame — Shift+scroll steps whatever the strip under your cursor steps through, so the gesture means one thing everywhere
ActionResult
Double-click a sliderReset that slider to its default
Double-click a slider’s label (e.g. “Exposure”)Reset that slider to its default
⌘Z / Ctrl+ZUndo the last edit on the current image
⌘⇧Z / Ctrl+Shift+ZRedo
⌘⌥Z / Ctrl+Alt+ZToggle the last edit on/off — press again to flip back

When the crop editor is active:

ShortcutAction
⌘= / Ctrl+= · ⌘- / Ctrl+-Zoom in / out by 1.25× (the same remappable Zoom In / Out keys used elsewhere)
⌘0 / Ctrl+0Reset the crop zoom to fit
Middle-click dragPan
Left-click drag outside crop rectPan (when zoomed)

Brush editor (Mask refinement / Brush mask)

Section titled “Brush editor (Mask refinement / Brush mask)”

When the brush editor is active:

ActionResult
Left-click and dragPaint into the mask (add or erase, depending on mode)
Shift + left-clickTemporarily flip add/erase for that stroke
[ / ]Smaller / larger brush — the toolbar’s Size readout follows
{ / }Less / more Feather — shrinks / grows the soft band outside the brush
, / .Less / more brush Strength, in steps of 5%
09Set brush Strength — a single digit is ×10% (0 = 100%); type two in quick succession for an exact value (3 7 → 37%)
⌘ + scroll / Ctrl + scrollResize brush — scroll up to enlarge
⌘⇧ + scroll / Ctrl+Shift + scrollChange brush Feather — scroll up for softer. Shift added to the resize gesture, the same way { / } are Shift added to [ / ]
⌥⌘ + scroll / Alt+Ctrl + scrollChange brush Strength — scroll up for stronger
Right-click dragPan (when zoomed)
Space + left-dragPan (the hold-to-pan key is configurable — Spacebar by default)
ScrollZoom centered on cursor
PinchZoom
Click the zoom readoutPick a magnification from Fit / 25% … 300% — see the zoom readout
Double-clickReset zoom to fit
ActionResult
⇧Q / Shift+QSwitch between Heal and Clone — Lightroom’s key for the same toggle
Click (Heal)Repair a spot
Left-click and drag (Heal)Paint an area to repair; the whole painted area is repaired when you release
⌥-click / Alt-click (Clone)Set the clone source. If your hold-to-pan key is ⌥/Alt, click and drag are told apart: ⌥-click sets the source, ⌥-drag still pans
Left-click and drag (Clone)Paint from the clone source
[ / ]Smaller / larger brush — the toolbar’s Brush readout follows
⌘ + scroll / Ctrl + scrollResize brush — scroll up to enlarge
⌘= / Ctrl+= · ⌘- / Ctrl+-Zoom in / out a step
Click the zoom readoutPick a magnification from Fit / 25% … 300% — see the zoom readout
Same scroll/pinch zoom and pan as elsewhere

The Defringe editor (chromatic-aberration brush) shares the same controls, including ⌘= / ⌘- to zoom.

When the Retouch editor is active:

ActionResult
Left-click and drag (right pane)Paint pixels from the source frame into the result
Shift-click twice (right pane)Mark one end of a straight line, then the other — the segment between is painted as one stroke. The first click only marks; a band at brush width previews the line until you commit, and releasing Shift abandons it (so does holding S)
[ / ]Smaller / larger brush — the toolbar’s Size readout follows
{ / }Less / more Feather — shrinks / grows the soft band outside the brush
, / .Less / more Strength, in steps of 5%
09Set Strength — a single digit is ×10% (0 = 100%); type two in quick succession for an exact value (3 7 → 37%)
← / →Step to the previous / next source frame
⇧ + scroll / Shift + scrollStep through the source frames without leaving the canvas — works over either pane
Click a filmstrip thumbnailJump straight to that source frame
FFind focus — jump to the frame that’s in focus at the dot in the middle of the brush. Over background it gives you the frame the nearest sharp edge came from instead, and where nothing nearby has detail to go on it says so rather than guessing. The line under the source pane tells you which answer you got. See Find focus
S (hold)Show the selected source frame in the result pane; release to go back. Keeps following the selection, so you can hold S and step frames (arrows, ⇧ + scroll, or a filmstrip click) to compare them full-size against each other. Painting is paused while it’s held, and a half-composed Shift-click line is abandoned
⌘ + scroll / Ctrl + scrollResize brush — scroll up to enlarge
⌘⇧ + scroll / Ctrl+Shift + scrollChange Feather — scroll up for softer. Shift added to the resize gesture, the same way { / } are Shift added to [ / ]
⌥⌘ + scroll / Alt+Ctrl + scrollChange Strength — scroll up for stronger
Space + dragPan the canvas (synced across both panes). Spacebar is the default; the key is configurable/Alt, Shift and /Ctrl are the alternatives. If you pick Shift, the Shift-click line above wins on the right pane for a bare Shift — pan it there with right-drag, or by adding any second modifier (/Ctrl or /Alt) to the Shift-drag
Scroll / PinchZoom centered on the cursor (synced across both panes)
⌘= / Ctrl+= · ⌘- / Ctrl+-Zoom in / out a step (synced across both panes)
Click the zoom readoutPick a magnification from Fit / 25% … 300% for that pane — see the zoom readout
Double-clickReset zoom to fit
Double-click the pane dividerHide the source pane for a full-width result; double-click again to bring it back
⌘Z / Ctrl+ZUndo last stroke
⌘⇧Z / Ctrl+Shift+ZRedo
⌘⌥Z / Ctrl+Alt+ZToggle the last stroke on/off — press again to flip back (Photoshop-style “Toggle Last State”)
EscCancel and discard strokes
ItemShortcut
Open Folder…⌘O / Ctrl+O
Open Files…⌘⇧O / Ctrl+Shift+O
Autostack a Folder…
Save…⌘S / Ctrl+S — also ⌘⇧E / Ctrl+Shift+E
Enter License Key…
Preferences…⌘, / Ctrl+,
Check for Updates…
About Macro Studio
Quit⌘Q / Ctrl+Q
ItemShortcut
LibraryL
EditorE

Only on macOS and Windows, where Lightroom Classic runs.

ItemShortcut
Install Lightroom Plug-in…
ItemShortcut
Quick Start…

The 📢 Share Feedback menu (its own top-level menu, not under Help) is where the outbound-to-us actions live:

ItemWhat it does
Feature Requests…Opens our public feature-request board in your browser.
Send Feedback…Opens your mail client with a pre-addressed message to support.
Report a Translation Issue…Opens your mail client with a pre-addressed message about a wrong or missing translation.
Send Log Files…Zips your recent debug logs and uploads them — see Getting Help for exactly what’s included.
Send this Stack to Us…Offers to send the current stack’s frames so we can reproduce a problem you’re seeing.
GestureEffect
Scroll wheelZoom in canvas / scroll in lists
Two-finger trackpad scrollSame as scroll wheel
PinchZoom in canvas areas
Right-clickContext menu (varies by surface)
Drag thumbnailsReorder frames or move to a folder

Every command shortcut can be remapped from Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts, grouped the same way as the list below. Only a handful of structural keys are fixed — see below:

GroupActionDefault
ViewsLibraryL
ViewsEditorE
FileOpen Folder⌘O / Ctrl+O
FileRefresh Folders⌘R / Ctrl+R
FileSave⌘S / Ctrl+S (also ⌘⇧E / Ctrl+Shift+E)
LibrarySet First frameF
LibrarySet Last frameL — see the note below
LibrarySelect All framesA (also ⌘A / Ctrl+A)
LibraryDeselect All frames⌘D / Ctrl+D
LibraryAdd / remove frame from selectionD
LibraryStackS
ZoomToggle Fit / 100%Z or SpaceSpace toggles on release, so a hold you scroll during doesn’t
ZoomZoom In⌘= / Ctrl+=
ZoomZoom Out⌘- / Ctrl+-
CompareCompareC
CompareSwap compare panelsX
CompareSet compare panel BB
CompareBefore / After\
EditorCropR
EditorRetouchT
EditorDefringeD
EditorPreview in brush (Retouch)P
EditorMatch tone (Retouch)M
EditorShow source frame (hold) (Retouch)S
EditorFind focus (Retouch)F
EditorAdjustments (Retouch / Spot Correct / Defringe)A
EditorSpot CorrectQ
EditorHeal / Clone (Spot Correct)⇧Q / Shift+Q
EditUndo⌘Z / Ctrl+Z
EditRedo⌘⇧Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z
EditToggle last edit⌘⌥Z / Ctrl+Alt+Z
MasksBrush maskK
MasksLinear gradient maskM
MasksRadial gradient mask⇧M / Shift+M
MasksToggle mask overlayO
BrushBrush size down / up[ / ]
BrushFeather smaller / larger{ / }
BrushStrength down / up, / .

Click a field and press the key combination you want — it takes effect immediately, and any button showing that key (like Crop [R]) relabels itself straight away. Recording a new key replaces that action’s default; Reset puts it back (Save’s export alias returns on Reset too). A key already used by another shortcut is refused with a note.

The list is long, so it comes with two ways to cut it down. The search box at the top filters as you type — by action name (mask, crop), by section (library), or by key: Cmd+S and Ctrl+S both find Save on any platform, and on a Mac the ⌘S you see in the row works too. Keys match whole, so Ctrl+S won’t also drag in every Ctrl+Shift shortcut, and an action you’ve remapped is still findable by the key it used to have.

Rows can stay on screen while a search is active even if they no longer match: whichever rows just changed. That’s deliberate — otherwise a successful remap makes its own row disappear, and the only feedback you get is the list going empty. It applies to anything a Reset displaced too, so the actions named in the note are the ones you can see. They drop out on your next edit, or as soon as you change the search.

Clicking a section heading in the list folds that section away, and Expand all / Collapse all above the list do the lot in one click. Searching temporarily reveals matches inside folded sections, and while a search is active the headings and both buttons stop responding — the filter is deciding what’s on screen, so folding would have nothing to do. Clear the box and your folds come back exactly as you left them. Esc clears the search, or closes the dialog if the box is already empty.

Reset always succeeds, so it occasionally has to move something else. If you moved Crop off R and then gave R to another action, resetting the Crop row takes R back — and whatever you had put there returns to its default. A note names everything that moved, each with the key it gave up.

That list can be longer than you expect, for two reasons. A few actions have two default keys (Save is ⌘S / Ctrl+S and ⌘⇧E / Ctrl+Shift+E), so one reset reclaims both and can displace two actions at once. And displacing an action frees it to collide with something else, so the note may name an action you never put on the key you just reclaimed — it moved to make room further down the chain. The point of all of it is that no key is ever left driving two things at once. Reset All to Defaults never needs to do any of this.

If the bracket keys are awkward on your keyboard layout, the brush shortcuts are a common thing to move — Shift + a letter works well, and a Shift chord is a different shortcut from the bare letter, so Shift + S and S can belong to two different actions. Where one of them is a hold key like Show source frame, the Shift chord goes to whatever you bound it to; the hold key still arms on its own bare key, and still releases whatever you’re holding alongside it.

Wherever the app writes a key on screen — button brackets, tooltips, the hint strip under the Retouch canvas, the compare footers, the green first-run hint in the Library — it reads whatever you’ve bound rather than the shipped default, so those all follow a remap.

A few keys are deliberately fixed:

  • ⌘, / Ctrl+, (Preferences) and ⌘Q / Ctrl+Q (Quit) — macOS moves these into the application menu and owns their keys, so a remap wouldn’t actually take effect.
  • Esc (cancel / clear selection), Return / Enter (edit image, apply crop), the arrow keys (navigation) and ⌘⌫ / Ctrl+Backspace (move selected frames to the Trash — same as right-click → Delete) — these stay fixed so a remap can never leave you with no way to cancel out of a tool.
  • 69 — reserved for brush Strength entry while a brush tool is active (the number row is the control, so it isn’t remappable). 05 do double duty: they type a Strength value in the Editor, and set a star rating in the Library. The two never collide, because each only listens on its own screen — and unlike the Strength keys, the six rating keys are remappable and have their own rows in Preferences.

They’re still protected: you can’t assign another action to a digit by mistake anywhere it would be swallowed by one of these.

Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts → Mouse gestures sets what a scroll does on each canvas. Every screen gets its own rows, because the same gesture can reasonably mean different things in different places — and each screen only lists what it can actually do, so there’s no “brush size” row in Crop.

ScreenWhat you can map
Image preview (Library, the Editor result view, compare panels)Zoom, Step frames
CropZoom
MaskingZoom, Brush size, Brush feather, Brush strength
Spot Correct and DefringeZoom, Brush size
RetouchZoom, Brush size, Brush feather, Brush strength, Step frames

Only Masking and Retouch list Brush feather and Brush strength, because they’re the two tools with a Feather and a Strength slider — Spot Correct and Defringe have neither.

Each row offers Scroll, ⌘ + scroll, ⇧ + scroll, ⌥ + scroll, Space + scroll, two-modifier combinations, and Off. Off removes the action’s scroll gesture; the gesture it was using goes back to doing whatever a plain scroll does on that screen.

Space + scroll works alongside hold-to-pan rather than competing with it: holding Space and dragging pans, holding Space and scrolling runs whatever you mapped, and both work whichever key you’ve chosen for panning. Note one knock-on: Spacebar is also an alias for Toggle Fit / 100%, so that toggle now happens when you release Space rather than when you press it — a tap still toggles, but a hold you scroll during doesn’t.

Picking a gesture another action already uses swaps them. If Brush size in Masking is on ⌘ + scroll and you move it to plain Scroll, Zoom takes ⌘ + scroll — the gesture Brush size gave up. Nothing is left unreachable, and the swap only affects the screen you changed. Change it again afterwards if you’d rather Zoom went somewhere else.

Changes apply immediately, and Reset All to Defaults restores these rows along with the keyboard shortcuts. The hints under the Retouch and Spot Correct canvases name whatever you’ve bound — gestures and keys alike — so they stay accurate after a remap. The last row of the section, Hold to pan the canvas, is the one setting that applies to every editor rather than per-screen.

Preferences → Mouse & Scrolling → Scroll direction for navigation controls which way a scroll notch counts as forward when stepping through filmstrip frames, history versions, and brush sizes (⌘ + scroll):

SettingBehaviour
Automatic (default)Follows your system scroll setting — on macOS, whether “Natural scrolling” is on
Standard (traditional mouse wheel)The direction a regular mouse wheel gives — i.e. natural scrolling off
Inverted (natural scrolling / trackpad)The reverse — the direction natural scrolling / a trackpad gives

If navigation feels reversed on Automatic, switch to the other option. Canvas zoom is not affected by this setting — it always follows your system scroll direction directly.

Mice with a free-spinning or “smooth scrolling” wheel — a Logitech MX with smooth scrolling switched on in Logi Options+, for example — don’t send one click at a time; the driver turns each click into a fine stream of movement, then keeps coasting after you stop.

Every gesture that counts in steps handles that: stepping frames, ⌘ + scroll brush size, ⌘⇧ + scroll brush Feather and ⌥⌘ + scroll brush Strength all move one step per physical click, whatever the driver sends in between. The coasting after you let go doesn’t move anything, and the tiny back-and-forth wobble those drivers produce no longer registers as you changing direction. Canvas zoom is unaffected — it’s continuous rather than stepped, so it follows the wheel directly as it always has.

If frame stepping felt stuck, then jumped several frames, then went backwards on its own — or the brush shot from tiny to huge in one click — that’s what this was, and nothing needs turning off in your mouse software.

How far one click goes is measured per mouse. A traditional wheel reports a fixed amount per click; a high-resolution one reports whatever its driver decides, and on one reported Logitech that was about a fifth as much — so a click did a fifth of a step and it took five of them to move one frame. Macro Studio now measures your wheel from the first few clicks you give it and sizes a step to match, so this needs nothing from you.

If you want to override it — or your wheel simply steps faster or slower than you like — Preferences → Mouse & Scrolling → Scroll sensitivity turns the measurement off and hands you a slider, with a live strip you can scroll over to feel the result. See Preferences for the whole tab, including how trackpads are treated.

  • Hover any button to see its tooltip — most include the shortcut in brackets like [S] or [C].
  • Buttons disable themselves when their shortcut wouldn’t do anything (e.g. the Stack button needs ≥2 frames selected; before that, S is a no-op).
  • macOS users: the symbols = Command, = Option, = Shift.