N900 shortcuts and gestures

Contents

General shortcuts

Keyboard Shortcut Description
Ctrl + C Copy text
Ctrl + V Paste text
Ctrl + X Cut text
Ctrl + A Select all
Ctrl + O Open
Ctrl + N New item
Ctrl + S Save
Ctrl + Z Undo
Ctrl + Y Redo
Ctrl + F Find/Search Bar
Ctrl + Right arrow Move the insertion point to the end of the word
Ctrl + Left arrow Move the insertion point to the beginning of the word
Fn + Ctrl Symbols and characters.


Symbols on the third row are entered by pressing the symbol followed by the 'Space' key, or by pressing the symbol followed by the letter to accent, or add a diacritical mark to.

The diacritical marks on the third row are: ` (accent grave), ΄ (accent acute), ^ (circumflex), ~ (tilde), ¨ (diaeresis), ° (degree sign), ˇ (caron)

For example, press ΄ and E to enter an accented é.

Ctrl + Backspace Task Manager
Ctrl + Shift + P Takes a screenshot. The PNG image file is saved in /home/user/MyDocs/.images/Screenshots/ with a timestamp in the filename.
Ctrl + Shift + X Starts Xterm
Ctrl + Space Switch between Input languages (Dual Dictionaries)
Double-Press Power Button Locks device
Double-Press Shift Caps lock on
Double-Press Fn Locks Fn
Press and hold a key Same symbol as Fn + Key comes up
A-Z Start typing the name of a person to start Contacts App (Desktop Only)
Fn + <number> Type any number to start Phone App (Desktop Only)
Shift + Arrow Keys Select Text
Volume Keys Zoom In/Out or Volume Level, depending on App

Conversations

  • Tap and hold on a text message: You get the option to call the person
  • Swipe-from-left (as in browser) allows selecting and copying of message text
  • Start entering a string to filter for messages written by a contact with a name including the input string

Calendar

  • Start entering a string to enter a new calendar item. This works in every calendar view.

General gestures

  • Long press on Task Switch icon: Brings you back to desktop
  • When getting a incoming call, turn over the device so the screen faces down towards the table surface to silence an incoming call
  • When alarm rings, turn over the device so the screen faces down towards the table surface to snooze the alarm
  • Phone App drop down menu, "Turning Control" allows you to set orientation, but also set it to launch the phone app when you turn the device to portrait. Seems to only work from the desktop.
  • Using the stylus, double tap to highlight a word or triple tap to highlight all words
  • In a sub-view of an application (e.g. Email -> Account -> Inbox) tapping and holding the Back arrow button (in the upper right corner of the screen) switches to the main view of that application [1]

Xterm Shortcuts

  • Copy & Paste: Press the Selection toggle button (Arrow to left of Ctrl on the keybar), highlight the text with stylus or finger, tap Xterm menu bar, select 'Copy'. To paste text, tap menu bar and select 'Paste'.
  • The Xterm keybar can be edited to add more symbols. More info: Keybar for Xterm
Keyboard Shortcut Description
Ctrl + I Autocomplete Filename (pressing tab does this too)
Ctrl + A Move cursor to beginning of line
Ctrl + E Move cursor to end of line
Ctrl + L Clear screen
Ctrl + W Delete the last word
Ctrl + K Delete everything after cursor
Ctrl + U Delete everything before cursor
Volume Keys Change font size

Web browser Shortcuts

  • Full-Screen mode: Enter a URL directly by typing on the keyboard
Keyboard Shortcut Description
Ctrl + N Open a new window
Ctrl + R Reload the current page
Ctrl + B Open a bookmark
Ctrl + D Add a bookmark
Ctrl + Right Arrow Move cursor to next text-input box. Cursor must be in an input box to begin with
Ctrl + Left Arrow Move cursor to previous text-input box. Cursor must be in an input box to begin with
Ctrl + Shift + I Reset zoom to normal or Turn on page reflow for any zoom level
Ctrl + Shift + O Turns on/off Portrait mode (Requires keyboard closed to work) **Incomplete Feature** (prior to PR 1.2)
Backspace Back
Shift + Backspace Forward (absent in PR 1.2)
Space Page Down
Shift + Space Page Up
Arrows Move around page
Shift + Cursor Up/Down Top/Bottom of page (PR1.2)

Web Browser Gestures

Gesture Description
Double tap text/image Zoom in
Double tap text/image (when already zoomed in) Zoom out
Clockwise circular inward motion Zoom in
Counter-clockwise circular outward motion Zoom out
Swipe finger from the right of the screen (outside of screen), towards left (into the screen) Browser history (PR 1.2: also through long-press on on-screen back button)
Swipe finger from the left of the screen (outside of screen), towards right (into the screen) Hover mode. An arrow is displayed on the left. Clicking the arrow creates a pointer that can be used as a mouse to select text. Deactivate by clicking the arrow on the left. A quick hover can also be performed by swiping-and-holding finger on screen. This keeps the pointer visible until the finger is lifted. Also, pressing space performs a button click while on "quick hover". This can be handy if you just need to access a mouse-hover menu or such.

E-mail client

Keyboard Shortcut Description
Ctrl + Enter Send a message
Ctrl + R Reply to a message
Shift + Hover over text Highlight (select) portions of text for copying (Ctrl+C) when viewing email - PR1.2. (Still not perfect - see bug 5033). A workaround is to Reply or Forward the email, then in edit mode, use Arrow keys to move around, Shift to select text and Ctrl+C to copy.
Start entering a string in a list view Filter for mails written by a contact with a name including the input string or a subject including input string

RSS Reader

Keyboard Shortcut Description
Ctrl + R Refresh the feed

Evince PDF Reader

Keyboard Shortcut Description
Ctrl + Enter Toggle full screen mode
Ctrl + F Search (search field remains open till app closed)
Ctrl + Z Toggle side panel
Ctrl + Space Toggle "special mode"
Volume up/down (normal mode) Zoom in/out
Volume up/down (special mode) next/previous page

In fullscreen mode, with special mode off, tapping the top (bottom) of the screen pages up (down).

Mozilla Firefox (formally known as fennec)

Keyboard Shortcut Description
Ctrl+Up arrow Zoom in
Ctrl+Down arrow Zoom out
Volume Keys Zoom In/Out
Ctrl+L Go to Location(/Awesome) Bar
Ctrl+Left arrow (not in input fields!) or Backspace Back one page
Ctrl+Right arrow (not in input fields!) or Shift+Backspace Forward one page
Input fields: Ctrl+Left arrow Jump to the previous word
Input fields: Ctrl+Right arrow Jump to the next word
Ctrl+W Close tab
Ctrl+Tap on link Open link in new tab
Ctrl+T New tab