User guide

Keyboard shortcuts

Every shortcut in one place. On Windows and Linux, use Ctrl in place of Cmd.

On Windows and Linux, replace Cmd with Ctrl and Option with Alt. BigXL always shows the right keys for your machine in its menus and in the command palette.

Files

Shortcut	What it does
Cmd+N	New file
Cmd+O	Open a file
Shift+Cmd+O	Open a saved session
Cmd+S	Save your changes into the file you opened
Shift+Cmd+S	Save as a new file
Cmd+E	Export the current view as CSV

Save writes into the original CSV or TSV only after you confirm, and keeps a copy of the original beside it. Anything else, such as an Excel workbook, is saved as a new file instead. Saving a session has no shortcut; use File > Save session.

Finding and navigating

Shortcut	What it does
Cmd+K	Command palette. Find any action by typing what you want.
Cmd+F	Find text in this file
Shift+Cmd+F	Search every open file
Cmd+R	Find and replace (Ctrl+H also works on Windows and Linux)
Cmd+L	Go to a specific row number
Cmd+Up / Cmd+Down	Go to the first or last row
Arrow keys	Move the selection one cell
Cmd + Arrow	Jump to the edge of the data
Shift + Arrow	Extend the selection
PageUp / PageDown	Scroll one screen of rows
Home / End	Jump to first or last column

Editing

Shortcut	What it does
F2	Edit the selected cell
Enter	Confirm an edit and move down
Tab	Confirm an edit and move right
Escape	Cancel an edit or close a panel
Cmd+Z	Undo
Shift+Cmd+Z	Redo (Ctrl+Y also works)
Cmd+C	Copy the selection
Cmd+V	Paste

Panels and views

Shortcut	What it does
Cmd+J	Open Bix, the assistant
Cmd+U	Chart the selected column
Cmd+B	Show or hide the Timeline
Option+Cmd+T	Show or hide the toolbar

Menus and lists

Inside any menu, the arrow keys move between items, Home and End jump to the first and last, Enter chooses, and Escape closes. Dialogs close with Escape, and Tab moves between their controls.