Keyboard shortcuts
Every region shortcut below also has a button: select a region and use the floating region actions toolbar — its tooltips show these keys, and it is the way to do the same things on touch devices.
AfriAnnotate's labelling interface is keyboard-driven by default — every common action has a hotkey. The full active set is listed in the labeler's Settings → Hotkeys tab (gear icon), and buttons show their binding in tooltips. Hotkeys can be switched off in the same settings panel.
Bindings below are Windows / Linux — Mac where they differ
(Ctrl → Cmd on Mac unless noted).
Global
| Action | Windows / Linux | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Submit annotation | Ctrl + Enter | Cmd + Enter |
| Update annotation (after edits) | Ctrl + Enter | Cmd + Enter |
| Skip task | Ctrl + Space | Alt + Enter |
| Accept / Fix + Accept (reviewers) | Ctrl + Enter | Cmd + Enter |
| Reject (reviewers) | Ctrl + Space | Alt + Enter |
| Undo | Ctrl + Z | Cmd + Z |
| Redo | Ctrl + Shift + Z | Cmd + Shift + Z |
| Delete all regions | Ctrl + Backspace | Cmd + Backspace |
There are no next / previous-task keys; navigation is by the stream buttons.
Labels and choices
Each <Label> / <Choice> gets an auto-assigned hotkey (shown on the
label pill) unless you set one explicitly:
<Choices name="sentiment" toName="txt">
<Choice value="positive" hotkey="p"/>
<Choice value="neutral" hotkey="n"/>
<Choice value="negative" hotkey="g"/>
</Choices>
Regions (any object tag)
| Action | Hotkey |
|---|---|
| Focus first region | Enter |
| Unselect region | U |
| Exit relation mode / unselect | Esc |
| Delete selected region | Backspace (or Delete) |
| Duplicate selected region | Ctrl + D |
| Cycle through regions | Alt + . |
| Toggle selected region visibility | Alt + H |
| Toggle all regions visibility | Ctrl + H |
| Lock selected region | Alt + L |
| Edit region meta | Alt + M |
| Create relation between regions | Alt + R |
Image labelling
| Action | Hotkey |
|---|---|
| Rectangle tool | R |
| 3-point rotated rectangle | Shift + R |
| Polygon / vector tool | P |
| Brush tool | B |
| Eraser tool | E |
| KeyPoint tool | K |
| Ellipse tool | O |
| Magic wand | W |
| Auto-detect (smart) tool | M |
| Move tool | V |
| Pan tool | H |
| Zoom in / out | Ctrl + + / Ctrl + - |
| Zoom to fit | Shift + 1 |
| Zoom to actual size (100 %) | Shift + 2 |
| Rotate image left / right | Alt + ← / Alt + → |
| Decrease / increase tool size | [ / ] |
| Previous / next image (multi-image) | Ctrl + ← / Ctrl + → |
Tip: for tasks with many small regions, switch to the brush +
eraser combo — B to paint, E to erase, faster than drawing precise
rectangles.
Audio labelling
| Action | Windows / Linux | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Play / pause | Ctrl + P | Cmd + P |
| Back one second | Ctrl + B | Cmd + B |
| Step backward / forward | Alt + A / Alt + D | same |
There are no playback-speed keys; use the on-screen speed control.
Video labelling
| Action | Windows / Linux | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Play / pause | Ctrl + Alt + Space | Cmd + Alt + Space |
| Step one frame back / forward | Alt + ← / Alt + → | same |
| Hop backward / forward | Shift + Alt + ← / Shift + Alt + → | same |
| Previous / next keyframe | Ctrl + Alt + ← / Ctrl + Alt + → | Cmd + Alt + ← / Cmd + Alt + → |
| First / last frame | Shift + Ctrl + Alt + ← / → | Shift + Cmd + Alt + ← / → |
Time series
| Action | Hotkey |
|---|---|
| Grow selected region left / right | ← / → (large step: Shift + ← / →) |
| Shrink selected region left / right | Alt + ← / Alt + → (large: Shift + Alt + ← / →) |
| Pan view (no selection) | ← / → (large: Shift + ← / →) |
Paragraphs / dialogue
| Action | Hotkey |
|---|---|
| Next / previous phrase | Ctrl + ↓ / Ctrl + ↑ |
| Next / previous region in phrase | Ctrl + ← / Ctrl + → |
| Select all and annotate current phrase | Ctrl + Shift + A |
Relations between regions
- Select the first region (click it).
- Press
Alt + R(or click the relation icon in the region panel). - Click the second region.
A relation appears in the Relations panel; delete it from there. Esc
leaves relation mode.
Customising hotkeys
Per-label hotkeys are set in the XML config via the hotkey
attribute:
<Labels name="pii" toName="txt">
<Label value="PERSON" hotkey="p"/>
<Label value="EMAIL" hotkey="e"/>
<Label value="PHONE" hotkey="n"/>
</Labels>
Avoid the platform bindings above (e.g. Ctrl + Enter) — a label
hotkey that collides with them won't fire reliably.
Mobile devices
On phones and tablets without a hardware keyboard, hotkeys are unavailable. Use the on-screen toolbar buttons instead. With a Bluetooth keyboard the hotkeys above work.
What's next
- Labeling guide → — the full labeler walkthrough
- Labeling config → — XML reference
for tags, including per-label
hotkey="..."attributes - Comments → — comment workflow + linking comments to regions