Region actions
Select any region — a text span, an image box or polygon, an audio segment, a time-series span, a video region — and a small floating toolbar appears next to it. Everything you used to need a keyboard shortcut for is a button there, and each button's tooltip shows the shortcut so you learn it as you go.
| Action | What it does | Shortcut |
|---|---|---|
| Delete | Removes the selected region (all selected regions when several are selected). A toast offers Undo for a few seconds; the bottom-bar Undo also works. | Backspace / Delete |
| Duplicate | Creates a copy of the selection and selects the copy. | Ctrl/⌘ + D |
| Create relation | Starts relation mode from this region; the toolbar then reads Select the target region with a Cancel button. Esc cancels too. | Alt + R |
| Lock / Unlock | Locked regions can't be moved, resized or deleted until unlocked. The padlock is always visible (dimmed when unlocked). | Alt + L |
| Hide / Show | Toggles the region's visibility on the canvas. | Alt + H |
| Start / End −/+ | Audio segments and time-series spans only: nudges the boundary by a small step (50 ms for audio, 1 % of the span for time-series). Useful where dragging lacks precision. | — |
| Deselect | Clears the selection. | U / Esc |
The toolbar follows the region as you scroll or zoom, flips above or below it to stay on screen, and is larger on touch devices. In review, or on a locked annotation, only the non-destructive actions remain.
Touch devices
On phones and tablets there is no hover and no modifier key, so the editor behaves differently there:
- Regions list — the lock, hide, delete and menu controls on each row are always visible instead of appearing on hover, and every row has its own trash button.
- Text spans — the resize handles at either end of a selected span are finger-sized; drag one to extend or shrink the span (word and sentence granularity settings still apply).
- Drawing over existing regions — on desktop you hold
Ctrl/⌘to start a new image region on top of another; on touch, turn on Draw through regions in the image toolbar instead. It stays on until you turn it off. - Boundary nudging — the Start/End steppers above replace precise dragging for audio and time-series regions.
What's next
- Keyboard shortcuts — the full list, including the ones the toolbar surfaces.
- Labeling guide — creating regions in the first place.