Keyboard Shortcuts
File operations
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+N |
New presentation |
Ctrl+O |
Open file |
Ctrl+S |
Save (opens Save As if the file has never been saved) |
Ctrl+Shift+S |
Save As |
Ctrl+Shift+F |
Toggle focus mode |
Editor
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+B |
Wrap selection in bold (**…**) |
Ctrl+I |
Wrap selection in italic (*…*) |
Ctrl+1 |
Toggle H1 heading on the current line |
Ctrl+2 |
Toggle H2 heading on the current line |
Ctrl+3 |
Toggle H3 heading on the current line |
Ctrl+4 |
Toggle H4 heading on the current line |
Ctrl+5 |
Toggle H5 heading on the current line |
Ctrl+6 |
Toggle H6 heading on the current line |
Ctrl+C |
Copy |
Ctrl+X |
Cut |
Ctrl+V |
Paste |
Ctrl+Z |
Undo |
Ctrl+Shift+Z |
Redo |
Heading shortcuts: pressing the same level again removes the heading marker — Ctrl+2 on an existing ## line strips it back to plain text.
Bold / Italic with no selection: if nothing is selected, Ctrl+B inserts bold text and Ctrl+I inserts italic text, with the placeholder pre-selected so you can type immediately.
Presentation mode
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
→ / ↓ / Space / PageDown |
Next slide |
← / ↑ / PageUp |
Previous slide |
N |
Toggle speaker notes panel (single-screen only) |
Esc |
Exit presentation mode |
You can also navigate by clicking the left third or right third of the screen in single-screen mode.
Dual-screen mode
In dual-screen mode the presenter overlay handles all navigation, and speaker notes are always visible — no key press required. See Presenting for full details.
Customising shortcuts
The five file-level shortcuts can be remapped via ~/.kova/keybindings.yaml:
Editor shortcuts (Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, heading toggles) and presentation navigation keys are not currently remappable.
See Settings & Keybindings for the full format and supported modifier/key names.