Inkscape Hotkeys

Inkscape shortcuts on every Stream Deck, on Windows and Mac. A held command channel to Inkscape lets a key read your real selection before it acts. Nine Stream Deck + dials put the toolbox, a 16-color palette and exact values on the touch strip.

187 commands in 19 categories, 35 actions, six ready-made profiles.

ON A MAC, ONE SETUP STEP

In Privacy & Security, allow Stream Deck under Accessibility and Automation (System Events). An Inkscape opened before the plugin, or reopened by macOS at login before the plugin's helper is up, has no channel: quit Inkscape and open it again once.

HOW THE KEYS WORK

Drop a category action on a key and pick the command from its 3D voxel key-face tiles. Keys go to the focused window: keep Inkscape in front. Quick Pan is a true hold key. A 20-key Number Pad action types exact values into Inkscape's fields.

THE ACTION CHANNEL

- Inkscape Status: Selection Readout (live count, size and position) or Link Status.

- Smart Keys: One-Press Export (confirmed on disk), Power Select (element, class, CSS selector or ID), Align and Distribute Pro, Style Key (fill, stroke, swap, width, opacity, dash, caps, joins) or Exact Transform (exact rotate, scale, move or grow).

Each picks its kind from key-face tiles. A key checks the real selection first and refuses out loud instead of lighting green over nothing. The channel works with Inkscape unfocused or minimised.

THE PALETTE

16 color slots shared by every palette key and dial. A Palette Key is a Swatch (press to apply as fill or stroke, hold to save the working color), Target (fill or stroke) or No Color. A Palette Dial is Swatches (tap a color, or turn and press), Hue or Lightness (one undo step when you stop turning). With nothing selected, the palette sets the color your next drawing uses. Eight preset palettes (Default, Pastel, Neon, Cyberpunk, Warm and Cool, Earth, Jewel, Greys and Accents), or load a .gpl, Inkscape's own or yours.

STREAM DECK + DIALS

- Touchscreen Toolbar: Inkscape's toolbox, 21 tools in six families (Select, Shapes, Draw, Paint, Tweak, View), a family per dial, picked from tiles. Tap a tool, or turn and press.

- Canvas Zoom: turn to zoom, press to fit the page, tap for the selection.

- Rotate Selection: press to clear transforms, hold the strip for 90 degrees.

- Scale Selection: press to double, hold the strip to halve.

- Z-Order: press for top, hold the strip for bottom.

- Move Selection: an exact move; press to switch X and Y.

- Stroke Width and Opacity: turn to an exact value, applied as one undo step.

EASY LINK, BUILT IN

Hold the key about a second with Inkscape in front. The plugin's profile then switches in whenever Inkscape takes focus, and your previous one returns when you leave.

SIX READY-MADE PROFILES

Each has Easy Link top left and a Palette page.

- Stream Deck: a two-page hub of 19 category keys, a page per category (22 pages).

- Stream Deck Mini, Stream Deck Neo: a ready-to-press board (2 pages).

- Stream Deck XL: every category and the channel keys on one page (21 pages).

- Stream Deck +: Toolbar, Transform, Style & Move, Palette (4 pages).

- Stream Deck + XL: category keys, 16-key pad, a Touchscreen Toolbar knob per family (20 pages).

YOUR SHORTCUTS, NOT OURS

Every key ships with Inkscape's stock shortcut and is remappable: type it, or click Capture and press it once. Works in Multi Actions. Any key can play a sound: 30 in the box, or recordings from our free Sound Sampler.

ON A MAC

Ctrl is sent as Command, Alt as Option. The channel runs over D-Bus, on a session bus the plugin brings itself. Three shortcuts are macOS system chords, so their keys alert instead: Selectors and CSS (Cmd+Shift+Q, Log Out), No-Break Space (Cmd+Space, Spotlight), Duplicate and Transform (Cmd+Option+D, the Dock).

REQUIREMENTS

Inkscape 1.4 (keys match the 1.4.4 default keymap), Windows 10 or 11 or macOS 13 or later, Stream Deck app 6.9 or newer. Runs locally: no telemetry.

The Mac edition, with a color palette.

1. macOS 13 or later, beside Windows 10 and 11. Keys send Command for Ctrl and Option for Alt. Allow Stream Deck under Accessibility and Automation (System Events). An Inkscape opened before the plugin, or reopened by macOS at login, has no channel until you quit and reopen it once. Selectors and CSS, No-Break Space, and Duplicate and Transform are macOS system chords, so their keys alert instead.

2. A 16-color palette on the new Palette Key and Palette Dial, with eight preset palettes or an Inkscape .gpl. With nothing selected, it sets the color your next drawing uses.

3. The Touchscreen Toolbar dial: 21 Inkscape tools in six families.

4. New dials: Move Selection (press to switch X and Y), Stroke Width and Opacity (one undo step per spin).

5. The channel keys are now Inkscape Status and Smart Keys. Smart Keys adds Exact Transform, and the Style Key gains no fill, no stroke, opacity, dash, caps and joins. Keys and dials placed under 3.0 keep working.

6. A 20-key Number Pad action. Command and category keys are 3D voxel icons, picked from tiles in the inspector.

7. New layouts: a Palette page on every profile, four Stream Deck + pages, and a Stream Deck + XL front page with a number pad. To get them, delete your installed Inkscape Hotkeys profile, then reopen it from the plugin or hold Easy Link with Inkscape in front.

8. A key pressed during startup is no longer dropped, and fast presses no longer pile up sounds.