# Keyboard Shortcuts > All built-in keys of the Windows Forms TextControl, a KeyDown handler for Ctrl+F, Ctrl+H and Insert, and a KeyPress handler that turns Enter into a line break. - **Product:** TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms - **Section:** Documentation - **Kind:** Topic - **Path:** TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms > Document Editor > Editing Text > Keyboard Shortcuts - **2753 words** - **Web URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/editing-text/keyboard-shortcuts/ - **LLMs URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/editing-text/keyboard-shortcuts/llms.txt - **LLMs-Full URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/editing-text/keyboard-shortcuts/llms-full.txt --- A `TextControl` on a Windows Forms form responds to a fixed set of keys as soon as it has the focus: the arrow keys and their combinations move the caret, Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V use the clipboard, Ctrl+Enter starts a new page. The tables below list every built-in assignment, for your own reference and for the help of your application. The last section adds shortcuts of your own, such as Ctrl+F for the Find dialog box. The mouse actions, such as a double-click to select a word, are listed on [Selections and Caret Position](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/editing-text/selections/#select-text-with-the-mouse-and-keyboard). ### Move the Caret | Keys | Action | |---|---| | Left Arrow, Right Arrow | Moves the caret one character to the left or right | | Up Arrow, Down Arrow | Moves the caret one line up or down | | Ctrl+Left Arrow | Moves the caret to the beginning of the current word | | Ctrl+Right Arrow | Moves the caret to the beginning of the next word | | Home | Moves the caret to the beginning of the line | | End | Moves the caret to the end of the line | | Ctrl+Home | Moves the caret to the start of the text | | Ctrl+End | Moves the caret to the end of the text | | Page Up, Page Down | Scrolls up or down by the height of the visible area minus one line, if there is a vertical scroll bar | | Shift+Page Up, Shift+Page Down | Scrolls the document horizontally | | Ctrl+Page Up, Ctrl+Page Down | Zooms the document in or out | Holding down Shift while pressing a key that moves the caret extends the selection to the new caret position. Shift+Ctrl+End, for example, selects everything from the caret to the end of the text. ### Edit Text | Keys | Action | |---|---| | Shift+Enter | Inserts a line break without starting a new paragraph | | Ctrl+Enter | Inserts a page break | | Ctrl+Shift+Enter | Inserts a column break, so that the text continues in the next column of a multi-column section | | Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar | Inserts a non-breaking space | | Delete | Deletes the selected text | | Ctrl+Backspace, Shift+Backspace | Deletes the previous word | | Ctrl+C | Copies the selected text to the clipboard | | Ctrl+X | Copies the selected text to the clipboard and deletes it | | Ctrl+V | Pastes the content of the clipboard in place of the selection | | Ctrl+Z | Undoes the last action | | Ctrl+Y | Restores the last undone action | [Clipboard Operations](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/editing-text/clipboard/llms-full.txt) and [Undo and Redo](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/editing-text/undo-redo/llms-full.txt) show the methods behind the clipboard and undo keys. ### Insert Hyphens and Dashes | Keys | Inserts | Word may be divided there | |---|---|---| | Hyphen (-) | A hyphen or minus sign | Yes | | Ctrl+Hyphen | An end-of-line hyphen, which is not visible unless the word is divided at that point | Yes | | Ctrl+Shift+Hyphen | A hyphen for compound words that keeps the parts on one line | No | | Ctrl+Minus on the numeric keypad | An en dash | Yes | | Ctrl+Alt+Minus on the numeric keypad | An em dash | Yes | Automatic hyphenation is described on [Spell Checking and Hyphenation](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/spell-checking/llms-full.txt). ### Keys in Tables | Keys | Action | |---|---| | Tab | Selects the next table cell. In the last cell of a table, it adds a new row at the end of the table. | | Shift+Tab | Selects the previous table cell | | Ctrl+Tab | Inserts a tab character in the cell | | Enter | At the first input position of a document that begins with a table, inserts an empty line in front of the table | Outside of tables, the Tab key depends on [AcceptsTab](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/textcontrol/acceptstab-property/llms-full.txt): with `true`, it types a tab character; with `false`, it moves the focus to the next control in the tab order of the form. Form fields have keys of their own, for example the Spacebar to check a check box or open a drop-down list, and Tab to go to the next field in a protected form. They are listed on [Form Fields and Conditional Instructions](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/form-fields/llms-full.txt). ### Add Your Own Shortcuts Every key press raises the `KeyDown` event that `TextControl` inherits from the Windows Forms `Control` class. A handler of this event can call any method of the editor for a key combination and mark the key as handled, so that the editor ignores it. The following code in *Form1.cs* opens the Find and Replace dialog boxes with Ctrl+F and Ctrl+H, selects all text with Ctrl+A and switches between insert and overwrite mode with the Insert key: ```csharp using System; using System.Windows.Forms; using TXTextControl; public partial class Form1 : Form { public Form1() { InitializeComponent(); textControl1.KeyDown += TextControl1_KeyDown; } private void TextControl1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e) { // Ctrl+F: open the built-in Find dialog box if (e.Control && !e.Alt && !e.Shift && e.KeyCode == Keys.F) { textControl1.Find(); e.Handled = true; } // Ctrl+H: open the built-in Replace dialog box else if (e.Control && !e.Alt && !e.Shift && e.KeyCode == Keys.H) { textControl1.Replace(); e.Handled = true; } // Ctrl+A: select the whole text else if (e.Control && !e.Alt && !e.Shift && e.KeyCode == Keys.A) { textControl1.SelectAll(); e.Handled = true; } // Insert: switch between inserting and overwriting text else if (e.Modifiers == Keys.None && e.KeyCode == Keys.Insert) { textControl1.InsertionMode = textControl1.InsertionMode == InsertionMode.Insert ? InsertionMode.Overwrite : InsertionMode.Insert; e.Handled = true; } } } ``` Keep the `namespace` that Visual Studio created around the class. Run the application and press Ctrl+F: the Find dialog box opens. The code works as follows: - `e.Control`, `e.Alt` and `e.Shift` tell which modifier keys are held down, and `e.KeyCode` which key was pressed. The checks make sure that Ctrl+Shift+F, for example, doesn't trigger the same command. - [Find](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/textcontrol/find-method/llms-full.txt) and [Replace](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/textcontrol/replace-method/llms-full.txt) without parameters open the built-in dialog boxes, and [SelectAll](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/textcontrol/selectall-method/llms-full.txt) selects the whole text. - [InsertionMode](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/textcontrol/insertionmode-property/llms-full.txt) is `Insert` when typed text is inserted and `Overwrite` when it replaces the text at the input position. - `e.Handled = true` tells the editor that the key has been processed, so its own handling of the key is skipped. The TX Words sample of the setup, in *%USERPROFILE%\\Documents\\TX Text Control 34.0.NET for Windows Forms\\CSharp\\TX Words\\Shortcuts*, handles Ctrl+O, Ctrl+S and Ctrl+P for opening, saving and printing the same way. The blog article [Windows Forms: Removing the Next Word Right to the Input Position on CTRL + DEL](https://www.textcontrol.com/blog/2016/01/22/windows-forms-removing-the-next-word-right-to-the-input-position-on-ctrl-del/) adds Ctrl+Delete to delete the next word. ### Insert a Line Break With Enter Some applications, such as an editor for address blocks or table cells, need Enter to start a new line inside the same paragraph, as Shift+Enter does. The `KeyPress` event, also inherited from `Control`, receives the Enter key as the carriage return character `'\r'`. The handler below replaces it with a line break, which is the vertical tab character `"\v"` in the text of a `TextControl`: ```csharp // In the constructor, after InitializeComponent textControl1.KeyPress += TextControl1_KeyPress; private void TextControl1_KeyPress(object sender, KeyPressEventArgs e) { if (e.KeyChar == '\r') { // Skip the new paragraph and insert a line break instead e.Handled = true; textControl1.Selection.Text = "\v"; } } ``` [Selection.Text](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/selection/text-property/llms-full.txt) replaces the selected text, or inserts at the input position when nothing is selected. ### Next Steps - [Selections and Caret Position](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/editing-text/selections/llms-full.txt): the mouse actions and the selection in code. - [Search and Replace](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/editing-text/search-replace/llms-full.txt): the Find and Replace dialog boxes and sidebars. - [Events](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/events/llms-full.txt): the other events of the editor. --- ## Nearby - **Previous:** [Drag and Drop](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/editing-text/drag-drop/llms-full.txt) - **Next:** [Text and Paragraph Formatting](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/formatting/llms-full.txt)