Keyboard shortcuts

DataMind Oda keeps a small set of shortcuts for the moves you make all day: starting a chat, searching your chats, showing the sidebar or the Activity panel, opening Settings, and moving around the app. Settings > Keyboard lists them all in one place.

Open the Keyboard page

1. Choose Settings at the foot of the sidebar, or press Ctrl ,.
2. Choose Keyboard in the Preferences group. Typing shortcuts in Search settings also finds it.

The page describes its list in one line: Shortcuts work anywhere in the app except inside a terminal.

The shortcuts

Worth knowing:

• Show or hide the Activity panel is aware of where you are: when Activity is out of the way, Ctrl Alt B reveals it and puts the focus on this chat's Activity region; when the panel already shows Activity, the same keys put it away again.
• New chat and Search chats fire at any moment, including while you are typing in the message box.
• Show or hide the sidebar does the same as the collapse control at the top of the column; Chats and workspaces in the sidebar covers the column itself.
• On macOS the keycaps use the macOS names: Ctrl appears as ⌘ (Command) and Alt as ⌥ (Option).

When another app owns the keyboard

When Oda runs inside an app that keeps the keyboard to itself, the Keyboard page does not show the list above. It lists that app's own keybindings instead and says so: VS Code owns the keyboard here, so these are the extension's own keybindings.

The VS Code extension keeps the keyboard to itself, so in that frame the page shows the extension's own keybindings.

Steer and open work from the keyboard

Rows in Activity carry keyboard moves of their own that the list above does not cover:

• With a row focused, press S to open its Steer field, type your message, then press Enter to send it. Escape closes the field without sending.
• S is the physical key, so it keeps working on other keyboard layouts. It does nothing while you are typing into a field or composing text, and while a modifier key is held.
• Hold Ctrl (Command on macOS) as you open a row to open its work in the centre column instead of beside the conversation.

Activity rows and actions describes the row itself and the actions on it.

Questions, answered

Where can I see all the shortcuts?

Settings > Keyboard lists the built-in shortcuts and their keys. It sits in the Preferences group, and typing shortcuts in Search settings jumps straight to it.

Do the shortcuts work while I am typing a message?

New chat (Ctrl N) and Search chats (Ctrl K) do: they fire even while the message box has focus, so you can start or find a chat mid-sentence.

Do the shortcuts work inside a terminal?

No. The list applies anywhere in the app except inside a terminal, so move the focus out of the terminal before you press a shortcut.

What does Ctrl Alt B do?

It shows or hides the Activity panel. When Activity is out of the way it reveals the panel and puts the focus on this chat's Activity region; when the panel already shows Activity, the same keys put it away again.

Why do my keycaps show ⌘ and ⌥?

You are on macOS, and the page spells the chords the macOS way: Ctrl appears as ⌘ (Command) and Alt as ⌥ (Option). For example, Ctrl Alt B reads ⌘ ⌥ B there.

Why does the Keyboard page show different keybindings in VS Code?

Because VS Code owns the keyboard in that frame: instead of the built-in list, the page shows the extension's own keybindings, and says VS Code owns the keyboard here, so these are the extension's own keybindings.

What does "Move between regions" do?

It moves the keyboard focus between the app's regions, the main parts of the window, without the mouse. The row lists the two chords that do it, F6 and Shift F6.

What does Escape close?

A menu, a panel or a search, as the shortcut row says. In the Steer field on an Activity row, Escape closes the field without sending your message.