Keyboard Shortcuts adds block-tree navigation to the editor, so you can fly through nested layouts — groups inside columns inside covers — without reaching for the mouse or opening List View.
The Shortcuts
On Mac, use ⌘; on Windows and Linux, use Ctrl.
- ⌘ + Shift + ↑ — Select parent block. The one you’ll use constantly: jump from a paragraph to its group, then to the section that contains it. Tap it repeatedly to walk straight up to the outermost container.
- ⌘ + Shift + ↓ — Traverse forward. Steps down and through the block tree: into a container’s first child, then on to the next sibling, climbing back out when a branch ends. Tap repeatedly to visit every block in order.
- ⌘ + Shift + Alt + → — Traverse forward, same as above — a comfortable alternative if you prefer horizontal arrows for tree movement.
- ⌘ + Shift + Alt + ← — Traverse backward. Walks the tree in reverse, diving to the deepest last block of the previous branch.
The first two also appear in the editor’s built-in Keyboard Shortcuts help (Shift + Alt + H) under the selection section.
Why It’s Useful
Modern block layouts nest deep, and clicking precisely on a parent container is fiddly — you usually hit the child instead. Parent selection with a keystroke makes structural work fast: select the group, adjust its spacing, jump up another level, adjust again. Combined with forward/backward traversal you can audit an entire page’s structure from the keyboard.
Tips
- Combine with WordPress’s own shortcuts: ⌘ + Shift + D duplicates whatever you’ve selected, and ⌘ + Shift + ↑ then delete removes an entire section cleanly.
- Traverse forward is a great way to review a finished page — it visits every block in reading order, so nothing hides from you.