You can control Things on your Mac, iPad, and Vision Pro with keyboard shortcuts. We’ve listed them all below.

Show keyboard shortcuts for:

To access this page from Things, go to Help → Keyboard Shortcuts.

Keyboard  
Help

Create items

New to-do ⌘ Cmd N
New to-do below selection Space
New to-dos from clipboard ⌘ Cmd V

A new to-do will be created for each separate row of text on your clipboard.
New checklist in open to-do ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd C
New project ⌥ Opt ⌘ Cmd N
New heading ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd N
New heading with selection ⌥ Opt ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd N
Open Quick Entry ^ Ctrl Space

can be changed in Things → Settings → Quick Entry
Open Quick Entry with Autofill ^ Ctrl ⌥ Opt Space

can be changed in Things → Settings → Quick Entry

Edit items

Open selected item Return
Save and close item ⌘ Cmd Return
Duplicate selected item ⌘ Cmd D
Copy to-do or project ⌘ Cmd C
Paste to-do or project ⌘ Cmd V
Complete selected item ⌘ Cmd K
Cancel selected item ⌥ Opt ⌘ Cmd K

or hold down ⌥ Opt when clicking the checkbox.

Move completed to Logbook ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd Y

Select items

Select first ⌥ Opt ↑
Select last ⌥ Opt ↓
Extend selection upwards ⇧ Shift ↑
Extend selection downwards ⇧ Shift ↓
Extend selection to top ⌥ Opt ⇧ Shift ↑
Extend selection to bottom ⌥ Opt ⇧ Shift ↓
Select all ⌘ Cmd A

Move items

Move item to another list ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd M
Move copied item to here ⌥ Opt ⌘ Cmd V
Move item up ⌘ Cmd ↑
Move item down ⌘ Cmd ↓
Move item to top of list ⌥ Opt ⌘ Cmd ↑
Move item to bottom of list ⌥ Opt ⌘ Cmd ↓

Edit dates

Show When ⌘ Cmd S
Start Today ⌘ Cmd T
Start This Evening ⌘ Cmd E
Start Anytime ⌘ Cmd R
Start Someday ⌘ Cmd O
Start date +1 day ^ Ctrl ]
Start date -1 day ^ Ctrl [
Start date +1 week ^ Ctrl ⇧ Shift ]
Start date -1 week ^ Ctrl ⇧ Shift [
Add a Deadline ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd D
Deadline +1 day ^ Ctrl .
Deadline -1 day ^ Ctrl ,
Deadline +1 week ^ Ctrl ⇧ Shift .
Deadline -1 week ^ Ctrl ⇧ Shift ,
Add repetition schedule ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd R

Control windows

Open new window ^ Ctrl ⌘ Cmd N
Show/hide sidebar ⌘ Cmd /
Show/hide toolbar ⌥ Opt ⌘ Cmd T

Open in new window

Open a list from Quick Find search results in a new window. ⌘ Cmd Return or
⌘ Cmd + click
Open a project or area in a new window.

When selecting a project in a list:

⌘ Cmd Returnor
⌘ Cmd + 2 clicks

When clicking on project or area headings:

⌘ Cmd + click
Open a new window with the same list you’re currently in. ⌥ Opt + New Window
Open a Things URL in a new window. ⌘ Cmd + click

Search

Search the app ⌘ Cmd F

You don’t actually need to use Cmd + F to start a search - simply start typing and the search box will appear.
Find in text ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd F
Find & Replace in text ⌥ Opt ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd F
Find next in text ⌘ Cmd G
Find last in text ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd G

Navigate

Show navigation popover ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd O
Go to Inbox ⌘ Cmd 1
Go to Today ⌘ Cmd 2
Go to Upcoming ⌘ Cmd 3
Go to Anytime ⌘ Cmd 4
Go to Someday ⌘ Cmd 5
Go to Logbook ⌘ Cmd 6
Show in parent list ⌘ Cmd L
Enter selected project Return or ⌘ Cmd →
Go back ⌘ Cmd ←
Jump to top fn ←
Jump to bottom fn →
Navigate up in the sidebar ^ Ctrl ⌥ Opt ⌘ Cmd ↑
Navigate down in the sidebar ^ Ctrl ⌥ Opt ⌘ Cmd ↓
View the Tomorrow list ⌘ Cmd F + “Tomo…”
View the Deadlines list ⌘ Cmd F + “Dead…”
View the Repeating items list ⌘ Cmd F + “Repe…”
View the All Projects list ⌘ Cmd F + “Proj…”
View the Logged Projects list ⌘ Cmd F + “Logg…”

You can also navigate around the app with a feature called Type Travel. Simply start typing the name of the list or tag you want to jump to, then hit Return.

Tag & Filter

Open tag window ^ Ctrl ⌘ Cmd T
Edit tags for selected item ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd T

If your cursor is in the title of a project/area, it’ll jump to the tag field.
Toggle tag on/off for selected item ^ Ctrl + shortcut
Filter by tag ^ Ctrl ⌥ Opt + shortcut
Filter by multiple tags ⌘ Cmd + click tags
Escape filtered state ^ Ctrl Esc

Open links

Open link ⌥ Opt ⌘ Cmd Return

when your cursor is next to, or within, a URL string; opens all links at once within a text selection
Open link in background ⌘ Cmd + click

Other

Show/Hide later items ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd E

Inside of projects and areas
Expand/Collapse all areas ⌘ Cmd + click
Expand single area and collapse all others ⌥ Opt ⌘ Cmd + click

Style text with Markdown

Heading 1: # ... ^ Ctrl ⌘ Cmd 1
Heading 2: ## ... ^ Ctrl ⌘ Cmd 2
...
Italics: *...* ⌘ Cmd I
Bold: **...** ⌘ Cmd B
Bulleted list: - ... ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd L
Numbered list: 1. ... ⌥ Opt ⌘ Cmd L
Task list: - [ ] ... ^ Ctrl ⌘ Cmd L
Complete task: - [x] ⌘ Cmd K
Cancel task: - [~] ⌥ Opt ⌘ Cmd K
Quote: > ... ⌘ Cmd '
Highlight: ::...:: ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd U
Link: [...](url.com) ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd K
Strikethrough: ~~...~~ ⌥ Opt ⌘ Cmd U
Code: `...` ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd J
Code block: ```...``` ⌥ Opt ⇧ Shift ⌘ Cmd J
Increase indent (2 spaces) ⌘ Cmd ]
Decrease indent (2 spaces) ⌘ Cmd [

Things supports other Markdown features that have no keyboard shortcuts. For a complete list of supported syntax, see the Markdown Guide.

Create your own keyboard shortcuts

You can also create custom keyboard shortcuts for any command visible in Things’ menus at the top of your screen. These shortcuts will need to be created in your Mac’s System Settings. For more information, see Apple’s guidelines.