Keyboard shortcuts in FAB Subtitler

FAB Subtitler supports the definition of keyboard shortcuts for all functions which are available in the ribbon.

Defining keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are defined in FAB Subtitler Options under Editor / Keyboard shortcuts.

  • To quickly find the function you can enter the name of the function you are looking for in the search field.
  • Click with the mouse on the function name.
  • Click with the mouse in the “Keyboard shortcut” field and press the desired keyboard combination.
  • If the keyboard combination is already defined then a warning will be displayed and you will have to confirm by clicking on the green checkmark.

Standard Windows keyboard shortcuts

Windows defines some standard shortcuts which work exactly the same in all Windows applications. FAB Subtitler may not allow defining different functionality for some of these keyboard combinations to avoid the software working differently than other Windows applications:

Standard Windows keyboard shortcuts:

Shortcut Function
Ctrl + C Copy selected text to clipboard
Ctrl + X Cut selected text (delete and copy to clipboard)
Ctrl + V Paste text from clipboard into the editor
Ctrl + Z / Alt+Backspace Undo last function
Ctrl + A Select all
Ctrl + S Save file
Ctrl + O Open file
Ctrl + N Open new file
Ctrl + P Print file
Ctrl + F Search
Ctrl + H Replace
Ctrl + G Goto
Alt + F4 Exit application
Ctrl + W / Ctrl + F4 Close active window in application with multiple windows

Standard Windows keyboard shortcuts for text navigation:

Shortcut Function
Cursor keys Move cursor left/right/up/down
Ctrl + cursor keys left/right Move cursor to beginning of previous / next word
Home Move cursor to beginning of the line
End Move cursor to end of the line
Ctrl + Home Move cursor to beginning of the document
Ctrl + End Move cursor to end of the document
Page up / Page down Go to previous / next page (subtitle)

Standard Windows keyboard shortcuts for text selection:

Shortcut Function
Shift + cursor keys Select one additional character
Ctrl + Shift + cursor keys Select one additional word
Shift + Home Select everything up to beginning of the line
Shift + End Select everything up to end of the line
Ctrl + Shift + Home Select everything up to beginning of the document
Ctrl + Shift + End Select everything up to end of the document
Ctrl + A Select everything

Standard Windows text selection with mouse and keyboard:

Shortcut Function
Double click Select one word
Shift + click Select from cursor to the click position

FAB Subtitler keyboard shortcuts for preparing subtitles

The shortcuts below are the defaults. All of them, except the ones marked “fixed”, can be changed in FAB Subtitler Options under Editor / Keyboard shortcuts (see above).

Moving words between lines and subtitles:

Shortcut Function
Shift + Enter Move the last word of the line to the beginning of the next line (fixed)
Shift + Backspace Move the first word of the next line to the end of the current line (fixed)
Ctrl + Shift + Enter Move the last word of the subtitle to the beginning of the next subtitle
Ctrl + Shift + Backspace Move the first word of the next subtitle to the end of the current subtitle

Splitting, inserting, merging and editing subtitles:

Shortcut Function
Enter Start a new line in the subtitle (see Alt + Enter)
Ctrl + Enter Split the subtitle at the cursor
Alt + Enter Insert a new subtitle after the current one (if the option “Use ENTER to insert new subtitle and ALT+ENTER to make a new line” is switched on in Options / Editor, it is the other way round: Enter inserts a new subtitle and Alt + Enter starts a new line)
Alt + Insert Merge the current subtitle with the previous subtitle
Alt + Delete Merge the current subtitle with the next subtitle
Insert Switch between insert and overwrite mode
Ctrl + Y / Shift + Alt + Backspace Redo the last undone function

Timecodes:

Shortcut Function
F1 Take IN timecode
F2 Take OUT timecode
Shift + F1 Snap IN timecode to the nearest scene change
Shift + F2 Snap OUT timecode to the nearest scene change
Shortcut Function
Page up / Page down Go to previous / next subtitle
Ctrl + Page up / Ctrl + Page down Move the cursor to the beginning / end of the subtitle text. If the option “Ctrl+Home/End instead of Ctrl+PgDn/PgUp to go to beginning/end of subtitle” is switched on in Options / Editor, Ctrl + Page up / Page down go to the first / last subtitle instead
F3 Edit the comment of the current subtitle
Alt + Page up / Alt + Page down Go to the previous / next subtitle with a comment
F4 Go to the next invalid subtitle
Shift + F4 Check all subtitles for invalid subtitles
Ctrl + F5 Reload the file

Formatting:

Shortcut Function
F5 … F12 Set text color 1 … 8
Ctrl + Shift + I Italic
Ctrl + Shift + U Underlined
Ctrl + L / Ctrl + E / Ctrl + R Align left / centered / right
Ctrl + U Unjustified
Ctrl + Up / Ctrl + Down Move all rows of the subtitle one row up / down
Alt + Up / Alt + Down Move this row one row up / down
Ctrl + Alt + T / Ctrl + Alt + B Top / bottom justify
Ctrl + Alt + V Apply vertical offset

Video:

The numeric keypad is used to control the video while typing subtitles:

Shortcut Function
Numpad 4 / Numpad 5 Play / Pause
Numpad 6 Replay
Numpad 1 / Numpad 2 Jump back / forward
Numpad 7 / Numpad 8 One frame back / forward
Numpad 3 / Numpad 9 Go to previous / next cut (scene change)
Shift + F11 Change video mode
Alt + F11 Show editor over video

Search results:

Shortcut Function
Ctrl + Shift + C Show or hide the search result list
Ctrl + Shift + X Remove the currently selected subtitle from the search result list

This page was last updated on 2026-10-15