Classic Editor: Hotkey to Toggle Visual and Text Modes

  • raywoodcock · Member ·

    In the WordPress.com classic editor, sometimes I switch between Visual and Text modes. There are tabs for this at upper right. But I can conceal that whole row of otherwise useless buttons with Ctrl-Shift-F. And when I do that, those tabs go too. Which leads me to wish for a hotkey that will toggle Visual and Text modes. Is there such a hotkey, or is there a way to implement one?

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • supernovia · Staff ·

    Hi there, good question! Here’s are the hotkeys for the classic editor. I don’t think such a keyboard shortcut exists:
    https://wordpress.org/support/article/keyboard-shortcuts/

    I want to say the block editor can toggle to code mode with a keystroke, though:
    https://wordpress.org/support/article/block-editor-keyboard-shortcuts/

    If you use that with the top toolbar option selected. You wouldn’t necessarily write code (it’s a bit different) but you can easily start new blocks with a few keystrokes:

    /img (or paste one instead)
    /gal
    /form
    /head

    etc.

    Hoping that helps!

  • raywoodcock · Member ·

    Thanks for your reply. I’m not using the block editor. In the classic editor, I may be overlooking something, but I don’t see anything in your linked article that addresses the question.

  • raywoodcock · Member ·

    I should have added that I don’t think that list is complete. For example, it doesn’t report the Ctrl-Shift-F shortcut. It seems focused on manipulating text and comments, as distinct from the WordPress classic editor framework. Seems like the developers would be a better source for the latter.

  • supernovia · Staff ·

    I tried searching and opted for sharing the official source, but there are other reports out there suggesting other ideas.

    I want to say Ctrl+Shift+F is less WordPress-specific, so that may be why it wasn’t mentioned there.

    It is in this article, though: https://make.wordpress.org/support/user-manual/editors/distraction-free-writing/

    Also, can you confirm whether you’re working with raywoodcockbio.wordpress.com or another site? You’ll want to bear in mind, our flavor of WordPress is a bit different from the original. We also primarily use Gutenberg here.

  • raywoodcock · Member ·

    Thanks again for a fast reply.

    Funny, that article says Ctrl-Shift-F enables full-screen on Firefox and Chrome, but it’s not working on my Firefox or Chrome. Anyway, I edit using Opera. There, it’s not giving me full-screen; it’s just removing those top and bottom materials. The window size stays the same. Also departing from that article, in Opera Ctrl-Shift-F hides the title of the blog post.

    I’m not working on raywoodcockbio. The forum page just entered that for me. The issue doesn’t seem to be blog-specific: I’m getting the same behavior in Opera on a couple different blogs.

    Thanks again for trying to help. I do appreciate it.

  • kokkieh · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    Funny, that article says Ctrl-Shift-F enables full-screen on Firefox and Chrome, but it’s not working on my Firefox or Chrome

    You’re referring to the section at https://make.wordpress.org/support/user-manual/editors/distraction-free-writing/#full-screen-mode-with-distraction-free-writing

    Ctrl-Shift-F isn’t a WordPress shortcut. It’s a Chrome and a Firefox shortcut, to make those browsers full-screen. In other words, no matter what website you’re on, that shortcut makes the browser full-screen. It’s mentioned in the WordPress documentation as a handy built-in browser feature that people might find useful in concert with the distraction free writing mode in WordPress.

    If it’s not working for you in Firefox or Chrome, you’ll need to contact support for those browsers directly for help.

    Based on Opera’s documentation at https://help.opera.com/en/latest/shortcuts/, that browser doesn’t have this particular shortcut defined, and it doesn’t have a shortcut for making the browser full screen.

  • raywoodcock · Member ·

    I understand about Ctrl-Shift-F. I don’t need it in Firefox or Chrome. But I think the WordPress site you’re citing may be mistaken. DefKey doesn’t list it as a hotkey for either of those browsers: https://defkey.com/what-means/ctrl-shift-f

    I think you’ve misunderstood what I’ve said about Opera. Ctrl-Shift-F is not an Opera hotkey. That’s why it’s not in Opera’s documentation. The effect is specific to the WordPress classic editor. It’s not limited to Opera: it also works in Firefox.

    Anyway, I was just interested in finding a hotkey that will allow me to toggle between Text and Visual modes in the classic editor. Somebody programmed the WordPress classic editor to facilitate Ctrl-Shift-F. I suspect that same person would also know if there is a hotkey for that toggle. There probably is. But the question is, where can one look for that lore?

  • staff-heroponriki · Staff ·

    Anyway, I was just interested in finding a hotkey that will allow me to toggle between Text and Visual modes in the classic editor. Somebody programmed the WordPress classic editor to facilitate Ctrl-Shift-F. I suspect that same person would also know if there is a hotkey for that toggle. There probably is. But the question is, where can one look for that lore?

    The issue here is that we don’t have any further plans to update the Classic Editor – even the official plugin on WordPress.org is only going to be maintained “until at least 2022”, so there’s not going to be development work to add features or improvements.

    However, I’ll pass your feedback along to the team. Thanks.

  • raywoodcock · Member ·

    Thanks, but I didn’t suggest any updates to anything. I’m asking about functionality that may already exist, if someone could kindly just ask a developer who knows the classic editor.

  • staff-heroponriki · Staff ·

    You could try the Classic Editor plugin support forum, which is where this stuff would have been developed, so someone there might know the information you’re looking for:

    https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/classic-editor/

    Hope that helps!

  • raywoodcock · Member ·

    Good idea. I didn’t know that existed. It’s WordPress .org rather than .com, but with luck that won’t matter. Thank you!

  • raywoodcock · Member ·

    The link, for anyone interested in what may follow.

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