# Navigation

> Move around the canvas, zoom, open items in reader view, search everything, and use keyboard shortcuts to get around faster.

The canvas is bigger than your screen. You pan to reach other parts of it, zoom out for the overview and in to read, and open documents, interviews and websites as full pages. Search takes you straight to any item or chat message.

*Select mode, undo and redo, and the zoom control.*

## Pan and zoom

|      | Mouse                                      | Trackpad          | Touch                |
| ---- | ------------------------------------------ | ----------------- | -------------------- |
| Pan  | Scroll wheel, `Shift` + wheel for sideways | Two-finger scroll | Drag with one finger |
| Zoom | `Cmd` + wheel                              | Pinch             | Pinch                |

Zoom runs from 2% to 2000%. The zoom control in the bottom right shows the current level: the − and + buttons step it, and clicking the percentage snaps back to 100%.

The first time you open a project, the view fits everything on the board. After that Buildpad remembers where you left off on each canvas, including after a reload.

## Select mode and grab mode

In **Select** mode, the default, dragging across empty space draws a selection box. In grab mode, dragging pans the board instead. The **Select** button at the top of the rail switches between the two, and holding `Space` gives you grab mode for as long as you hold it. The cursor turns into a hand so you can tell which mode you are in. Scrolling pans in both modes.

## Focusing on an item

Select a note, frame or research card and click the first button on its toolbar, the expand icon. The view flies in until the item fills the screen. The button turns into a compress icon that flies you back, and the view stays put until you click it or select something else.

## Reader view

Documents, interviews and websites open as full pages. One click, or `Enter` while the item is selected, dives into the card and it fills the page. The rail, topbar and zoom control slide away. The chat stays open beside it, so you can keep talking to Buildpad about what you are reading.

*A document in reader view. Back to canvas and the item's menu sit in the top right.*

**Back to canvas** in the top right, or `Escape`, closes the page and flies you back to where you were. The ⋮ menu next to it has the same actions as on the canvas. Only one item is open at a time.

## Following Buildpad

When Buildpad adds something outside your view and you have been still for a second, the view pans over to it. In the chat, every action Buildpad takes on the canvas is an icon. Click one to jump to the item, which is marked with a ring. When the action changed a document, the document opens in reader view scrolled to the change, with the changed text highlighted. Search results fly you to the item the same way.

## Search

*Search matches frames, notes, documents, interviews, websites and chat messages.*

Press `Cmd+K` or click **Search** on the rail. Type at least two characters and the results come in two groups:

- **Canvas**: frames by title, notes by their text, documents by title and text, and interviews and websites by title. Notes and documents show a snippet around the match.
- **Chats**: messages in every chat of the project.

Matches are highlighted in the list and on the board while the panel is open. Use ↑ and ↓ and `Enter`, or click a result. A canvas result flies you to the item, and the panel stays open so you can go through the rest. A chat result opens that chat at the message. `Escape` closes the panel.

> **Tip:** Zoom far out and the text on notes fades away while frame titles stay readable, so the titles work as a map of the board. Zoom back in on the frame you want.

## Keyboard shortcuts

On Windows and Linux, `Ctrl` stands in for `Cmd`.

| Shortcut                | What it does                                                                                            |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `Cmd+K`                 | Open or close search                                                                                    |
| `Escape`                | Close the reader, stop editing, or clear the selection                                                  |
| `Enter`                 | Open the selected item: the reader for documents, interviews and websites, editing for notes and frames |
| Any letter              | Start typing into the selected note or frame, replacing its text                                        |
| `Backspace` or `Delete` | Delete the selection                                                                                    |
| `Cmd+A`                 | Select everything                                                                                       |
| `Cmd+Z`                 | Undo                                                                                                    |
| `Cmd+Shift+Z`           | Redo                                                                                                    |
| `Space` held down       | Grab mode while held                                                                                    |
| `Shift` + click or drag | Add to the selection                                                                                    |
| `Cmd` + scroll          | Zoom                                                                                                    |
| `Shift` + scroll        | Pan sideways                                                                                            |

Shortcuts are ignored while you are typing in a text field. Inside a document, `Cmd+Z` is the document's own undo.