Advanced Tips & Tricks
This is a list of those little tricks that can help you navigate OGS a little more effectively.
Numpad 0 or back-tick (or § on some keyboards) – Focus search bar (except for in chat where it just types 0 or ` or § respectively).
SHIFT+backtick or ALT+backtick – Open/close notification menu (except for in chat where it just types eg ~ etc above backtick)
ESC – close hamburger/search menu, notification menu and friends list if open.
LEFT AND RIGHT ARROW KEY – Switch to analyze mode (if enabled) and/or scroll through moves (again, can't work if chat window is selected).
HOME AND END KEY – (fn+left/right arrow on mac) Jump to start or end of game (again, can't work if chat window is selected).
PAGE UP/DOWN – (fn+up/down arrow on mac) Jump back/forward 10 moves (again, can't work if chat window is selected).
SPACE – Start/stop automatically re-playing moves from the current position onward (speed can be changed in settings, disabled when in chat).
ESC – Returns to the current game position, closing analyze mode or estimate score.
SHIFT + LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on any stone or intersection (in analyze mode only or review) – jumps to a move number in which that coordinate was played
CTRL+CLICK on stone or intersection (ALT+CLICK or CMD+CLICK on mac) – pastes co-ordinates of clicked stone into game chat. (Co-ordinates such as A20, A0, pass and U5 etc also exist by clicking the expected place)
F1-F12 – Switches to analyze mode (if not already there) and selects a different tool. (Need to be enabled in your settings.)
| key | tool |
|---|---|
| f1 | Alternating stones |
| f2 | Place black |
| f4 | Label triangle |
| f5 | Label square |
| f6 | Label circle |
| f7 | Label letters |
| f8 | Label numbers |
| f9 | draw tool |
| f10 | clear pen marks |
Click move number in chat – Jumps to that move number (or variation in review) when comment was sent. (i.e. the dividers between chat logs at different move numbers are clickable)
Holding shift while using the place Black or place White stones tool swaps color.
Delete/backspace key Delete branch from current node.
Shift+Click while using the Alphabet label tool allows custom 3 character labels, including emojis.
Any letter or number key while using the Alphabet or Number label tool changes the label to the pressed key.
Press Z and click on an intersection while using the Alphabet or Number label and the labels become a lowercase alphabet. One can remove the Z label after an a is placed, by clicking again on the position of the Z label.
CTRL+C Copy branch from current node.
CTRL+V Paste branch onto current node, provided there are no move collisions. Stone colors may swap if pasted when the opposite color is to play a move compared to the start of the copied branch.
Shift+z : Toggle "Zen mode"
Shift+c : Toggle coordinates
Shift+i : Enable/Disable AI review
Shift+a : Analyze game
Shift+r : Review this game
Shift+e : Estimate score
Shift+p : Back to Game
Typing a user's name makes the message highlighted for him/her
Hitting TAB after at least three letters tries to autocomplete a username
By typing "#GAME NUMBER" you can create a neat link to a game (exampe: #00000001)
By typing "player PLAYER NUMBER" you can create a neat link to a player's profile. (exampe: player 00000001)
By starting a message with "/me" you can make the rest of the line in italics
Further chat shortcuts are summarised on the OGS forums post here
ESC – resets the puzzle.
Left arrow key – undo the current move.
ENTER/RETURN – advance to next puzzle in set if the puzzle was answered correctly and the next button appears.
Right mouse click - places stone of the opposite colour.
Home (fn+left arrow on mac)– reset explorer to empty board.
Left/Right arrow – go one move back/forward.
Here you find more info on Keyboard Shortcuts in the forum (based on Discourse):
