Keyboard shortcuts

With a hardware keyboard attached to your iPad, you can scan, search, move through your documents and switch sections without touching the screen.

What it is

Paperwise adds its own commands to iPadOS. Hold ⌘ to see them in the shortcut overlay. On iPadOS 26 and later they’re also in the menu bar, under File, Edit, View and Go.

The shortcuts

Keys	Name in the menu	What it does
`⌘N`	New Scan	Opens the camera to scan a document, like tapping Scan. Inside Hidden, the scan goes into Hidden; while Hidden is locked, it does nothing.
`⌘F`	Search	On the Vault, All items or a folder, puts the cursor in that screen’s search field. Anywhere else, goes to the Vault and puts the cursor in Search your vault.
`⌘1`	Vault	Goes to the Vault home.
`⌘2`	All Items	Goes to All items.
`⌘3`	Inbox	Goes to All items, showing the Inbox (email items, Pro).
`⌘4`	Hidden	Goes to Hidden, which asks for Face ID (and your Hidden passcode, if you set one). Only while Show Hidden in vault is on; otherwise it isn’t listed and does nothing.
`⌘5`	Account	Goes to Account.
`⌘D`	Duplicate	Duplicates the item open in the detail column.
`⌘⌫`	Delete	Asks whether to delete the item open in the detail column (“Delete this document?”, or note, file or card). After Delete, it moves to Recently deleted for 30 days and the next item in the list takes its place. The message that appears has an Undo button.
`Space`	Quick Look	Opens a full-screen preview of the item open in the detail column.
`↑` / `↓`	Previous Document / Next Document	Moves up or down the list and opens that item in the detail column.
`⌃⌘S`	Show Sidebar	Shows or hides the sidebar.
`Escape`	Hide Sidebar	Closes the sidebar when it has slid in over the list.

In the menu bar, File holds New Scan, Duplicate and Delete; Edit holds Search; View holds Quick Look and Show Sidebar; Go holds Previous and Next Document and the sections.

While Paperwise is locked (the app lock is up), no shortcut works and holding ⌘ shows none of them. Unlock first.

When to use it

Filing a pile of paper: ⌘N to scan, then ⌘2 and ↓ to check each new item in the detail column.
Clearing out: ↓ through a folder, Space to peek, ⌘⌫ for what you don’t need.
Finding something fast: ⌘F from anywhere, then type.

Step by step

Go through a list with the keyboard

Open All items, a folder or a shelf in a window wide enough to show the detail column.
Press ↓ to open the first item, then ↓ and ↑ to move through the list.
Press Space for a full-screen preview, ⌘D to duplicate the item, or ⌘⌫ to delete it.

See every shortcut

Hold down ⌘ for a moment. iPadOS shows the list of Paperwise’s commands.

Free and Pro

All shortcuts are free. ⌘3 leads to the Inbox, which fills only with Forward by email (Pro).

Privacy

Shortcuts don’t skip any lock: none works while the app lock is up, and ⌘4 asks for Face ID before Hidden opens. With Show Hidden in vault off, ⌘4 isn’t registered, so the shortcut overlay doesn’t name Hidden. Space on a protected document (an ID, a medical, bank or tax paper) asks for Face ID first, whether or not the app lock is on (unless you unlocked within the last minute). Quick Look previews are built on the iPad itself: scans and notes become a PDF in memory, and files open in Apple’s Quick Look. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Tips

Space, the arrows and ⌘⌫ are switched off while you’re typing in a text field, so you can type a space or delete a word as usual. ⌘N, ⌘F, ⌘D, the section shortcuts (⌘1 to ⌘5) and ⌃⌘S keep working.
Shortcuts don’t fire while an alert is on screen, such as the delete confirmation. Answer it first.
Cards have no Quick Look preview; open them instead.

What if…

What if `⌘1` to `⌘5` or `⌃⌘S` do nothing?

They work only when the iPad layout with the sidebar is showing. In Slide Over or a narrow Split View, Paperwise uses the iPhone layout. Make the window wider. ⌘4 also needs Show Hidden in vault on.

What if no shortcut works at all?

Paperwise is probably locked. Unlock it with Face ID; the shortcuts come back at once.

What if `↑`, `↓`, `Space`, `⌘D` or `⌘⌫` do nothing?

They act on the list and the item in the detail column, so you need to be on All items, a folder or a shelf, with the detail column showing, and an item open in it (for Space, ⌘D and ⌘⌫). Check that the cursor isn’t in a search field; tap outside it first.

What if `Space` shows “Couldn’t preview this. Open it instead.”?

The preview couldn’t be built. Tap the item or Open full screen to view it normally.