How to use sidebar with the keyboard in Sublime Text 2 and 3?

Question

When using Sublime Text 2 we tend to open the side bar to navigate thru files/folders in our projects. For that we can use the hotkey ctrl+k ctrl+b (in windows).

However, once we're in the side bar, we can't use it with keyboard (arrows for instance). We have to stick using it with our own mouse...

Just a note: I installed SideBarEnhancements plugin, but I didn't find anything that could solve my problem.

Any solution you might know?

Solution 1

You can type Ctrl+0 (Ctrl+Zero) to focus on the side bar.

Then you'll be able to move selection among files with arrow keys and to open the selected file hitting Enter, without touching the mouse.

Solution 2

Another useful shortcut: ctrl + k Together with ctrl + b will show/hide the sidebar. Make sure you hit K and B in the right order

Solution 3

I didn't find any other complete answers, so I pulled together information from various answers and added a bit of my own.

• Ctrl+K, Ctrl+B: toggle the sidebar
• Ctrl+K+B: shorted form of the above (make sure you hit K and B in the right order)
• Ctrl+0: switch focus to the sidebar (if open)
• Up/Down: navigate file list
• Right: expand a directory
• Left: collapse a directory/navigate to parent directory
• Enter: open a file

@Santiago Agüero The part you were missing was that the sidebar needs focus before the arrow keys will work (Ctrl+0).

As far as I can know, these shortcuts all work in Sublime 3, as well as Sublime 2.

One caveat: these assume you are using the default keybindings. But you can easily customize the keybindings by opening Preferences > Key Bindings - User and copying over lines from Preferences > Key Bindings - Default, changing the keys value as needed. E.g.,

{ "keys": ["ctrl+k", "ctrl+b"], "command": "toggle_side_bar" },
{ "keys": ["ctrl+0"], "command": "focus_side_bar" },

P.S. To get the fancy-looking keyboard glyphs, use the <kbd> HTML tag. E.g., <kbd>Key</kbd> will turn into Key. (Thanks to https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5527) :)

Solution 4

Summary

Ctrl + 0 will navigate to your sidebar. By default you can navigate the folders with your arrow keys. If you prefer 'Vim' type settings, you can avoid using the arrow keys by remapping your keys to the typical Vim settings (hjkl).

• h will minimize/open a folder
• j will navigate down (i.e. down arrow)
• k will navigate up (i.e. up arrow)
• l will open up a folder
• Enter will open the file

Key mappings

To set this up, open Preferences > Key Bindings - User and add the following:

{ "keys": ["h"], "command": "move", "args": {"by": "characters", "forward": false}, "context":
    [ {"key": "control", "operand": "sidebar_tree"} ] },
{ "keys": ["j"], "command": "move", "args": {"by": "lines", "forward": true}, "context":
    [ {"key": "control", "operand": "sidebar_tree"} ] },
{ "keys": ["k"], "command": "move", "args": {"by": "lines", "forward": false}, "context":
    [ {"key": "control", "operand": "sidebar_tree"} ] },
{ "keys": ["l"], "command": "move", "args": {"by": "characters", "forward": true}, "context":
    [ {"key": "control", "operand": "sidebar_tree"} ] }

Solution 5

Ctrl+p is also really useful for opening files without using the mouse.

If you open a folder in Sublime all the files in that folder (and files in contained folders) will show up in the search you get with Ctrl+p.

Just hit Ctrl+p and start typing parts of the filename and you'll get a list of matches.

View more solutions

Comments

[Marcel]

Ctrl + b, Ctrl + k would always do wierd things like delete lines for me. Every time I wanted to toggle the sidebar, I had to spam those two shortcuts because it never worked the first time. I eventually created a shortcut for Ctrl + Shift + o. Did anybody else have this?

[Vall3y]

Marcel, I think you don't understand this notation - it means holding Ctrl, hitting K then hitting B, not together. If you do Ctrl + K + K, it will delete the next line

[depz123]

is there any keyboard shortcut for removing the projects from the sidebar?

[Vladimir Starkov]

@depz123 use command pallete for this. Also you can create shortcut for this action

[Vladimir Starkov]

Can I invoke context menu in the sidebar?

[nicholaschris]

Use cmd+k cmd+b in mac to open sidebar but use ctrl+0 to focus on side bar and ctrl+1 to focus on editor. cmd+1 to cmd+n can be sued navigate tabs.

[cavalcade]

Super handy thanks! Quick q, any way to get back to the document after CTRL+0?

[Riccardo Marotti]

To get back to document, type CTRL+1

[TachyonVortex]

Ctrl+1 is the shortcut for "Focus Group 1", but if you want to focus the group which was originally focused, use Esc instead (see the unofficial docs). For example, if group 2 is focused, and you then focus the side bar, Esc will return the focus to group 2.

[Shan Plourde]

Ctrl+0 is also the Sublime Text 3 shortcut

[Mohamed Hussain]

CTRL + 0 not working in my mac sublime 3...Is there any reason, i interchanged cmd and ctrl key in sys preferences.

[T. Junghans]

I have to press and hold Ctrl, then K and also hold it and then B to toggle the sidebar in Sublime Text 3

[sprksh]

how to expand a folder in sidebar?

[Jessica]

This should be the Accepted answer!

[Pranjal Mittal]

(Just in case sublime developers are reading this) Ctrl+0 is a poor combination of keys for this purpose. We have to use both hands for the switch specially on Mac keyboard where right Ctrl key is absent. It would be more convenient if the switch was possible with a key combination with both keys close together.

[Mastor]

In the sidebar Ctrl + Up / Down, Lets you switch between navigating the folder and files list or (up) open files list. (Tested in Subl.3)

[anishpatel]

Documentation of these and other file navigation shortcuts sublime-text-unofficial-documentation.readthedocs.io/en/late‌​st/…

[user1164937]

Is there a way to open the file, but have the cursor remain in the sidebar (e.g., opening up multiple files to setup your working environment)?

[PJSCopeland]

Is there a command for "jump to folder containing current selection"? I think you used to be able to do this on Windows File Explorer by pressing Left.

[chris]

How could we have figured this out without this answer?

[Riccardo Marotti]

@ChrisAnderson if you open Key Bindings (Preferences menu) you can see all available shortcuts. You can see that command focus_side_bar is mapped to CTRL+0

[Ejaz]

This does not answer the question at all.

[Kamafeather]

Solution is good, but the implementation is a pain. When a file is not open, ctrl+0 focuses the file in the sidebar under it's directory location, as expected and allowing to navigate via keyboard. – But if the file was already open CTRL+0 selects it inside the OpenFiles-Group1 column, rather than in the Folders column, making impossible to navigate. – Pressing CTRL+0 a second time is even more confusing: selects the file under Folders; but still, it is not possible to move among sibling files or parent directory... – Anybody knows a way to solve this?

[Koray Tugay]

@Jessica How so, it does not answer the question?

[ratijas]

Please, refrain from using this notation. Ctrl+K Ctrl+B (Hide/Show Side Bar) is NOT the same as Ctrl+K+B (which is not even possible as a shortcut).