Side-by-side keyboard shortcut reference for the four most popular PCB design tools. Shortcuts cover both schematic capture and PCB layout editing.
| Action | KiCad 8 | Altium Designer | Eagle | OrCAD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place Component | A | P, P | ADD | P, P |
| Place Wire | W | P, W | NET | P, W |
| Place Power Port | P | P, O | — | P, F |
| Place Net Label | L | P, N | LABEL | P, N |
| Place Bus | B | P, B | BUS | P, B |
| Copy | Ctrl+C | Ctrl+C | COPY | Ctrl+C |
| Paste | Ctrl+V | Ctrl+V | PASTE | Ctrl+V |
| Undo | Ctrl+Z | Ctrl+Z | Ctrl+Z | Ctrl+Z |
| Rotate | R | Space | R (while moving) | R |
| Mirror/Flip | X / Y | X / Y | MIRROR | F |
| Delete | Del | Del | DELETE | Del |
| Move | M | M | MOVE | M |
| Zoom Fit | Home | V, F | FIT | Ctrl+E |
| Edit Properties | E | Double-click | INFO | Double-click |
| Action | KiCad 8 | Altium Designer | Eagle | OrCAD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Route Track | X | P, T | ROUTE | — |
| Place Via | V (while routing) | Numpad + | VIA | — |
| Switch Layer | V (while routing) | Numpad * / L | — | — |
| Fill/Pour Zone | B (to fill) | P, G | RATSNEST | — |
| DRC Check | Inspect > DRC | T, D | DRC | — |
| Move Component | M | M | MOVE | M |
| Rotate | R | Space | R (while moving) | R |
| Flip to Bottom | F | L | MIRROR | F |
| Select Net | ` (backtick) | N | — | — |
| Measure | Ctrl+Shift+M | Ctrl+M | — | — |
| Toggle Grid | N | G | GRID | G |
| Zoom to Selection | Ctrl+1 | V, F | WINDOW FIT | — |
| 3D View | Alt+3 | 3 | — | — |
| Undo | Ctrl+Z | Ctrl+Z | Ctrl+Z | Ctrl+Z |
All four EDA tools allow custom key bindings. In KiCad, go to Preferences > Hotkeys. In Altium, use DXP > Customization. Eagle uses the ASSIGN command. OrCAD keybindings are configured via Capture CIS > Options > Preferences.
On macOS, replace Ctrl with Cmd for most shortcuts in KiCad and Eagle. Altium Designer and OrCAD are Windows-only (Altium 365 web viewer is cross-platform). Eagle shortcuts shown here are command-line style; GUI button equivalents also exist.