Complete Runway ML keyboard shortcuts reference — 22 shortcuts across 5 categories. Quick reference cheat sheet for Web & Desktop.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Play or pause, or hold to pan the canvas |
| Left | Go to the previous frame |
| Right | Go to the next frame |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + Z | Undo |
| Ctrl + Y | Redo |
| Ctrl + K | Split the layer at the playhead |
| Backspace | Delete the selected layer |
| Ctrl + C | Copy the selected layer |
| Ctrl + V | Paste the copied layer |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| M | Select the Move tool |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| + | Zoom |
| - | Zoom out |
| Z + F | Zoom to fit |
| Shift + 1 | Zoom to 100 percent |
| Shift + 2 | Zoom to 200 percent |
| Ctrl | Enable zoom on the mouse wheel while held |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| J / L | Forward/Backward |
| I / O | In/Out points |
| Ctrl + E | Export |
| Camera movement | Camera control |
| Style reference | Style control |
| Image reference | Start frame |
Runway's timeline speaks editor: Space plays and pauses (and, held down, pans the canvas instead), J / L shuttle backward and forward, Left / Right step single frames, and I / O set in and out points. Ctrl + K splits the selected layer at the playhead, Backspace deletes, Ctrl + C / Ctrl + V duplicate across the timeline, and Ctrl + Z / Ctrl + Y undo and redo. M returns you to the Move tool after anything modal.
View control is built for detail passes: + and - zoom, Z + F fits the composition, Shift + 1 and Shift + 2 jump to exact 100% and 200%, and holding Ctrl turns the mouse wheel into a zoom dial. On the generation side, the levers are named plainly — Camera movement directs virtual camera motion, Style reference transfers the look of an image onto the output, and Image reference anchors generation to a starting frame.
Both, by duration: a tap toggles playback, a hold turns the cursor into a pan hand for dragging the canvas. If playback keeps triggering while you try to pan, hold slightly longer before moving the mouse.
I / O define a range — the working region between in and out points. Ctrl + K makes a cut: the selected layer becomes two independent layers at the playhead, each movable and deletable on its own. Range first for previews and exports; split when the pieces need separate treatment.
It anchors the start: generation begins from your image and evolves it, keeping composition and subject far more controllable than a text prompt alone. Pair it with Style reference when the look should come from one image and the content from another.
Single-frame: Left and Right move exactly one frame, which is how you land a split from Ctrl + K on the precise frame you want. For covering distance, shuttle with J / L and fine-tune the last few frames with the arrows.
Ctrl + E opens export, where resolution and format options depend on the project type and your plan tier. Renders process in the cloud and land in your workspace assets, downloadable from there once complete.
Open your assistant with this page preloaded as the source — great for follow-up questions like "which of these work in other apps?"