Keyboard shortcuts
Every keyboard shortcut in the Strata web app, by surface.
Sidebar
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Cmd/Ctrl + K | Open search across your chats. |
| Shift + Cmd + O (Windows: Ctrl + Shift + O) | Start a new chat, also from inside the message box. Cmd/Ctrl + N is left to the browser. |
| Arrow Left / Arrow Right (focused on the resize grip) | Nudge the sidebar width by 8 pixels. |
| Enter / Space (on a row) | Open the focused chat or page. |
See The sidebar for the full navigation breakdown.
Chat composer
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Enter | Send the message in the composer. |
| Shift + Enter | Insert a newline without sending. |
| / (at the start of the composer, or right after a space) | Open the slash menu, just above the line you are typing — attach a file or pick a pinned skill to prepend to your message. |
| Escape | Close the slash menu if it is open. |
| Arrow Up / Arrow Down (with the slash menu open) | Move the highlight up or down. |
| Enter (with the slash menu open and an item highlighted) | Select the highlighted item. |
| @ (at the start of the composer, or right after a space) | Open the mention menu, just above the line you are typing: your agents, the extensions you have connected, your connectors, and your OneDrive files. Keep typing to narrow it; names with accents or several words match too. |
| Arrow Up / Arrow Down (with the mention menu open) | Move the highlight through the matching rows. |
| Enter or Tab (with the mention menu open) | Take the highlighted row. An agent goes in as @AgentName and answers this one message; an extension or connector goes in as @Name and points the AI at it for this message; a OneDrive file joins the message as a chip. Enter cannot send while the menu is open. |
| Escape (with the mention menu open) | Close the menu without inserting anything. |
Backspace (right after an @Name) or Delete (right before it) | Remove the whole mention at once. It is an ordinary deletion, so it can be undone like one. |
The mention menu only opens when the @ starts the composer or follows a space and something matches what you have typed — so an @ inside an email address, or one that matches nothing, never hijacks Enter. OneDrive files are listed once OneDrive is connected: your recent files for a bare @, and a search from the second letter you type.
The send button changes function while a response is streaming:
- While streaming: the send button becomes a square stop icon. Click it (there is no dedicated key binding) to abort the current generation.
Composer menus and pickers
The composer's + menu (attach a file, switch mode, set the database permission) and the model picker dropdown are keyboard-navigable once open:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Arrow Down / Arrow Up | Move the highlight between menu items or dropdown options. Rows that are hidden are skipped. |
| Enter or Space | Activate the highlighted item. |
| Arrow Right (on an item with a submenu) | Open the submenu — for example, the Mode or Permission sub-list. |
| Arrow Right, Enter or Space (on Legacy models or Effort in the model picker) | Open that list and move into it. |
| Arrow Left | Close the open submenu, or the Legacy models or Effort list, and return to its parent item. |
| Escape | Close the submenu, the menu, or the dropdown — and return focus to the button that opened it. |
Focus ring
While you move around with the arrow keys or Tab, a ring marks the control you are on, whether a button, link, menu, menu item, dropdown, field or checklist row: dark grey in the light theme and light grey in the dark theme, the same everywhere in Strata, Strata for Outlook included. The message box is the one exception: while you type in it, it lifts with a soft shadow instead of a ring. It isn't drawn when you use a mouse or touch, so clicking a menu open and closing it with Escape leaves no ring behind. Press an arrow key or Tab and it comes back. Typing into a field hides it until you leave the field with the keyboard.
Email draft card (rich-text body)
When editing an email body inside an email block, Strata intercepts the browser's built-in rich-text shortcuts so they do not change the document:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Cmd/Ctrl + B, Cmd/Ctrl + I, Cmd/Ctrl + U | Blocked — keeps the AI's body formatting consistent. Use the AI to rephrase if you want different emphasis. |
Plain-text paste is enforced: pasting into the email body strips formatting and inserts only the text.
Account menu (in the sidebar)
When the account menu is open:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Escape | Close the account menu. |
The Learn More submenu (Documentation, Usage policy, Privacy policy) opens on hover — it is not keyboard-navigable.
Modals and dialogs
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Escape | Close most modals and overlays — including confirmation dialogs, the slash menu, the search modal, the support panel, and many others. |
Onboarding wizard
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Enter | Advance to the next step (when the Continue button is enabled and your focus is not in a textarea). |
Custom dropdowns
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Type any characters | Filter the open dropdown to items that contain what you type. The filter shows as you type and clears after a short pause. |
| Backspace | Delete the last character from the type-to-filter buffer. |
| Escape | Close the dropdown. |
SPA link interception
Standard browser modifier-clicks on links work as expected:
- Plain left-click on a link with
data-spa-linknavigates within the app. - Cmd/Ctrl + click, Shift + click, Alt + click, or middle-click opens the link in a new tab or window, matching normal browser behavior.