Figma shortcuts not working? How to fix them

Figma's default shortcuts are mapped to the physical keys of a US QWERTY keyboard. On any other layout, a shortcut can land on a key that types a different character, needs a modifier your keyboard adds, or doesn't exist at all. The forum thread on broken shortcuts for non-US keyboard layouts is full of people who fixed it by changing one setting.

The causes below are ordered by how often they come up on forum.figma.com, most common first.

1. Figma's keyboard layout doesn't match your computer

This is the fix to try first. Go to Main menu → Preferences → Keyboard layout, or open the shortcuts panel with Ctrl + Shift + ? and switch to the Layout tab. Choose the layout your operating system uses. When the system keyboard and Figma's setting disagree, Figma shows a warning, so if you've seen that banner and dismissed it, this is why your shortcuts feel random.

After switching, the shortcuts panel updates to show the keys for your layout. Some shortcuts move to different keys, so check the panel instead of relying on muscle memory from a US keyboard.

2. Ctrl+Z or Cmd+Z doesn't undo

Undo is ⌘Z on Mac and Ctrl+Z on Windows. Two forum threads about undo failing have about 19,500 and 12,900 views, one of them started after a Figma update. Test undo from the main menu first. If the menu undoes and the key doesn't, go back to cause 1 and check the layout: on AZERTY and QWERTZ keyboards the Z key sits in a different place, so a mismatched setting sends the wrong key.

Redo is commonly ⇧⌘Z on Mac and Ctrl+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y on Windows, but Figma's help center doesn't document it. Check the shortcuts panel to see what your layout uses.

3. Show/Hide UI doesn't work on Windows

Hiding the whole interface is ⌘\ on Mac and Ctrl+\ on Windows. The forum thread about it not working on Windows has about 37,000 views. On many non-US keyboards the backslash sits on a different key or needs an extra modifier, so set the right layout (cause 1) and check the shortcuts panel for where Figma now expects it.

4. The shortcut isn't an official Figma shortcut

Some shortcuts you'll find in blog posts and cheat sheets aren't on help.figma.com at all: rulers (⇧R), zoom to 100% (⇧0), collapse all layers (⌥L), opacity with number keys, strikethrough and a crop key. They may work on your setup, but Figma doesn't promise them. If one does nothing, search the shortcuts panel for the action. If it isn't listed, use the Actions menu instead.

Some of Figma's own pages also disagree with each other, for example on bring to front and send to back, pixel grid and layout guides. The shortcuts panel inside the app is the version to trust. Our Figma keyboard shortcuts guide lists the verified ones for Mac and Windows.

5. Only one app is affected

If shortcuts fail in the desktop app but work in the browser (or the reverse), the problem is local. For the desktop app, clearing the cache with Help → Troubleshooting → Reset Figma and Restart is the standard reset, covered in how to clear the Figma cache. For the browser, try a private window with extensions off. When Figma misbehaves in more ways than shortcuts, start with Figma not working.

Not in any documented way. Figma's help center has no article on rebinding shortcuts. The only related settings are the keyboard layout picker and Preferences → Use old shortcuts for outlines. If a shortcut clashes with your OS or another app, the Actions menu (⌘K / Ctrl+K) is the reliable way to run the command by name.