Getting Started with Android Studio Keyboard ShortCuts

If you are just getting started in Android Studio the wide range of options available to you can see somewhat daunting when you are trying to navigate with a mouse. One of the greatest strength’s of the IntelliJ development environment is 90% of the commands are available through the keyboard. Using the keyboard instead of the mouse will greatly improve your productivity because you won’t be moving your hands back and forth from keyboard to mouse.

Here are a few simple commands you can use that will greatly improve your Android Studio workflow. Please note I will put the Windows/Linux keyboard version first and Mac in brackets (where appropriate).

CTRL+N (CMD+N)

Find and goto a Java source file in your project. IntelliJ will provide a drop down list of Java source files matching your search criteria.

CTRL+SHIFT+N (CMD+SHIFT+N)

Find and goto any file in your project. IntelliJ will provide a drop down list of all files in your project matching your criteria. Useful for navigating to XML and Gradle files.

CTRL+I (CMD+I)

Implement required methods. Useful for when you implement an interface and need to provide methods and code for all the interface methods.

CTRL+O (CMD+O)

Override methods from the super class the current class is extending. For instance if you want to override onSaveInstanceState in your activity to provide your own custom implementation use this shortcut to get a list of all methods available to override. Select onSaveInstanceState and it will get inserted at the cursor complete with Override annotation and a call to the super method.

CTRL+E (CMD+E)

If you have been working with several files this shortcut pulls up a list of all the files you have opened recently and you can use the cursor keys to select one and open it. Makes navigating your files a lot quicker.

SHIFT+F10

Run your Android Studio app.

SHIFT+F9

Debug your Android app.

SHIFT+F6

Rename the item under the cursor and references. It could be a variable, method or class. Make use of the preview function so the rename doesn’t go crazy with the refactoring.

CTRL+SHIFT+A (CMD+SHIFT+A)

I will end this article with the one command that will let you search all the available keyboard commands. Try it out by trying to figure out the shortcut for Extract Field. I will give you a hint and tell you it involves the letter F.

There is much more to be said on the subject but I wanted to present the Android developer with a few shortcuts that will greatly improve their workflow.

Happy coding!