Getting around
Personal Ledger is built so you can do nearly everything without touching the mouse. This page shows you the few keys worth learning. There are only a handful, and they work the same way in the terminal app and the desktop app, so if you use both, you won’t have to relearn anything.
The big idea
Every single thing you can do in Personal Ledger has a name, and you can always reach it by typing that name. Keyboard shortcuts are just faster ways to get there. So if you forget a shortcut, you’re never stuck: open the command box (below), type what you want, and go.
Three kinds of keys
Almost everything you’ll do comes down to three ideas.
1. Jump somewhere with g
Press g, let go, then press a letter to leap straight to a screen. Think of it as “go to…”. So g then a takes you to Accounts, and g then d takes you to the Dashboard.
If you press g and then a letter that doesn’t go anywhere, nothing happens and you’re back where you started, so it’s safe to poke around. In the desktop app, the g also gives up on its own if you wait about a second.
Here are the jump letters for each app:
| Go to | Terminal app | Desktop app |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts | g a | g a |
| Budgets | g b | g b |
| Categories | g c | g c |
| Dashboard | g d | g d |
| Payees | g p | g p |
| Reports | g r | g r |
| Settings | g s | g s |
| Tags | g g | g t |
| Transactions | g t | g l |
| Units | g u | not in the desktop app yet |
| Balance checks | g k | not in the desktop app yet |
| Bills | not in the terminal app yet | g w |
The two apps don’t share every screen yet, and Tags and Transactions use different letters in each one. We’d like them to match eventually.
2. Do anything by name with :
Press : (a colon) and a command box opens. Start typing what you want to do, like accounts new, and it suggests matches as you go. Press Enter to run it.
This is your safety net. If you can’t remember a shortcut, or you’re not sure where something lives, : will find it.
Some commands are listed but aren’t finished yet. If you run one, Personal Ledger tells you it’s “not yet built” rather than quietly doing nothing.
3. Find things with /
Press / to start searching or filtering. In the terminal app this works on the Accounts, Payees and Tags screens. In the desktop app, the search box on the Transactions screen is the place to look, and more of it is on the way.
Always know where you are
Personal Ledger is modal, which is a fancy way of saying the same key can mean different things depending on what you’re doing. That sounds scarier than it is, because the status line at the bottom always tells you what’s going on. There are four situations:
- Normal: the resting state, where keys are shortcuts. You won’t see a label for this one.
- Insert: you’re typing into a form, so your keys become text.
- Command: the
:box is open. - Search: you’re typing a search or filter.
Ever unsure what a key will do? Glance at the bottom of the screen first.
A few keys worth remembering
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
? | Shows help for the screen you’re on |
Esc | Goes back, or closes whatever’s open |
: | Opens the command box |
/ | Starts a search or filter |
g then a letter | Jumps to a screen |
Each screen also has its own keys for things like adding, editing or deleting an item, and the help screen (?) lists them for wherever you are.
Quitting
In the terminal app there are three ways out, and they all work:
qquits politely.:quitdoes the same, by name.Ctrl+Cquits straight away, which is handy if something ever seems stuck.
In the desktop app, you close the window like any other app.
Changing the keys
If you use the terminal app, you can change the keys for going back, opening help and opening the command box in your config file. See Settings for where that file lives.
The desktop app doesn’t have this yet. The other keys, such as g for jumping and q for quitting, are fixed for now.
For developers
Curious how the keys are built, or planning to change them? See Navigation and keyboard grammar: design.