Using the Keyboard with ChemWriter
Last Updated on Saturday, March 08, 2008.
| Element | Key |
|---|---|
| Boron | b |
| Bromine | r |
| Carbon | c |
| Chlorine | l |
| Fluorine | f |
| Hydrogen | h |
| Iodine | i |
| Nitrogen | n |
| Oxygen | o |
| Phosphorous | p |
| Silicon | z |
| Sulfur | s |
| Tin | t |
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| a | Fuse or sprout a benzene ring. |
| 1-9 | Sprout a chain of the indicated length. |
| [delete] | Delete atoms and any associated bonds. |
Draw Faster with Keyboard Shortcuts
Draw structures even faster with keyboard shortcuts. Atom labels can be added by hovering over an atom position and typing a single character with the keyboard. The atom is hovered when a green circle appears over it.
Keyboard shortcuts affect all highlighted atoms. For example, drawing benzene, lassoing two adjacent carbons, and pressing the “N” key creates pyridazine. Pressing “C” will change the highlighted atoms back to carbon.
Adding chains and benzene rings can be done without changing tools simply by pressing the “a” key or a number key, respectively. For example, to quickly create a naphthalene ring, place the cursor over a region of the canvas and press the “a” key. 
Then, hover over one of the benzene ring’s bonds. Press the “a” key again to fuse the second benzene ring onto the first. Likewise, ethylbenzene can be created without using the palette by pressing the “a” key in the canvas area followed by hovering over an atom and pressing the “2” key.
Note: keyboard shortcut behavior can be browser specific. For example, when another page element, such as a text field, has keyboard focus, you may need to click on a blank area of the page to release that focus before using keyboard shortcuts. On Safari for Macintosh, you’ll only be able to use keyboard shortcuts after first clicking inside the ChemWriter window (for example, on the top menu bar).