Fusion 360 Keyboard Shortcuts
Fusion 360 sits at a different point in the CAD spectrum than SketchUp's approachable push/pull modeling — it's a parametric, history-based modeler where every operation is recorded in a timeline and can be edited retroactively, and its shortcut set reflects that added complexity with more numbered-key tool bindings and dedicated sketch-constraint shortcuts. The sketch environment in particular has its own dense shortcut layer for applying geometric constraints (coincident, parallel, tangent) since precise 2D sketches are the foundation nearly every 3D feature gets built from. A meaningful handful of Fusion's tool shortcuts are unmodified number keys, so those fire identically on both platforms regardless of which modifier the rest of the scheme uses. This page is written for mechanical designers and engineers already working within Fusion's parametric, timeline-based modeling philosophy rather than someone coming from a purely direct-modeling tool, since understanding that every feature is an editable, reorderable history step (not a permanent one-way edit) genuinely changes how you should think about several of the shortcuts here, particularly sketch constraints and the modeling operations that depend on them. Because Fusion updates fairly frequently as cloud-connected software, it's worth occasionally checking Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts if a binding here doesn't fire exactly as expected on your installed version.
Sketch Tools
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Line tool (sketch) | L | L | Puts the sketch environment into line-drawing mode, click by click laying down straight segments that become the base profile most parametric extrude and revolve features get built on top of. |
| Rectangle tool (sketch) | R | R | Activates the two-point Rectangle sketch tool; repeated presses of R cycle through rectangle variants like 2-point, 3-point, and center rectangle. |
| Circle tool (sketch) | C | C | Activates the Circle sketch tool, cycling between center-diameter and 2-point/3-point circle variants on repeated presses. |
| Sketch Dimension tool | D | D | Activates the Dimension tool for adding a driving numeric constraint (length, angle, radius) to sketch geometry, which parametrically controls that geometry's size going forward rather than just labeling it. |
| Trim tool (sketch) | T | T | Switches on the Trim tool, where clicking any segment deletes just that piece up to the nearest place it crosses another line, turning a tangle of overlapping construction geometry into one clean closed profile ready for a feature. |
| Apply Coincident constraint | C (with two points selected, varies) | C | Forces two selected sketch points to occupy the exact same location, one of the most fundamental geometric constraints for ensuring sketch geometry stays connected and predictable as dimensions later change. |
Solid Modeling
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extrude tool | E | E | Activates Extrude, which pushes a selected sketch profile or face into a 3D solid along a distance, the single most common way to turn a 2D sketch into a 3D feature in Fusion's parametric workflow. |
| Fillet tool | F | F | Activates Fillet, which rounds a selected edge into a smooth curved transition at a radius you specify. Fusion 360's version of this tool is parametric by default, meaning the fillet remains a live, editable feature in the design's timeline that can be resized or suppressed later without redoing the operation, consistent with Fusion's history-based modeling approach across nearly all of its features. |
| Shell tool | Shift+S | Shift+S | Hollows out a solid body to a specified wall thickness, removing selected faces entirely, commonly used for designing enclosures, cases, and 3D-printed parts that need to be hollow rather than solid to save material and weight. |
| Combine tool (boolean) | No default — Modify > Combine | Same | Performs boolean join, cut, or intersect operations between two solid bodies, without a default keyboard shortcut bound out of the box, requiring either the menu or a custom-assigned key. |
| Rectangular/circular pattern | No default — Create > Pattern menu | Same | Repeats a selected feature or body a specified number of times along a linear direction or around a circular axis, useful for something like an array of identical mounting holes, without a bound default keyboard shortcut out of the box. |
Navigation View
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free orbit view | Shift + middle-mouse drag | Shift + middle-mouse drag | Rotates the 3D view freely around the model while held; most users also just use a middle-mouse-button drag alone for orbit, with Shift reserved for constrained/alternate orbit behavior depending on navigation settings. |
| Zoom to fit | F6 or Zoom Extents | F6 | Fits the entire model into the viewport in one action, the go-to recovery move once zooming or panning has carried the view too far away from the actual geometry. |
| Look At selected face/plane | L (with face selected, varies) | L | Reorients the camera to look directly perpendicular at the currently selected face or sketch plane, useful for getting a true, undistorted view when sketching or inspecting a specific surface rather than manually orbiting to approximate that angle. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does pressing R or C repeatedly change the tool instead of just re-activating the same one?
Several of Fusion's sketch tool shortcuts are designed to cycle through related tool variants on repeated presses within the same session — pressing R again after activating Rectangle cycles between 2-point, 3-point, and center rectangle modes rather than simply toggling the tool on and off, a space-saving design choice that avoids needing a separate key for every variant.
Why doesn't Combine (boolean operations) have a default keyboard shortcut?
Fusion leaves a number of Modify-menu operations, including Combine, without default bindings, likely because these are used less constantly during a typical modeling session compared to Extrude or Fillet and are considered lower priority for the limited pool of easily-reachable single keys. Any user can assign a custom shortcut to Combine through Fusion's Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts editor.
What actually makes Fusion 360 'parametric' in a way that affects how shortcuts are used?
Every feature applied — an Extrude, a Fillet, a sketch Dimension — is recorded as a step in the model's Timeline rather than being a permanent, one-way edit to the geometry. This means shortcuts like Extrude or Dimension aren't just drawing actions but are creating editable, reorderable history entries, and double-clicking any earlier timeline step lets you go back and change its original parameters, which then propagate forward through every feature built after it.
Why would I bother setting up a pattern instead of just manually copying a feature several times?
A pattern maintains a live, parametric relationship to its original feature — changing the count, spacing, or the original feature's own dimensions automatically updates every instance in the pattern simultaneously, whereas manually duplicating a feature several times creates fully independent copies with no such ongoing relationship, meaning any later design change would require manually editing each copy separately rather than updating one parametric definition.
What's the point of Look At when I could just orbit close enough to a similar angle manually?
Manually orbiting to what looks approximately perpendicular to a face is never perfectly exact, which matters when sketching directly on that face or visually inspecting it for a flaw — Look At snaps the camera to a mathematically precise perpendicular view of the selected face or plane instantly, removing any doubt about whether you're actually looking at it straight-on or from a slightly skewed angle.