Heptabase Keyboard Shortcuts
Heptabase takes a different structural bet than the outliner-based tools (RemNote, Logseq, Roam) — instead of a nested text hierarchy, it treats notes as individual cards you arrange spatially on an infinite canvas called a Map, closer in spirit to a physical corkboard-and-index-cards research process than a linear document. Its card-creation and card-linking shortcuts exist because building and connecting cards on a canvas is the core interaction, rather than typing nested bullet points the way outliner tools work. Because Heptabase is explicitly positioned toward synthesizing many source materials into a coherent understanding (a common academic research workflow), its highlight-to-card shortcut — pulling a specific highlighted excerpt from a source document directly into a new linked card — is a distinctive feature without a clean equivalent in either flat note apps or pure outliners, reflecting how much of Heptabase's design is built around the specific job of literature review and synthesis rather than general-purpose note-taking. Journaling, a lighter-weight daily-note feature layered onto the card-and-canvas system, lets someone capture quick daily thoughts in a familiar chronological format while still being able to promote any journal entry into a full card connected to a research Map later. Because Heptabase is a relatively newer entrant compared to more established tools like Notion or Obsidian, its feature set and pricing model have continued evolving, so checking current documentation for the latest capabilities is worth doing beyond what's captured in any single snapshot of its shortcuts. Visual card sizing and color-coding both matter for keeping a dense research Map legible over time, since a project accumulating dozens or hundreds of cards benefits from being able to distinguish source excerpts from your own synthesis notes at a glance, well before you'd need to click into any individual card to remember what kind of content it holds.
Card Creation
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Create new card on canvas | Double-click empty canvas area | Double-click empty canvas | Creates a new note card at the clicked position on the current Map (canvas), the fundamental building action in Heptabase's card-and-canvas structural model. |
| Open/edit a card's content | Click card to open editor | Click card | Opens the selected card's full content editor, where you write and format the card's actual note content beyond its canvas position and title. |
| Duplicate selected card | Ctrl+D | Cmd+D | Duplicates the selected card on the canvas, standard convention shared broadly with design and diagramming tools for repeating similar elements. |
| Open today's journal entry | Ctrl+J (varies) | Cmd+J | Opens today's Journal page, a plain chronological note for quick daily capture that sits outside the card-and-canvas structure until you decide something in it is worth promoting into a proper connected card. |
| Create a new Map (whiteboard) | Sidebar > + New Map (no keyboard shortcut) | — | Creates a new independent canvas for organizing a distinct topic or research project, since Heptabase supports multiple separate Maps rather than forcing everything onto one single infinite canvas. |
| Resize a card on canvas | Drag card corner handle | — | Adjusts a card's visible size on the canvas, useful for visually emphasizing a particularly important card or shrinking a less central reference card to fit more content into the same visible canvas area. |
| Color-code a card | Right-click card > Color | — | Applies a background color to a card for visual categorization on the canvas, letting you distinguish source-material cards from synthesis or argument cards at a glance without reading each card's title individually. |
Canvas Navigation
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoom canvas (Map) view | Ctrl+Scroll | Cmd+Scroll | Zooms the infinite canvas in or out, essential given how a Heptabase Map can grow to contain many spatially arranged cards representing an entire research project's worth of material. |
| Pan canvas | Space+drag or two-finger scroll | Space+drag | Pans the visible canvas area without zooming, letting you navigate around a large Map to reach cards positioned outside the current viewport. |
| Search across all cards | Ctrl+F | Cmd+F | Runs a global lookup against every card's title and body text rather than restricting the search to whatever Map happens to be open, so the right card surfaces no matter which canvas it was originally placed on. |
Linking Sources
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draw connection line between cards | Drag from card edge to another card | — | Draws a visible connecting line between two cards on the canvas, letting you represent relationships spatially in addition to (or instead of) text-based bidirectional links. |
| Convert highlighted source text into a new card | Select text in source > Create Card | — | Pulls a specific highlighted excerpt from an imported source document (like a PDF or webpage) directly into a new linked card on the canvas, a distinctive feature aimed at literature review and research synthesis workflows without a clean equivalent in general-purpose note apps. |
| Promote a journal entry to a card | Journal entry menu > Convert to Card | — | Converts a journal entry into a full card that can be placed and linked on a research Map, letting quick daily thoughts graduate into more permanent, connected research material when they turn out to be worth keeping. |
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Heptabase's card-and-canvas model different from a mind-mapping tool like Miro or Milanote?
While visually similar in using a spatial canvas, Heptabase's cards are full-fledged notes with rich text content and their own bidirectional linking system underneath, positioning it closer to a knowledge-management tool with a visual layer than a pure diagramming or moodboard tool — the emphasis is on synthesizing written understanding, not just visually arranging images and shapes.
Can I use Heptabase's outliner-style features within a card, or is it purely canvas-based?
Individual cards support rich note content including nested lists and formatting within the card's own editor, so the canvas-and-cards structure exists at the level of organizing many notes spatially, while the content inside any single card can still be written in a more traditional structured note format.
Is the highlight-to-card feature specific to certain file types, like only PDFs?
Heptabase supports pulling highlighted excerpts from several imported source types including PDFs and web content, though exact supported formats and the specific interaction details are worth checking against current product documentation since source-import capabilities have expanded as the product has developed.
Can I use Heptabase for quick daily notes, or is it only for structured research cards?
Yes — Journal gives you a simple chronological page per day for capturing whatever comes to mind without deciding upfront where it belongs in your card structure. If something you jotted down turns out to matter later, you can promote that entry into a full card and wire it into a research Map at that point rather than upfront.
Is Heptabase still actively adding new features, given it's newer than tools like Notion?
Yes — it's a young product compared to Notion or Obsidian, and the team has been shipping new capabilities and adjusting pricing at a noticeably faster clip than a more mature tool typically would. Anything documented here is a snapshot rather than a permanent spec, so it's worth cross-checking Heptabase's own changelog if a particular feature seems to be missing or behaving differently than expected.
Can I find a specific card without knowing which Map it's on?
Yes, global search covers card titles and content across the entire workspace rather than being limited to the currently open Map, so a card can be located regardless of which specific canvas it currently lives on.
Does Heptabase support importing notes from other tools like Notion or Obsidian?
Heptabase supports importing content from several common formats and some direct integrations, though the fidelity of an import depends on the source tool's structure, and notes with heavy custom formatting or database features from another tool may need manual adjustment after import.
Can I have more than one canvas, or is everything forced onto a single infinite Map?
Heptabase supports creating multiple separate Maps, letting you dedicate a distinct canvas to each research project or topic rather than accumulating everything onto one single unwieldy infinite board, while cards and links can still connect across different Maps when a genuine relationship between two separate projects exists.