Notion Block Editing Shortcuts
Everything in a Notion page is a block — a paragraph, a heading, a bulleted item, an embedded database — and the shortcuts in this category are about creating, converting, rearranging, and deleting those blocks without reaching for the slash command menu every time. The Markdown-style typed shortcuts (hyphen-space for a bullet, hash-space for a heading) are the fastest path for anyone typing continuously, while the modifier-key shortcuts here handle moving and duplicating blocks you've already created.
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Convert line to bulleted list | Type - then Space | Type - then Space | Start an empty line with a hyphen and a space and Notion auto-converts it into a bulleted list item right away, with each following Enter press continuing the same list format automatically. |
| Convert line to heading | Type # then Space (## for H2, ### for H3) | Type # then Space | Typing one, two, or three hash symbols followed by a space converts the current line into a Heading 1, 2, or 3 block respectively, mirroring Markdown heading syntax. |
| Duplicate selected block | Ctrl+D | Cmd+D | Creates an identical copy of the selected block directly beneath the original, preserving any nested content and formatting. |
| Move block up/down | Ctrl+Shift+Up / Ctrl+Shift+Down | Cmd+Shift+Up / Cmd+Shift+Down | Relocates the currently selected block one position earlier or later among its siblings, without needing to drag the six-dot handle that appears on hover. |
| Indent block (nest under previous) | Tab | Tab | Tucks the current block underneath the one sitting directly above it as a nested child, the exact mechanism Notion's toggle lists and outline-style pages are built on. |
| Outdent block (un-nest one level) | Shift+Tab | Shift+Tab | Promotes the current block back up one nesting level, the reverse of Tab, pulling a block out from underneath its parent so it becomes a sibling of the block it was previously nested inside. |
| Convert line to to-do checkbox | Type [] then Space | Type [] then Space | An empty pair of square brackets plus one space, typed right where a new line begins, immediately turns that line into a checkable to-do item, and the checkbox format keeps continuing automatically each time you press Enter to start the next one. |
| Add a comment to selected text or block | Ctrl+Shift+M | Cmd+Shift+M | Opens a comment thread anchored to the selected text or block, letting collaborators discuss a specific piece of content directly rather than leaving a disconnected note elsewhere on the page. |
| Delete selected block | Backspace (block selected, not text cursor) | Delete/Backspace | Removes an entire selected block outright rather than deleting one character at a time — select the block first (Escape from within it selects its container) so the keypress targets the whole block instead of editing its text content. |
| Convert line to toggle list | Type > then Space | Type > then Space | A right-angle bracket followed by a space converts the line into a collapsible toggle block, which hides its nested children behind a small triangle until clicked open — the building block behind most of Notion's collapsible outline-style pages. |
The typed Markdown-style shortcuts are Notion's most distinctive editing feature: typing a hyphen followed by a space at the start of an empty line instantly converts that line into a bulleted list item, and every subsequent Enter press continues the list format automatically until you press Enter twice in a row or manually delete the bullet formatting. The same pattern applies to headings (one, two, or three hash symbols plus a space for Heading 1, 2, or 3 respectively), to-do checkboxes (an empty pair of square brackets plus a space), and toggle lists (a right-angle bracket plus a space) — all of them trigger only when typed at the very start of an untransformed line, which is why pasting text containing a leading hash or hyphen usually doesn't trigger the same automatic conversion the way manually typing it does.
Ctrl+D duplicates the currently selected block directly beneath the original, preserving any nested child blocks and formatting intact — useful for quickly building out a repeated structure, like several similarly formatted callout boxes or a template section you want to reuse several times on the same page without retyping it.
Moving a block without the mouse uses Ctrl+Shift+Up or Ctrl+Shift+Down, relocating the selected block one position earlier or later among its siblings at the same nesting level. This is considerably more precise than dragging the six-dot handle that appears on hover, especially on a long page where the drag handle can be fiddly to grab accurately or where a drag risks accidentally nesting the block under the wrong parent if you drop it slightly off-target.
Tab and Shift+Tab handle nesting directly: Tab tucks the current block underneath whatever block sits immediately above it at the same level, making it a child of that block, while Shift+Tab does the reverse, promoting a nested block back up one level so it becomes a sibling of its former parent instead of a child. This indent/outdent mechanism is the literal structure behind Notion's toggle lists and any outline-style page built from nested bullets — understanding it makes the difference between a page that organizes cleanly into collapsible sections and one where everything sits at the same flat level regardless of its logical hierarchy.
Deleting a block outright (rather than deleting its text character by character) requires the block itself to be selected rather than having a text cursor blinking inside it — pressing Escape while your cursor is inside a block's text selects the block itself, at which point Backspace or Delete removes the entire block in one action rather than needing to hold Backspace to erase every character first.
Comments (Ctrl+Shift+M) anchor a discussion thread to a specific selected block or piece of text, letting collaborators leave feedback that's directly tied to the content it concerns rather than as a disconnected note somewhere else on the page or in a separate chat entirely — genuinely useful on any page more than one person is actively editing or reviewing, since the comment stays visually pinned to exactly the content it's about even as the rest of the page continues to change around it.