P: Improve keyboard shortcuts for iPadOS version

[olivierlacan]

Currently, the iPad and iOS versions of Lightroom offer a measly set of keyboard shortcuts that don't cover basic tasks such as mode switching between Edit, Crop, Healing, Clone modes or even applying automatic edits which seems like an awfully common task on such a platform.

The full list is here at the moment and here's a screenshot from within the current version of the app for posterity. https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/using/keyboard-shortcuts-lightroom-mobile.html

Oddly there doesn't appear to be a support article from help.adobe.com about Lightroom CC keyboard shortcu..., unlike with Lightroom Classic which has a massive help document with all possible shortcuts. 

I've attached a screenshot of the list of available shortcuts as it appears in-app on iPadOS running v6.3.0 EC9ADC/56 when holding the Command key which is an operating system wide convention for keyboard shortcut discovery.

At a glance, missing on iOS/iPadOS are the following basic shortcuts:

- Command + [ or ] to rotate left or right when browsing shots

- Shift + A to apply Auto Settings on currently selected image(s)

- Command + C to copy all current image settings (the default behavior is akin to Shift + Command + C on iOS for some reason)

- Command + Shift + C to copy specific image settings by selecting them first

- E to open Edit mode

- C to open Crop mode

- H to open Healing Brush mode

- B to open Brush mode (or Selective Edits mode as it's called on iOS)

- K to open Tags

- I to open Info (which is instead use to toggle through info overlays on the shot itself on iOS)

- / to show or hide the Filmstrip at the bottom of the screen when browsing through shots

- J to show clipping

- \ to show the original photo before edits 

- Command + or - to zoom in on the photo

- Space to toggle zoom

There are also no shortcuts to: 

- Toggle Histogram with Command + 0

- Toggle Light settings with Command + 1

- Toggle Color settings with Command + 2

- Toggle Effects with Command + 3

- Toggle Detail with Command + 4

- Toggle Optics with Command + 5

That's just for the Photo view. I'm sure there are many more opportunities for helpful screenshots such as top-level navigation which offers nearly nothing in Grid view because the overloaded I shortcut that toggles info overlays on each photo. There are no shortcuts to: 

- Command + F to focus the search bar and enable filters

- Alternate between square grid and original aspect ratio grid 

- T to add selected photos to target album (it's quite tedious to move photos to an album on iOS/iPadOS)

- Command + Delete or Delete to immediately delete a photo without tapping through multiple modals

I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of other potentially useful shortcuts as well, but it would be really nice to see an update with a hefty improvement in shortcuts. Thank you.

[selondon]

You make some good suggestions.

The best place to request features is on the following forum, which is monitored by the engineering team:
https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/categories/photoshop_family_lightroom_mobile

[olivierlacan]

Why isn't that forum linked to from the iPad version of the app if it's the place to ask for features? I literally came here from the app: 

Adobe seems to be switching discussion/request forums every six months at this point, I've lost track of how many times I've had to figure out where this place migrated to. 

It's exhausting.

[olivierlacan]

After checking out the referenced forum, it's now read-only since August 24, 2021, so I guess it *wasn't* the place to go ask for features after all. 

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

It is a simple explanation: On June 24, @selondon  gave you accurate information. The forum migrated here on August 31. 

[olivierlacan]

Makes sense @Rikk Flohr: Photography , any feedback on the suggested shortcuts? Is this something the Lightroom product team is considering for future updates? 

It's sort of shocking each time I'm away from my Mac mini or work laptop that I can't Shift + A to auto-tone or even press C to switch to Crop while I can Command + C/V to copy and paste settings just fine.

There's more processing power and instant interface feedback when editing on an iPad Pro than most Intel macOS laptops of yesteryear out there and it feels like fairly low lift and high impact feature(s). 

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

@Rikk Flohr: Photography have we got an active FR on this? It'd get my vote too.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

I couldn't find one so I converted this thread. 

[brianb27070235]

The rotate 90 degrees shortcut is essential for anyone who shoots large volumes of photos (events in particular).  It's impractical to have to open the crop panel, hit the rotate button up to three times, then confirm for every photo, just to rotate an image.  This requires a single keyboard press in LR Classic or even LR CC desktop and can be done very quickly when culling images.  With the iPad version it is effectively unusable, and the only real option is to find an internet connection, wait for everything to upload to the cloud, wait again for it to download to a laptop, and handle the rotates there.

[scotte80431767]

I'd also like to see the use of keyboard shortcuts to allow group selections of photos in the mobile version. Such as holding shift to select a range of photos. Having to tap each one is very tedious compared to desktop. 

[khalid27270468y23c]

Hello,

i use my iPad most of the times when editing my photos in lightroom, it works perfectly and i can even edit RAW format photos.

The thing that would make the experience more efficient i think if they were more keyboard shortcuts, CMD+Z for example or DEL for deleting photos faster.

I don't know if the shortcuts are there but somehow don't work for me.

thank you.

[Charlie.D]

Hi @khalid27270468y23c 

You are right that the keyboard shortcuts that do exist for LR desktop apps are the same as what exists for LR iPad.  Your messge along with the others helps the team understand wishes and priorities.

I will say that on iPad, shortcut keys can change depending on the app view or mode you're currently in.  Hold down the Cmd key to see available shortcuts for the part of the app you're in.  

For now, my advice to workaround the limitation you mentioned is to use P to pick images, or X to reject images, and then go back to filter on your selections and then perform a batch delete

[olivierlacan]

@Charlie.D Any update on support for the countless missing shortcuts I highlighted in my original post?

I essentially gave up on Lightroom for iPad in the meantime. It's hard to justify an otherwise extremely power computer with fast UI feedback and processing power but being limited by a basic lack of shortcuts making navigation between tasks the bottleneck. 

[Charlie.D]

Hello @olivierlacan 

Sorry for the slow reply -- I just caught your last message.  

I have no new updates.  I will say that your post is published in the right place, specifically under "Ideas" which informs our product management team about feature requests.  As always, the team is working on new features and bug fixing, and tries to balance planned work with worthwhile requests like yours.  Thanks for posting!

[Peter19628776fmsh]

I also want more keyboard shortcuts support for iPad. Especially Command + Z, for undo. 

[joejukes]

+1 for this. It's a glaring oversight to include some but not all commands.

[pabloh60881496]

+1 for better shortcut support. Specially switching from one panel to another like editing -> cropping -> back editing -> presets. etc.
Best case would be the same shortcut list from the desktop version...

[danielvangorder]

@RikkFlohr is there any update on this issue or priorization by Adobe to add these keyboard shortcuts to match the desktop app? It seems like a huge oversight to go unaddressed for 3+ years, as it really renders the iPad app unproductive

[danielvangorder]

@Charlie.D please see comment above

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

@danielvangorder 

There are no updates. 
If there had been an update, it would have been posted. 

Generally, Adobe does not comment on unreleased software. 

[Słowik inspiruje]

It would be great if Adobe added more support for keyboard shortcuts in Lightroom for iPad 🙂