Kodi, formerly XBMC, is a powerful and open-source media server player that has enjoyed great popularity in the last few years. Kodi supports most devices, including Windows, Mac, iOS Android, Linux, and Raspberry Pi. The unlimited customization possibilities of Kodi are a major reason for its popularity. To customize the entire UI, you can use Kodi skins and Kodi Repos. Despite all the changes in Kodi’s UI, there is one constant: the Kodi keyboard shortcuts.
This is a good thing, as it can be difficult for new users to learn how to navigate Kodi’s UI. The interface has its own navigation structure that doesn’t match the native app structures on the platforms it is running on. It is therefore helpful to have a list of keyboard shortcuts in order to navigate the interface quickly. You should be familiar with the keyboard commands of Kodi if you want to use it. We have compiled a list of some of the most important Kodi keyboard shortcuts that every Kodi user needs to know.
The Best Shortcuts for the Kodi Keyboard You Must Know in 2020
Below are quick links that will allow you to quickly navigate the article. These quick links will allow you to quickly jump to the Kodi keyboard shortcuts you are interested in.
Quick Links
- Contextual menu
- Live TV Window
- Look Forward or Back
- Queued Video
- Fullscreen Playback
- Mute
- Exit Kodi
- Switch between Full-screen or Windowed Mode
- Audio delay control
- Fast forward
- Play
- Stop
- Rewind
- Toggle Subtitles Off/On
- Home Screen or Previous Menu
- Take a photo
- Volume Down or Volume Up? Mute
- Shut Down Menu
- Pause/Play
- Zoom/Aspect Ratio
- Kodi Shortcuts for Pictures
- Some handy Default Kodi keyboard shortcuts
- Useful Mouse controls
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Frequently Asked Question
1. Contextual Menu
Shortcut Key C
This shortcut key allows you to find the context menu of files, folders, and add-ons. If you’ve selected a video file to play, you can press the C key to display a few options such as “Play”, Add to Queue”, Mark as Watched, etc. This shortcut key acts as an alternative to right-clicking on the mouse.
2. Live TV Window
Shortcut Key H
You can switch to live TV from any location on Kodi by pressing the H key. This shortcut is useful when you need to switch between the live TV window and your local library.
3. Look Forward or Backward
Shortcut Key Ctrl+ – or Ctrl+ –
To seek forward or backward, press the Ctrl key while you’re watching a video. It will search the playback for 5 seconds.
4. Move to Queued video
Shortcut Key Page Up/Page Down
To skip to the next queued movie, you can use the page up or page down keys. This is most useful when you are watching TV or have queued videos in your playlist.
5. Toggle Fullscreen Playback
Shortcut Key tab
You can exit full-screen playback by hitting the tab key while you’re watching a video. You can also choose another video or perform other tasks on Kodi. You can return to full-screen mode by pressing the tab key.
6. Mute
Shortcut Key M
You can now mute audio or video by pressing the M key. To reduce the volume, you don’t need to press the plus key multiple times.
7. Exit Kodi
Shortcut Key Ctrl+ End
To close Kodi, press the End and Ctrl keys simultaneously while you’re on the home screen. To perform this shortcut, you must be on the Kodi home screen.
8. You can toggle between Windowed Mode and Full-screen Mode
Shortcut Key:
Kodi defaults to full-screen mode. This keyboard shortcut allows one to toggle between full-screen and windowed mode. This shortcut will enable the user to simultaneously access other software/apps while using Kodi.
9. Audio delay control
Shortcut Key A
Sometimes audio and video from a specific video don’t work well together. You can adjust the audio delay using this keyboard command, to make sure it syncs with the video.
10. Moving fast
Shortcut Key F
To skip a specific part of a movie, or music video, press the ‘F” key. The video will speed up at 2x the pace if you press it once. It can be pressed twice to fast forward the video at 4x speed, and vice versa. You can also use the right arrow key for forwarding the video every 30 seconds.
11. Play
Shortcut Key P
The video will begin by pressing ‘P’
12. Stop
Shortcut Key X
Just press the ‘X’ key to stop a specific video.
13. Rewind
Shortcut Key R
To rewind, press the ‘R” key if you like a specific scene in a movie or music video. The video will rewind at a 2x speed if you press it once. It can be pressed twice to rewind the video at 4x pace, and vice versa. You can also use the left-arrow key to rewind 3 seconds.
14. Toggle Subtitles On/Off
Shortcut Key T
To turn subtitles on/off in a movie, or video, press ‘T. This shortcut requires that the Subtitles settings be correctly configured.
15. Previous Menu or Home Screen
Shortcut Key: Esc
You can return to a previous menu, or go back to your home screen by pressing the ‘Esc” key. This will save you multiple clicks.
16. Screenshot
Shortcut KeyCtrl+ S or Prt Sc
To take a screenshot from your Kodi media center, press ‘Ctrl+S. After you have pressed it, you will be asked to choose the location where you want to save that screenshot.
You can also hit ‘PrtSc” to take a screenshot. You can open ‘Paint” and press ‘Ctrl+V to retrieve the screenshot.
You can print the screenshot in a ready-to-use printable format.
17. Volume Down, Volume up, or Mute
Shortcut Key– (minus), + More
To decrease the volume of a video press the ‘-‘ key, and to increase its press the ‘+ key. To change the volume to the desired level, you will need to press the key multiple times.
To muffle a video completely press the ‘-‘ key multiple time so that it becomes null.
18. Shut down the Menu
Shortcut KeyS
To quickly exit the system, press the “S” key. You will be able to exit Kodi in just one click. It also has the ability to shut down/hibernate the system. This allows you to save time when you’re in a hurry.
19. Pause / Play
Shortcut Key: Space Bar
To play/pause a video, you just need to hit the space key. This keyboard shortcut is the same as for YouTube and VLC.
20. Zoom / Aspect Ratio
Shortcut Key Z
You can adjust the aspect ratio of a movie according to its resolution by pressing the ‘Z” key. The video will automatically adjust to a new resolution every time you press it. For example, (320×240), (1024×768), etc. Select the one that has better clarity.
Kodi Shortcuts to Pictures
21. Zoom in and out of the picture
Shortcut Key1-9
The images will be zoomed by pressing the numerical keys 1-9
22. Next Picture
Shortcut Key. Period
It is possible to browse through images without using your cursor. You can scroll to the next image by pressing the ‘.’ key.
23. Previous picture
Shortcut Key, comma
To view the previous image, press ‘,’.
24. Zoom In
Zooming in on photos is also very easy. Press the (+) key to zoom in on a photo.
25. Zoom Out
Press the (-) key to zoom out from a photo.
Here are some handy shortcuts for the default Kodi keyboard
These default keyboard shortcuts are useful for times when you need to have better control over Kodi.
26. Toggle Debug Logging
Shift+D keys.
27. Get Codec Info
Shift+O.
28. Adjust playback speed
It is easy to adjust the playback speed using a keyboard shortcut. To decrease/increase the playback speed, simply press the alt+/- key combination.
29. Select/Switch player
To select or switch players, you can hit the key.
Useful Mouse Controls
Kodi supports a number of handy shortcuts for mouse control. These shortcuts are useful if you use a mouse to control media.
30. Choose an item
To choose any item, left-click an item.
31. Playlist Queue
middle-click to add an item to your queue.
32. Access Context Menu
To quickly access the context menu, right-click an item.
33. Return to the homepage
To go back, right-click the empty area. Although there are many ways to return to the previous screen it is easy to do so if you’re using a mouse.
34. Go up
You can go up by using the mouse wheel.
35. Go down
Simply drag the mouse wheel downward.
Shortcuts for Platform-Specific Keyboards
Windows
36. Shortcut Key: Windows Key
You can access any option on your system from outside Kodi, but you don’t have to exit it. You can access the option by pressing the Windows key.
for Mac
Here are some helpful shortcuts to Kodi for Mac users.
37. Quit
To quit the app, press Cmd+Q on your Mac keyboard.
38. Minimize/Hide to the Dock
When you want to hide/minimize an app from the dock, the keyboard shortcuts Cmd+H or Cmd+M are available.
39. Toggle Fullscreen
To toggle full-screen, press the Cmd+F key.
40. Screenshot
Simply press Cmd+S to capture a screenshot.
This concludes our article about the top Kodi keyboard shortcuts you need to know. Click here to see a complete list of all Kodi keyboard shortcuts. For most users, however, these keyboard shortcuts will be sufficient.
Most Frequently Asked Questions
How do you go back to Kodi
It is easy to return to Kodi. Click/tap the back button. To return to the previous screen, you can hit the Esc key. Right-click the blank area when you use the mouse
What is Keymap?
Keymaps are XML files that can be used to map keys, including joysticks, mouse, remote buttons, and joysticks.
How can I minimize Kodi on my computer?
Simply press the Win +M keys to minimize Kodi in Windows. To minimize Kodi from the dock on your Mac’s computer, press the Cmd+M keys.
You can use these Kodi keyboard shortcuts to make Kodi more easy to use.
These keyboard shortcuts will make it easy to use Kodi. It will take approximately two to three weeks to learn all the keyboard shortcuts in Kodi, according to my experience. These keyboard shortcuts are something I use every day, even though they don’t occur to me. Check them out, and leave us feedback in the comments below.