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Last update on 10. Mar 2026 .
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Tree display keyboard reference

OCCURRENCE

Focus tree display area and press one of the hotkeys described below.

 

DESCRIPTION

List of keys recognized by the ARB tree display

 

Marking species and folding groups

 Key   Description
==========================================
 m     mark/unmark (sub-)tree
 i     invert marks of (sub-)tree
 x     expand (Marked->Unmarked->All)
 c     collapse (Terminal->All)

If you point to a subtree with the mouse while pressing one of these keys, the action is performed on the subtree. Otherwise (if you point somewhere outside of the tree) the whole tree is targeted.

If you press < SHIFT + Key > the function works on the opposite set:

  • Instead of the subtree, the rest of the tree is targeted.
  • Instead of the whole tree, all species NOT in tree are targeted.

If you press < CTRL + Key > the function works on ALL species (if it makes sense).

SPACE toggles the mark(s) of the ´Selected species´ or group.

RETURN toggles the folding of the selected group.

 

Selecting species

 Key              Description
===============================================
 Cursor up/down   select previous/next species
 Home/End         select first/last species

If you press < CTRL + Key > these function only select marked species and if the selected species is inside a folded subtree all parent groups will be unfolded temporarily (to make the species visible).

If you press < SHIFT + Key > folded groups will temporarily unfolded and traversed, without SHIFT folded groups will be skipped.

 

Selecting groups

 Key                       Description
===============================================================================
 ALT + Cursor up/down      select previous/next group (inside enclosing group)
 ALT + Home/End            select first/last group    (inside enclosing group)
 ALT + Cursor left/right   ascend/descend out-of/into groups

Terminal groups will unfold when trying to descend further.

 

Howto switch selection between groups and species

  • when a group is selected, you can use SHIFT + Cursor down/up to select the first/last species of that group.
  • when a species is selected, you can use ALT + Cursor left/right to select the enclosing group.

 

NOTES

Expanding/collapsing is implemented in such way, that some key-combinations lead to determined tree-displays.

Examples:

 Key-Combo   similar to
=================================================
 cc          group all
 ccx         group all except marked
 xxx         ungroup all
 xxxc        group terminal groups

If a subtree does not contain unfolded groups the collapse keys target the first parent group instead.

 

Focus

ARB supports two different focus strategies via 'ARB/Properties/Toggle focus follows mouse'.

When using the default focus strategy, you must click once into the tree display for the keys described above to function properly.

In contrast, with the alternative strategy the focus will follow the mouse pointer. In this case, you don't need to click in the tree display, instead the mouse pointer has to be positioned within the tree display area for the described keys to work.

 

EXAMPLES

None

 

WARNINGS

None

 

BUGS

No bugs known