Shortcuts and commands
The keyboard shortcuts, the CAD-style command line in Sketch Mode, the mouse conventions on the plot, and the full menu map.
SolarLayout Desktop is driven from buttons. A small set of keyboard shortcuts exists for the editing work where reaching for the palette would slow you down, and Sketch Mode adds a typed command line so a CAD operator can arm a drawing tool by name instead of hunting for its icon.
The shortcuts in the first table work inside Sketch Mode unless the table says otherwise, so they need a generated layout to act on. The menus work at any time.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Keys | What it does | Where it works |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+C | Copies the current selection | Sketch Mode |
| Ctrl+V | Pastes the copy, offset 5 m east and 5 m north of the original | Sketch Mode |
| Ctrl+Arrow | Nudges the selection 1 m in the arrow's direction | Sketch Mode, with ↖ Move active |
| Shift+click | Adds the object under the pointer to the current selection | Sketch Mode |
| Ctrl+N | Opens a second window and asks for the design mode again — the same as File ▸ Move to String / Central Window… | The main window |
| F1 | Opens the in-app guide | The main window |
Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V do the same job as the ⎘ Copy tool in the palette, including the offset: a pasted copy lands 5 m east and 5 m north of the original, so it never sits exactly on top of what you copied. Move it from there with ↖ Move, or nudge it with Ctrl+Arrow.
The nudge needs the Ctrl modifier, and one press moves the whole selection 1 m — so eight presses is 8 m, which is a practical way to shift a run of tables by a known distance without measuring.
Generating a layout, calculating energy and every export are driven from their own buttons.
The typed command line
Sketch Mode carries a command line that accepts CAD-style aliases. Type an alias
into it and the matching tool is armed, exactly as if you had clicked its palette
button. It exists so that a drafter who already knows L for a line and REC
for a rectangle does not have to learn a new palette.
| Tool | Aliases |
|---|---|
| ╱ Line | L, LINE |
| ⌒ Polyline | PL, POLY |
| □ Rect | REC, RECT, R |
| ○ Circle | C, CIR |
| ◜ Arc | ARC, A |
| ⬭ Ellipse | EL, ELL |
| ∿ Spline | SPL, SP |
| ▨ Fill/Zone | H, HATCH, FILL |
| 📐 Dimension | DIM, D |
| 🅣 Text | T, TEXT |
| 📏 Measure | M, MEA |
| ↖ Move | S, SEL |
Every alias in a row arms the same tool, so REC, RECT and R are
interchangeable. The tools without an alias — placing a table, a half table, an
arrester, an obstruction, a transmission line, or any of the three trench types
— are palette buttons only.
Watch the single letters. R arms the rectangle, not a road; C arms the
circle; D arms the dimension tool and T the text tool. A is the arc and
S is the selection tool.
Mouse conventions on the plot
The same gestures apply to every object Sketch Mode can select — tables, half tables, arresters, annotations and groups.
| Gesture | What it does |
|---|---|
| Click | Selects the object under the pointer |
| Shift-click | Adds to the selection, so several objects can be moved or deleted together |
| Drag on empty space | Draws a rubber band and selects everything inside it |
| Drag a selection | Moves every selected object together |
| Right-click | Finishes a multi-point tool — a polyline, a spline, or a transmission line |
| Double-click | Also finishes a polyline or a spline |
| Click and hold a control room | Drags it, when no navigation tool is active |
Dragging a control room is the one gesture that changes the plant rather than the drawing. Hold the blue room, drag it to a valid position inside the perimeter road, and release: the layout rebuilds around its new position. An invalid drop snaps back. See Control rooms.
Navigation is separate. 🖐 Pan and 🔍 Zoom are palette tools, and the plot's own Home (⌂) button refits the view to the plant — not to whatever the view was when the window opened. While either navigation tool is active, click-and-hold no longer drags a control room.
Toolbar buttons
The row above the plot. Two of these stay disabled until a layout exists.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| 💾 Save(Project) | Saves the session to a .slp file |
| ⛶ Expand Plot | Opens the plot in a large window with ⟵ Return to Main Window |
| 🛰 Satellite | Draws aerial imagery behind the layout, aligned to the file's coordinates. Needs an internet connection, and a layout |
| ▢ Wireframe | Draws tables and tracker units as outlines only |
| 📍 Piles: OFF | Turns the pile overlay on. The first use opens the pile editor. Needs a layout |
| ✏ Sketch Mode | Enters hand-editing |
| 📋 BOM | Opens the bill-of-materials editor |
| ⚡ SLD | Opens the single-line-diagram editor |
| Docs | Opens the online documentation in your browser |
| Access-status chip | Always shows your licence status — for example "● Active — until <date>", or "● No active access" with a Get Free Access button — without opening a menu |
The app version is always shown in the status bar at the bottom of the window.
Sketch Mode palette controls
These are not drawing tools. They change how the drawing tools behave, or manage what has already been drawn, and none of them has an alias.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| 🎨 Colour | Sets the stroke colour for new annotations. New strokes are 1.5 pt in orange-red until you change it |
| 🧲 Snap | Turns snapping on and off while you draw |
| ⊾ Ortho | Turns the orthogonal constraint on and off |
| ↶ Undo / ↷ Redo | Steps back and forward through sketch edits |
| ▦ Grid | Shows and hides the reference grid |
| ＋ / 👁 | Adds an annotation layer, and toggles a layer's visibility. Every annotation carries a layer and an optional named group |
| 📂 Import DXF | Brings CAD geometry into the sketch |
| ⧉ Group / ⿲ Ungroup | Groups the selection under a name, or breaks a group apart |
| 🧭 Scale bar + North | Drops a scale bar and a north arrow onto the drawing |
| 🗑 Clear Annotations | Removes every annotation |
Diagram mode controls
Diagram mode has its own small set of tools and no command line. See Single-line diagram.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| ↖ Move | Selects a symbol and drags it |
| Wire | Click-drag a connecting wire |
| Text | Places a multi-line label |
| Delete | Removes a symbol or a wire |
| ⟲ 90° | Rotates the selection by 90° |
| ⟳ Apply | Rotates the selection by the angle you type beside it |
| 🔗 Group / ✂ Ungroup / ⧉ Copy | Groups, breaks apart, and duplicates the selection |
| ✋ Pan / 🔍 Zoom / ⤢ Fit | Navigates the sheet |
| 🗑 Clear SLD | Empties the sheet |
Menu map
Three menus, eight items. An item ending in an ellipsis opens a window.
| Menu | Item | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| File | New Project | Starts a fresh session |
| File | Move to String / Central Window… | Opens a new, independent window on the four design-mode cards — the mounting type as well as the inverter topology — leaving the current session open beside it. Ctrl+N, and on the toolbar as ⊕ Move to String / Central Window |
| File | Save Project… | Writes the whole session — inputs, layout, sketch edits, diagram, bill of materials, terrain — to a .slp file |
| File | Open Project… | Reads a saved .slp file back |
| File | Exit | Closes the application |
| Edit-Pile | Define Pile Layout… | Opens the pile pattern editor for the reference table |
| Help | How to Use This Tool | Opens the in-app guide — the same window as F1 |
| Help | License / Subscription… | Shows the Device ID and access status, with Get Free Access and Contact Us |
Saving and opening are covered on Projects; the pile editor on Piles; the licence window on Activate your licence.
Where to go next
Summary table columns
Every column of the Layout & Energy Summary — what it reports, which ones rename with the design mode, and the three conventions for reading it.
Glossary
Every term used across these pages, defined — with the values the application ships and a note wherever it uses a word differently from the industry.