Keyboard and mouse

These shortcuts describe the desktop application. In the browser Lab, use the on-page controls; saved layout presets are desktop-only.

Unmodified letter keys control SideScopes while its main window is active. Command, Control, or Option suppresses those single-letter shortcuts so system and window commands continue to work. Shift modifies several SideScopes actions.

Scopes

Key	Action
V	Show Vectorscope
W	Show Waveform
L	Show Luma Waveform
R	Show RGB Parade
H	Show Histogram
Z	Show Zones
C	Show Color Picker
+ / −	Increase / decrease Vectorscope zoom: 1x, 2x, 4x

The equals key also zooms in, and keypad +/− work. Zoom stops at each end and is available while Vectorscope is visible.

A scope key shows that instrument by itself. Hold Shift to add it to the current layout, or to remove it if already visible. At least one scope remains open. Pane order follows the scope selector, regardless of the order in which the shortcuts were pressed.

Region

Key	Action
A	Select or draw a window-attached region
D	Draw or replace the global region
F	Select a detected face
Escape	Close a menu or Scope Controls, cancel the picker, or clear regions

While a region picker is open, A, D, and F switch its mode without closing it. Escape first closes an open menu, such as a scope’s menu, and then Scope Controls when that panel is open; otherwise it cancels the active picker and restores the committed selection. With neither open, it clears the global region and all saved window-attached regions. The browser Lab follows the same close-then-cancel-then-clear behavior for its menus and region.

On the desktop border, drag the striped band to move the region, drag a corner to resize it, or drag an edge midpoint to move one edge.

Color pins

Key	Action
P	Open the color-pin tool

Click to pin the color under the pointer. Drag to pin the average of a rectangle. Hold Shift while clicking or dragging to keep the tool open for additional pins. P has no effect when no visible scope accepts color pins.

Layout presets

Key	Action
1–9	Load that preset slot
Command+S / Control+S	Save the current layout to the active slot
Shift+1–9	Save the current layout to that slot without loading it

Saving to another slot does not change the active slot. The toolbar save button remains lit when the on-screen arrangement still differs from the active preset.

Application window

Windows

Key	Action
Control+W	Minimize
Control+Q	Quit
Alt+F4 or the close button	Quit

macOS

Key	Action
Command+W or the red window button	Hide SideScopes
Command+comma	Open Settings
Command+Q	Quit

The Dock icon or Command+Tab restores the application and its region border after Command+W hides it.

The website initially shows the table for the detected platform. Both tables remain available from the platform selector.

Mouse

Scroll over Vectorscope or Waveform to change trace intensity; double-click to restore its default.
Hover a scope pane and click the menu button in its top-right corner for that instrument’s options, or right-click the pane. Right-click elsewhere for the complete menu.
Drag the gap between two panes to change their sizes.
Drag rows in the scope selector to reorder panes.
While the color-pin tool is open, hold Shift during a click or drag to keep it active.

Rebinding

The letter bindings are stored in the application preferences. Each value is one letter A–Z, +, -, or Escape. Settings rejects conflicts; an invalid manual edit leaves the last usable preferences in effect in a running app. The keys are:

shortcut_attach_window
shortcut_draw_region
shortcut_attach_face
shortcut_pin_color
shortcut_zoom_in
shortcut_zoom_out
shortcut_cancel_interaction
shortcut_<scope id> for each scope

The preferences file is located at:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/SideScopes/preferences.conf
Windows: %APPDATA%\SideScopes\preferences.conf

Use Settings → Shortcuts to rebind actions. For manual file edits, close Settings first; SideScopes can remain open and reloads the file automatically.