The Shortcuts Nobody Reads About

We added keyboard shortcuts to the JekCMS admin panel in v1.3.0 and almost nobody noticed. That's partly our fault — they were not documented anywhere visible. Here is the complete list, plus workflow tips that our most productive users have shared.

Global Shortcuts

These work on every admin page:

  • Ctrl+K — Open Quick Search. Type any post title, category name, or setting keyword. Results appear in real-time. Press Enter to navigate to the first result, or arrow keys to select a different one.
  • Ctrl+S — Save the current form. Works on post editor, settings, page content — any page with a save button.
  • Ctrl+Shift+N — New Post. Opens the post editor with a blank draft.
  • Ctrl+Shift+M — Media Library. Opens the media manager in a modal.
  • Ctrl+Shift+P — Preview current post in a new tab.
  • Esc — Close any open modal, dropdown, or panel.

Post Editor Shortcuts

  • Ctrl+B — Bold selected text
  • Ctrl+I — Italic selected text
  • Ctrl+Shift+L — Insert link on selected text
  • Ctrl+Shift+1 through 6 — Set heading level (H1-H6)
  • Tab in code blocks — Inserts 4 spaces (not a tab character)

Quick Search Deep Dive

Quick Search (Ctrl+K) is the single most powerful feature most admins ignore. It searches across: post titles, page titles, category names, tag names, settings keys, and menu items. The search is fuzzy — typing "seo" matches "SEO Settings", "seo-optimization", and "PageSpeed SEO Guide".

Results are ranked by relevance and recency. Recent posts appear higher than old ones with the same relevance score. Press Ctrl+K, type 2-3 characters, and you're at the page you need in under a second.

Bulk Operations

On the Posts list page: select multiple posts with checkboxes, then use the bulk action dropdown:

  • Publish Selected — Change status from draft to published
  • Unpublish Selected — Change status to draft
  • Delete Selected — Move to trash (with confirmation)
  • Change Category — Assign a new category to all selected posts

Shortcut: Shift+Click selects a range of posts (like file managers). Ctrl+A selects all visible posts.

Auto-Save

The post editor auto-saves drafts every 60 seconds. The save indicator in the top-right shows: "Saved" (green), "Saving..." (yellow), or "Unsaved changes" (red). If your browser crashes mid-edit, your draft is preserved. Auto-save only updates existing drafts — it never publishes automatically.

Content Optimizer Workflow

The Content Optimizer (Admin > Posts > click Optimize) analyzes your post for SEO factors: title length, meta description, keyword density, heading structure, image alt texts, internal links. It gives a score out of 100 and specific recommendations. A score above 80 means the post is well-optimized.

Our workflow: write the post, run the optimizer, fix the top 3 recommendations, publish. Takes about 2 minutes per post and consistently improves search rankings.

Media Library Tips

  • Drag and drop multiple files to upload them simultaneously
  • Filter by type: Images, Documents, Videos
  • Filter by date: This month, last month, or custom range
  • Search: Searches file names and alt text
  • Bulk delete: Select multiple files and delete

Images are automatically converted to AVIF (primary) and WebP (fallback) with thumbnails at 400, 800, and 1600px. The original file is kept for re-processing if needed.

Settings Quick Access

Instead of navigating through the settings menu, use Quick Search: Ctrl+K, type the setting name (e.g., "analytics", "smtp", "logo"), and jump directly to that settings section.