Use these shortcuts to navigate PrimeCal without reaching for the mouse.
Calendar Navigation
| Key | Action |
|---|
T | Jump to today |
→ (Right Arrow) | Next period (day / week / month, depending on the view) |
← (Left Arrow) | Previous period |
Inside the Calendar Grid
Once a day is selected, the grid behaves like a spreadsheet. The whole grid is
a single tab stop, so you tab to the calendar and then use arrows within it
rather than tabbing through every cell.
| Key | Action |
|---|
← → | Previous / next day |
↑ ↓ | Same weekday, previous / next week |
Home / End | First / last day of the week |
Page Up / Page Down | Previous / next period |
Enter / Space | Open the selected day |
View Switching
| Key | Action |
|---|
D | Switch to Day view |
3 | Switch to the 3-day view |
5 | Switch to the Work week view |
W | Switch to Week view |
M | Switch to Month view |
A | Switch to Agenda view |
O | Switch to the Now (Focus) view |
P | Switch to the People view: one day, a column for each calendar (where the mode offers it) |
Events
| Key | Action |
|---|
Q | Quick add, the main Create button: type an event as a sentence, such as "Dentist friday 3pm", and press Enter |
C or N | Create a new event with the full editor (New event, first in the Create menu) |
Enter | Open the selected day or event |
Escape | Close an open modal or dialog |
General
| Key | Action |
|---|
/ | Jump to the calendar search box |
? | Show the keyboard shortcut dialog |
Escape | Close a dialog, or clear the search |
Tab | Move focus to the next interactive element |
Shift + Tab | Move focus to the previous interactive element |
On an Event
With an event focused (Tab to it). Moving works in every view that lets you drag; changing the length works in the Day, 3-day, Work week and Week views.
| Key | Action |
|---|
Enter | Open the event |
Space | Pick the event up |
← → | Move it one day |
↑ ↓ | Move it a quarter-hour (a week in the Month view) |
Space or Enter | Drop it |
Escape | Put it back |
Shift + ↑ ↓ | Shorten or lengthen it by a quarter-hour; saved once after the last press |
While an event is picked up the arrows belong to it: the calendar does not page and the selected day does not move. See Rescheduling by Dragging.
Week View: Drag to Create
In Week View, you can click and drag on an empty time slot to select a time range, then release to create a new event with that time pre-filled. This works with mouse or trackpad but not with keyboard alone.
Touch Gestures (Mobile)
| Gesture | Action |
|---|
| Swipe left | Next week / month |
| Swipe right | Previous week / month |
| Pull down | Refresh calendar data |
| Tap + hold | Long-press on a day to create event |
Notes
- The view keys follow your Experience Mode: Focus offers only Now, Day, and Agenda, and Simple only Agenda, Day, and Month, so the other view keys do nothing there and the
? dialog leaves them out
- Shortcuts are ignored while you are typing in a text field, textarea or select, so pressing
D in an event title types a "d" rather than switching views
- Shortcuts combined with
Ctrl, Cmd or Alt are left to the browser and never intercepted
- The shortcut dialog (
?) is generated from the same table the handler uses, so it cannot drift out of date
- Modal dialogs (event editor, settings) capture Tab and arrow keys for internal navigation — press
Escape to return focus to the calendar
- Screen reader users: PrimeCal uses semantic HTML with ARIA labels on all interactive elements. Calendar grid cells have accessible labels for date and event count
For full accessibility guidance, see Accessibility Guidelines.