This article shows you how to move in and out of an artifact, comment on it, and use the keys that Claude Docs, Claude Slides, and Claude Design share, with a keyboard alone or with a screen reader. Each template's own article covers the keys for its editor.
Claude Docs, Claude Slides, and Claude Design are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. On Enterprise plans, they turn on by default on October 15, 2026, and owners can turn them on before then in Organization settings > Artifacts. Design systems are available in beta on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. To edit an artifact, use Claude on the web or Claude Desktop.
Commonly-used shortcuts:
Tab moves you into an artifact, and Escape moves you back out to the artifact panel.
In a deck or a design, Return goes into a slide, an artboard, a group, or a text box, and Escape comes back out.
F6, or Cmd+F6 (Ctrl+F6 on Windows), moves between the areas of the Slides and Design editors. In a doc, it moves from selected text to the formatting toolbar.
How this article shows keys
Shortcuts are written for Mac first, with the Windows keys in parentheses, like this: Cmd+Option+M (Ctrl+Alt+M on Windows). Where only one key is shown, it's the same on both. Return is the key labeled Enter on Windows keyboards.
Focus is where your next key press goes. Most browsers draw an outline around the button, field, or object that has focus.
Several shortcuts use the F6 key. Some browsers keep F6 for their own toolbars, so Claude Docs, Claude Slides, and Claude Design each also accept Cmd+F6 (Ctrl+F6 on Windows). If F6 alone does nothing, use that.
On a Mac laptop, hold Fn to get the keys the keyboard doesn't have. Fn+Left arrow is Home, Fn+Right arrow is End, Fn+Up arrow is Page Up, and Fn+Down arrow is Page Down. If the top row of keys is set to brightness and volume, hold Fn for function keys as well: Fn+F6, or Fn+Shift+F10.
In Safari, Tab can skip buttons and links. If it does, press Option+Tab instead.
Plus is the key that has = and + on it. In a table cell, "or" separates keys that do the same thing, and a comma separates the keys for the two actions the row names.
Move in and out of the artifact panel
An artifact opens in a panel beside your conversation. The panel has a header with buttons, and the artifact sits below it. This section is about artifacts you open from a conversation. It works the same for every new artifact, whether or not it was made from a template.
Open an artifact and move into it
Press Tab until you reach the artifact in the conversation.
Press Return. The artifact opens and focus moves to the artifact panel.
Press Tab to move through the buttons in the panel's header.
Keep pressing Tab to move into the artifact itself.
Press Shift+Tab to move back from the artifact to the header.
Leave an artifact
Escape moves you outward one step at a time.
Press Escape to close any menu, pop-up, or dialog that's open.
Press Escape again to step out of what you're working in, such as a text box on a slide or a comment box.
Keep pressing Escape until focus reaches the artifact panel. With a screen reader, you hear "Artifact panel" and the artifact's title. The panel stays open.
Press Escape once more to close the panel. Focus goes back to where you opened the artifact, or to the message box.
The last step works when focus is on the panel itself. On one of the header's buttons, Escape acts on that button instead.
Note: Legacy artifacts, the ones with controls at the top of the panel to view the code, copy the content, or download it, don't have the Escape route out of the artifact's content. An artifact opened on its own page, from the Artifacts tab, has no panel to close.
The keys the editors share
In Claude Slides and Claude Design, the editor is divided into areas, such as a toolbar, the slide or the canvas, and the properties panel. Press F6 to move to the next area and Shift+F6 to move to the previous one. Cmd+F6 (Ctrl+F6 on Windows) works in place of F6, with or without Shift. In Claude Docs, F6 or Cmd+F6 (Ctrl+F6 on Windows) moves from the text to the formatting toolbar when text is selected, or to the "More actions" button of the table or code block the cursor is in, and Escape or Tab goes back to the text. In a doc, F6 doesn't work with Shift.
Inside an editor, F6 moves between the editor's areas. Tab and Escape move you between the conversation and the artifact panel, as described above.
In a deck or a design, things sit inside other things: the objects on a slide are inside the slide, layers are inside an artboard, and a group has its own objects inside it. The same few keys move you in and out:
Tab reaches the slide, or an artboard's title, as a single stop.
Return goes in: into a slide, an artboard, or a group, or into a text box to edit it.
Tab and Shift+Tab move between the things at the same level. On a slide, Tab doesn't leave the slide.
Escape finishes editing text, and then takes you back out to the slide, or out of the artboard.
Shift+Return goes up one level at a time.
With a screen reader too, press Return to go into a slide or an artboard, and to choose what to comment on. Return or Space presses a button.
Comment on a deck or a design
Docs have their own comment shortcut. See Get started with Claude Docs.
Move to "Comment" in the panel's header. If you're inside the artifact, press Escape until focus reaches the artifact panel, and then press Tab until you reach it. The button is an icon. When the artifact has open comments, its label includes how many there are, such as "3 open comments."
Press Return. This turns on comment mode, where the next thing you choose gets a comment. Focus moves into the artifact, and the button's name changes to "Done commenting."
Press Tab to move to what you want to comment on. In a deck, that's the slide and then each object on it. In a design, it's each artboard.
Press Return. The "Add a comment" box opens with focus in it.
Type your comment.
Press Return to post it. Cmd+Return (Ctrl+Enter on Windows) posts it too. The posted comment opens with focus in its reply field.
Press Escape to close the box.
Press Escape again to leave comment mode. Focus returns to "Comment." To close the panel from there, press Tab until you reach "Close."
A "Send to Claude" checkbox before the send button sets whether the comment also goes to Claude as a request. With view-only access, you can't add comments.
Note: To save an edit to a comment you've already posted, press Cmd+Return (Ctrl+Enter on Windows). Return on its own doesn't save an edit.
Read and reply to comments on a deck or a design
Each comment has a marker on the artifact, named with the comment's author. The markers are there only while comment mode is on, so turn it on first. Press Tab until you reach a marker, and Return or Space to open the comment. Focus lands in its reply field. Return sends a reply, and Escape closes the comment and returns focus to the marker. Escape again leaves comment mode.
To see every comment in one list, open "More comment options," the button next to "Comment" in the header, and choose "Show all comments." Press Return on a row to move to that comment.
Artifact panel shortcuts
These work for every artifact that opens in the current artifact panel, beside your conversation. Legacy artifacts, the ones with controls at the top of the panel to view the code, copy the content, or download it, don't have the Escape route out of their content. The comment mode rows are for decks and designs. In a doc, the header's comment button shows or hides the list of all comments instead, and you comment with the shortcut in Get started with Claude Docs.
Action | Mac | Windows |
Open the artifact from the conversation | Return | Enter |
Move between the header's buttons and into the artifact | Tab | Tab |
Move back from the artifact to the header | Shift+Tab | Shift+Tab |
Close an open menu or pop-up, then step outward to the artifact panel | Escape | Escape |
Close the panel (with focus on the panel itself) | Escape | Escape |
In a deck or design: turn comment mode on, with focus on "Comment" | Return or Space | Enter or Space |
In comment mode: move to the next thing you can comment on | Tab | Tab |
In comment mode: comment on it | Return | Enter |
Post a comment or a reply | Return, or Cmd+Return | Enter, or Ctrl+Enter |
Save an edit to a posted comment | Cmd+Return | Ctrl+Enter |
Close the comment box, then leave comment mode | Escape | Escape |
Open a comment from its marker | Return or Space | Enter or Space |
Keys for each template
Claude Docs: see Get started with Claude Docs, and the full list in Claude Docs keyboard shortcuts.
Claude Slides: see What are artifacts and how do I use them?
Claude Design: see Get started with Claude Design.
Design systems: see Set up your design system in Claude Design.
Known limitations
One thing to be aware of in any artifact:
Web page artifacts: If an artifact that Claude wrote as a web page has no links or buttons, Tab skips it and the arrow keys don't scroll it.
If something doesn't work with your keyboard or screen reader, we'd like to hear about it. Learn more about how to get support.