Google Colab Keyboard Shortcuts

Running cells

Running the current cell in place is Ctrl + Enter; Shift + Enter runs it and moves the selection down one, and Alt + Enter runs it then opens a fresh cell underneath — the three that carry a notebook session. Ctrl + Shift + Enter runs every cell in order, which is what to use after a runtime restart. Colab shows a spinning indicator on the running cell; Ctrl + M followed by I interrupts it, and a second interrupt usually clears a hung network call.

The Ctrl + M prefix

Press Ctrl + M, release, then a letter: Ctrl + M + B inserts a code cell below and Ctrl + M + A above, Ctrl + M + D deletes the current cell, and Ctrl + M + Y and Ctrl + M + M convert between code and text (Markdown). Ctrl + M + Up/Down moves the cell. The prefix exists because Ctrl + B, Ctrl + D and the rest are browser bindings; Colab remaps them inside Tools › Keyboard shortcuts if you want single keys.

Editing inside a cell

The cell editor is Monaco, the same component as VS Code, so Ctrl + / toggles comments, Tab and Shift + Tab indent and dedent (with Tab also triggering completion on a partial name), and a selected block shifts right or left with Ctrl + ] or Ctrl + [. Hovering a function with the cursor shows its signature; the Ctrl + Space completion list includes objects from the running kernel, which is why it only works after the cell that defines them has run.