Keyboard shortcuts for canvas apps

Like an Excel spreadsheet, canvas apps are live and running even when you're editing them. You don't need to switch to preview mode to test your app, so editing and testing are much faster. But this feature creates a challenge: How do you select a button control to resize it instead of selecting it to run the app logic?

When you're in design mode, selecting an object lets you edit it. You can move, resize, change properties, and configure the object. To override this default behavior, hold down the Alt or Ctrl+Shift keys before you select the object. This action treats the selection as if a user of the app selected it.

In the following animation, a button control is first selected for editing. Adorners appear around the control, and the formula bar shows the OnSelect property, ready to edit. After you release the button, hold down the Alt key and select the button control again. This time, the OnSelect property runs, and the notification appears, just like when a user selects the button in a running app.

You can also use the Alt key after you select a control to override snap points when moving or resizing. The next animation shows how to resize a data card in an Edit form control. At first, resizing is limited to specific snap points. Later, without releasing the mouse button, hold down the Alt key. This action overrides the snap points, so you can set any width with the mouse.