Bridgex Keyboard Shortcuts and Menu Bar Reference Guide

Bridgex registers a global key-down handler on its root element so that shortcuts remain active regardless of which part of the interface is focused. The handler checks event.modifiers.ctrl() or event.modifiers.meta(), meaning every shortcut works with the Ctrl key on Windows and Linux and with the ⌘ (Command) key on macOS. No configuration is required — the shortcuts are hard-coded in the on_global_key_down closure inside app.rs.

Shortcut reference

Shortcut	macOS equivalent	Action
`Ctrl+O`	`⌘+O`	Open the native file dialog to select a file for conversion
`Ctrl+S`	`⌘+S`	Open the native save dialog to write the current Markdown to a `.md` file
`Ctrl+Q`	`⌘+Q`	Exit Bridgex immediately (`std::process::exit(0)`)
`Ctrl+I`	`⌘+I`	Toggle the About popup
`Ctrl+L`	`⌘+L`	Toggle the Licenses popup
`Ctrl+K`	`⌘+K`	Toggle the LLM Settings popup

All six shortcuts use the same modifier check — ctrl() or meta() — so there is no difference in behaviour between the two keys. Both modifiers trigger the same action on any platform.

Every shortcut maps directly to a menu bar entry. You can use either the keyboard or the menu; both update the same application state.

File menu
Help menu

The File menu is located at the top-left of the menu bar. It contains three items:

Menu item	Shortcut	Action
Open	`Ctrl+O` / `⌘+O`	Opens the file picker
Save	`Ctrl+S` / `⌘+S`	Opens the save-as dialog
Exit	`Ctrl+Q` / `⌘+Q`	Exits the application

Exit closes the application immediately without a confirmation dialog. Make sure you have saved your Markdown before exiting.

The Help menu is located to the right of File in the menu bar. It contains three items:

Menu item	Shortcut	Action
About	`Ctrl+I` / `⌘+I`	Toggles the About popup
Licenses	`Ctrl+L` / `⌘+L`	Toggles the third-party Licenses popup
LLM API Key	`Ctrl+K` / `⌘+K`	Toggles the LLM Settings popup

How the shortcuts work internally

The shortcut handler is attached at the application root via Freya’s on_global_key_down event. The relevant portion of app.rs shows:

.on_global_key_down(move |event: Event<KeyboardEventData>| {
    if event.modifiers.ctrl() || event.modifiers.meta() {
        match event.code {
            Code::KeyO => { /* open file */ }
            Code::KeyS => { /* request save */ }
            Code::KeyQ => { /* request exit */ }
            Code::KeyI => { /* toggle About */ }
            Code::KeyL => { /* toggle Licenses */ }
            Code::KeyK => { /* toggle LLM Settings */ }
            _ => {}
        }
    }
})

The save and exit actions work through boolean state flags (save_requested and exit_requested). Bridgex reads these flags on the next render pass, then performs the associated file-system or process operation and resets the flag. This keeps side effects out of the event handler itself.

Tips for efficient use

Convert and save quickly

Press Ctrl+O to open a file, review the Markdown in the editor, then press Ctrl+S to save — all without touching the mouse.

Configure LLM before converting images

Open the LLM Settings popup with Ctrl+K, enter your API key, then open your JPEG file with Ctrl+O to get an AI-generated description.

Getting Started

Using Bridgex

Reference

Project

Bridgex Keyboard Shortcuts and Menu Bar Reference Guide

Shortcut reference

Menu bar equivalents

How the shortcuts work internally

Tips for efficient use

Convert and save quickly

Configure LLM before converting images

​Shortcut reference

​Menu bar equivalents

​How the shortcuts work internally

​Tips for efficient use

Convert and save quickly

Configure LLM before converting images

Shortcut reference

Menu bar equivalents

How the shortcuts work internally

Tips for efficient use