docs /support
FAQ & Troubleshooting

Common questions, troubleshooting tips, and support resources for Paper

Getting Started

How do I get started?

Download the Paper Desktop app and create a new file. You can start designing right away or connect an AI agent via the MCP server to build designs with natural language.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Most popular

  • Press ⌘. to show or hide the entire UI. Press again to bring it back.
  • Press F to add a frame to the canvas. Press ⇧F to wrap the current selection in a frame instead.
  • Press ⇧A to wrap the selection in a flex layout.
  • Press T to add a text layer to the canvas.
  • Press R to draw a rectangle on the canvas.
  • Press Enter or Esc to select the children or parent of the current layer.
  • Hold ⌘ and click to deep select a layer nested inside a frame or group. You can change the default hover selection to deep selection within settings.

Tools & creation

Tools (toolbar)

  • Press V to switch to the Move tool.
  • Press H to switch to the pan tool. It stays active until you switch tools.
  • Press F to add a frame to the canvas. Press ⇧F to wrap the current selection in a frame instead.
  • Press R to draw a rectangle.
  • Press P to switch to the pen tool for vector editing.
  • Press T to add a text layer.
  • Press S to open the shaders menu.
  • Press I to sample a fill with the eyedropper, or copy a hex value when nothing is selected.

Frames & flex

  • Press ⇧F to wrap the current selection in a frame, converting its layout if needed.
  • Press ⇧A to wrap the selection in a flex layout.
  • Press ⌥⇧A to remove the flex layout.

AI & media

  • Press ⌘⇧I to open the create image panel.
  • Press ⌘⇧J to open the create SVG panel.
  • Press ⌘⇧K to upload an image.

Selecting & managing layers

Selection & hierarchy

  • Hold ⌘ and click to deep select a layer nested inside a frame or group.
  • Hold ⌘ and right-click to view the layer tree for everything under the cursor.
  • Press Enter to select the children of the current layer. On a text layer it edits the text; on a vector path it enters edit mode.
  • Press Esc to select the parent of the current layer. From the top level it clears the selection. Alternatively, press ⇧Enter or \.
  • Press ⌘A to select all siblings of the selected element.
  • Press ⇧⌘A to select all siblings except the current selection.
  • Press Tab or ⇧Tab to cycle forward or backward through siblings.
  • Press ⌃Esc to clear the selection.

Visibility, lock, & rename

  • Press ⇧⌘H to show or hide the selection.
  • Press ⇧⌘L to lock or unlock the selection.
  • Press ⌘⇧⌥L to unlock everything.
  • Press ⌘R to rename the selected layer.
  • Press ⌥L to collapse the layer tree.

Arranging & aligning

Order

  • Press ] to bring the selection to the front.
  • Press [ to send the selection to the back.
  • Press ⌘] to move the selection forward one step. Alternatively, press ⌘⌥↑.
  • Press ⌘[ to move the selection backward one step. Alternatively, press ⌘⌥↓.

Align

  • Press ⌥W to align to the top.
  • Press ⌥S to align to the bottom.
  • Press ⌥A to align to the left.
  • Press ⌥D to align to the right.
  • Press ⌥V to align to the vertical center.
  • Press ⌥H to align to the horizontal center.

Distribute

  • Press ⌃⌥H to distribute horizontally.
  • Press ⌃⌥V to distribute vertically.

Move & resize

  • Press ↑, ↓, ←, or → to nudge the selection by 1px. With nothing selected, this pans the canvas instead.

  • Hold ⇧ while pressing an arrow key to nudge by a larger amount. Default amount is 8px, but you can change the default amount within settings > nudge settings.

  • Hold ⌘ while pressing an arrow key to resize the selection.

Group & structure

  • Press ⌘⇧G or ⌘Backspace to ungroup the selection.
  • Press ⌥C to toggle clip content.
  • Press ⌥⇧⌘R to resize to fit the content.
  • Press ⌥⇧⌘F to resize to fill the container.

Export, sharing, & dev

  • Press ⌥T to copy the selection as Tailwind classes.
  • Press ⌥R to copy the selection as React CSS.
  • Press ⌘⇧C to copy the selection as a PNG.
  • Press ⌘⇧E to export images.
  • Press ⌥⌘R to export video. (Only available on paid plans)
  • In the desktop app, press ⌘L to copy a link to the current file to your clipboard. In the browser app, this shortcut will focus the address bar which can then be copied.

Copy, paste, & duplicate

  • Press ⌘C to copy the selection.
  • Press ⌘V to paste.
  • Press ⇧⌘V to paste on top of the selection.
  • Press ⇧⌘R to paste to replace the selection.
  • Press ⌘D to duplicate the selection.
  • Press ⌘X to cut the selection.
  • Press ⌥⌘C to copy the styles from the selection.
  • Press ⌥⌘V to paste styles onto the selection.

Styling

Text & typography

  • Press ⌘B to bold the text.
  • Press ⌘I to italicize the text, if the applied font supports it.
  • Press ⌘⇧, or ⌘⇧. to decrease or increase the font size.
  • Press ⌥⇧, or ⌥⇧. to decrease or increase the line height.
  • Press ⌥, or ⌥. to decrease or increase the letter spacing.
  • Press ⌥⌘, or ⌥⌘. to decrease or increase the font weight.
  • Press ⌥⌘L, ⌥⌘T, or ⌥⌘R to align text left, center, or right.

Fill & opacity

  • Press 0 through 9 to set the opacity. Type two digits in a row for precision (5 is 50%, 05 is 5%).
  • Press ⇧X to swap the fill and stroke.

App & interface

General

  • Press ⌘. to show or hide the UI.
  • Press ⇧. or ⇧\ to minimize the UI.
  • Press ⇧⌘N to open a new window.
  • Press ⇧⌘D to go back to the dashboard.
  • Press ⌘W to close the current window.
  • Press ⌘, to change logo settings.

Zoom

  • Press + or to zoom in.
  • Press − to zoom out.
  • Press ⌘0 to zoom to 100%.
  • Press ⇧1 to zoom to fit everything on screen.
  • Press ⇧2 to zoom the selection to fill the screen.
  • Hold Z or ⌥Z and click to zoom in or out.

Pan

  • Press H to switch to the pan tool. It stays active until you switch tools.
  • Hold Space to pan the canvas, then release to return to your tool.
  • Press ↑, ↓, ←, or → to pan the canvas when nothing is selected.
  • Hold ⇧ while pressing an arrow key to pan faster.

View aids

  • Press ⌘' to show or hide the pixel grid.
  • Press ⇧⌘' to toggle snap to the pixel grid.
  • Press ⇧G to toggle layout guides.
  • Press ⇧M to toggle multiplayer cursors.
  • Hold ⌥ to show measurements between your selection and your hover selection.

Troubleshooting

The MCP server isn’t connecting

Make sure you have the Paper Desktop app open with a file loaded — the MCP server starts automatically when a file is open. If issues persist, try restarting both the Paper Desktop app and your agent tool (Cursor, Claude Code, etc.). See the MCP docs for more details.

My agent says it doesn’t have access to Paper tools

This usually happens when the MCP connection is stale. Restart your agent session to re-establish the connection. If you’re using Cursor, try toggling the MCP server off and on in Cursor Settings > Tools & MCP.

Changes aren’t showing up in my design

Make sure you have the correct file open in Paper Desktop. The MCP server operates on the currently open file. You can verify by asking the agent to call get_basic_info to check which file it sees.

Adjust your network settings

When using Paper in a company setting behind proxies, VPNs, or firewalls, you may need to add the following to your allowlist:

  • *.paper.design

Examples of network issues

Keep an eye out for these common signs of network-related issues:

  • Signing in fails or the app can’t load after signing in

Configure a proxy bypass on macOS

When on a Mac behind a proxy you may need to add a bypass for Paper domains:

  1. Open System Settings > Network > select your active network > Details… > Proxies
  2. Add .paper.design under Bypass proxy settings
  3. Apply changes, then restart your browser or the Paper desktop app

Paper Desktop links aren’t opening

When signing in if Paper isn’t being focused afterwards the custom protocol handler to open paper:// links may not be integrated correctly.

Linux AppImage

When running AppImages on Linux they need to be integrated with the desktop to register the custom protocol handler. Use one of the following methods depending on your setup:

  • Gear Lever — Open the AppImage in Gear Lever, then click “Move to the app menu”
  • AppImageLauncher — Double-click the AppImage and select “Integrate and run” when prompted
  • AppMan — Install the AppImage using the am or appman CLI

If all else fails, try restarting your computer and try again.

Using Windows WSL with MCP

Paper Desktop’s MCP server is broadcast over localhost. When using WSL make sure to enable mirrored mode networking to allow WSL to access the MCP server.