The GameMaker IDE accepts mouse and keyboard input, and many operations can be carried out using one or the other or both.
In general you can click the left mouse button 
to select anything, use 
/ 
+ to select multiple items, hold to drag items into different docks or onto the workspaces, and also the 
to open context specific menus. Note that if you are running GameMaker on a macOS system and are using a single button mouse, please use + to get a right mouse click .
When using a laptop trackpad, you can use the panning gesture, i.e. dragging with two fingers, to pan around workspaces, and use the pinch in/out gestures to zoom out and in.
There are also a great number of keyboard shortcuts that can be used to navigate around the different workspace elements and resource editors, and we'll quickly go through some of the most important ones (you can find a complete list here):
/ + "Z" : This will undo the previous action and works in most of the editors. You have multiple levels of undo too, so you can press this multiple times to "roll back" changes./ + "Y" : This will redo a previous action that was undone and works in most of the editors. Like undo, you have multiple levels of redo too./ + "S" : This will force GameMaker to save your project./ + "T" : This will open the Goto Window which enables you to quickly search for and go to any asset in your game, as well as search the Preferences and Game Options. You are presented with a list of everything and as you type the search term, this list will be culled to suit, so if all your rooms are prefixed with "rm_" for example, typing that will cull the list to show only those assets that begin with that name.
+ 
: This will open the Workspace Overview window which can be used to navigate quickly between items that are open in the different workspaces. The window will remain open as long as is held, and pressing once will move you to the next item in the window. Releasing the shortcut will then navigate to the item that was selected. + 
+ B) or a single key (such as B only), then the window will remain open after pressing the shortcut regardless of whether you still have it held or not, until you manually close it or choose an item from the window.
/ + 
: This will reset the zoom level in workspaces and various editors.
: This will open the manual. Note that when using GML Visual or GML code you can also select an action or a function (or keyword or whatever) and then press or click the middle mouse button 
to open the manual on the relevant page.
: This can be used to collapse or expand all the different docked windows in the IDE.Other ways to navigate the workspace include using the keyboard shortcut / + + <Arrow Keys> to move between any open windows in the direction pressed, and by pressing and holding the middle mouse button then dragging the mouse you can pan around the workspace too.
When navigating around the various different workspaces and windows, you can use the right-mouse button on any text field to open a context menu which will have the following fields by default:
In some situations, these options may be expanded on, depending on the editor or window that is in focus.
Other than those methods of input, there is also limited support for pen devices, and also a special mode for those people working on projects using a laptop. Both of these are explained below:
If you are using GameMaker on a laptop, then you will have a further option at the top of the IDE for Laptop Mode:
This will be on by default but can be switched off if you prefer by toggling this button. Laptop mode combines with some tools in the IDE to make it a much better experience when using a touchpad, simplifying the 3 main mouse interactions: Pan, zoom and scroll. It uses two modifier keys to do this: Left / and Left . When laptop mode is on, Left / and Left are "reserved" for mouse interactions like panning the room editor, where Left / is zoom, Left is scroll and pan. Scrolling in laptop mode behaves just like panning, so it should be intuitive and precise enough so that you don't need to use the scrollbar. Note that when holding these buttons, you simply have to move the mouse - not click nor drag, just move - and that if there is a general shortcut that normally requires the use of the / or keys, you would use the Right keys of the keyboard instead.
Touch Screen SupportTouch Screen Support
One final thing we'll mention here is that the IDE for GameMaker also has minimal support for touch screens. On all operating systems you can use the touch screen to click and drag items in the main workspace, and we support 2 simultaneous pointers, where a second tap will perform a right-click. Note that on Windows 8 and above, the GameMaker IDE will support pen devices too.
The following pages contain more detailed and specific information on navigating the IDE, as well as information on some navigation tools available to you:
You can also find some extra preferences related to the IDE input here: