`View the original notebook on nbviewer <http://nbviewer.jupyter.org/github/jupyter/notebook/blob/master/docs/source/examples/Notebook/Notebook%20Basics.ipynb>`__

Notebook Basics
===============

The Notebook dashboard
----------------------

When you first start the notebook server, your browser will open to the
notebook dashboard. The dashboard serves as a home page for the
notebook. Its main purpose is to display the notebooks and files in the
current directory. For example, here is a screenshot of the dashboard
page for the ``examples`` directory in the Jupyter repository:

The top of the notebook list displays clickable breadcrumbs of the
current directory. By clicking on these breadcrumbs or on
sub-directories in the notebook list, you can navigate your file system.

To create a new notebook, click on the "New" button at the top of the
list and select a kernel from the dropdown (as seen below). Which
kernels are listed depend on what's installed on the server. Some of the
kernels in the screenshot below may not exist as an option to you.

Notebooks and files can be uploaded to the current directory by dragging
a notebook file onto the notebook list or by the "click here" text above
the list.

The notebook list shows green "Running" text and a green notebook icon
next to running notebooks (as seen below). Notebooks remain running
until you explicitly shut them down; closing the notebook's page is not
sufficient.

To shutdown, delete, duplicate, or rename a notebook check the checkbox
next to it and an array of controls will appear at the top of the
notebook list (as seen below). You can also use the same operations on
directories and files when applicable.

To see all of your running notebooks along with their directories, click
on the "Running" tab:

This view provides a convenient way to track notebooks that you start as
you navigate the file system in a long running notebook server.

Overview of the Notebook UI
---------------------------

If you create a new notebook or open an existing one, you will be taken
to the notebook user interface (UI). This UI allows you to run code and
author notebook documents interactively. The notebook UI has the
following main areas:

-  Menu
-  Toolbar
-  Notebook area and cells

The notebook has an interactive tour of these elements that can be
started in the "Help:User Interface Tour" menu item.

Modal editor
------------

Starting with IPython 2.0, the Jupyter Notebook has a modal user
interface. This means that the keyboard does different things depending
on which mode the Notebook is in. There are two modes: edit mode and
command mode.

Edit mode
~~~~~~~~~

Edit mode is indicated by a green cell border and a prompt showing in
the editor area:

When a cell is in edit mode, you can type into the cell, like a normal
text editor.

.. raw:: html

   <div class="alert alert-success">

Enter edit mode by pressing ``Enter`` or using the mouse to click on a
cell's editor area.

.. raw:: html

   </div>

Command mode
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Command mode is indicated by a grey cell border with a blue left margin:

When you are in command mode, you are able to edit the notebook as a
whole, but not type into individual cells. Most importantly, in command
mode, the keyboard is mapped to a set of shortcuts that let you perform
notebook and cell actions efficiently. For example, if you are in
command mode and you press ``c``, you will copy the current cell - no
modifier is needed.

.. raw:: html

   <div class="alert alert-error">

Don't try to type into a cell in command mode; unexpected things will
happen!

.. raw:: html

   </div>

.. raw:: html

   <div class="alert alert-success">

Enter command mode by pressing ``Esc`` or using the mouse to click
*outside* a cell's editor area.

.. raw:: html

   </div>

Mouse navigation
----------------

All navigation and actions in the Notebook are available using the mouse
through the menubar and toolbar, which are both above the main Notebook
area:

The first idea of mouse based navigation is that **cells can be selected
by clicking on them.** The currently selected cell gets a grey or green
border depending on whether the notebook is in edit or command mode. If
you click inside a cell's editor area, you will enter edit mode. If you
click on the prompt or output area of a cell you will enter command
mode.

If you are running this notebook in a live session (not on
http://nbviewer.jupyter.org) try selecting different cells and going
between edit and command mode. Try typing into a cell.

The second idea of mouse based navigation is that **cell actions usually
apply to the currently selected cell**. Thus if you want to run the code
in a cell, you would select it and click the

.. raw:: html

   <button class="btn btn-default btn-xs">

.. raw:: html

   </button>

button in the toolbar or the "Cell:Run" menu item. Similarly, to copy a
cell you would select it and click the

.. raw:: html

   <button class="btn btn-default btn-xs">

.. raw:: html

   </button>

button in the toolbar or the "Edit:Copy" menu item. With this simple
pattern, you should be able to do most everything you need with the
mouse.

Markdown and heading cells have one other state that can be modified
with the mouse. These cells can either be rendered or unrendered. When
they are rendered, you will see a nice formatted representation of the
cell's contents. When they are unrendered, you will see the raw text
source of the cell. To render the selected cell with the mouse, click
the

.. raw:: html

   <button class="btn btn-default btn-xs">

.. raw:: html

   </button>

button in the toolbar or the "Cell:Run" menu item. To unrender the
selected cell, double click on the cell.

Keyboard Navigation
-------------------

The modal user interface of the Jupyter Notebook has been optimized for
efficient keyboard usage. This is made possible by having two different
sets of keyboard shortcuts: one set that is active in edit mode and
another in command mode.

The most important keyboard shortcuts are ``Enter``, which enters edit
mode, and ``Esc``, which enters command mode.

In edit mode, most of the keyboard is dedicated to typing into the
cell's editor. Thus, in edit mode there are relatively few shortcuts. In
command mode, the entire keyboard is available for shortcuts, so there
are many more. The ``Help``->``Keyboard Shortcuts`` dialog lists the
available shortcuts.

We recommend learning the command mode shortcuts in the following rough
order:

1. Basic navigation: ``enter``, ``shift-enter``, ``up/k``, ``down/j``
2. Saving the notebook: ``s``
3. Change Cell types: ``y``, ``m``, ``1-6``, ``t``
4. Cell creation: ``a``, ``b``
5. Cell editing: ``x``, ``c``, ``v``, ``d``, ``z``
6. Kernel operations: ``i``, ``0`` (press twice)

`View the original notebook on nbviewer <http://nbviewer.jupyter.org/github/jupyter/notebook/blob/master/docs/source/examples/Notebook/Notebook%20Basics.ipynb>`__