UE Tip: Wire Manipulation Shortcuts

Enhance your Unreal Engine wire manipulation workflow by using the Shift, Ctrl, and Alt modifiers when clicking on a wire or pin.

Shortcut	Description
`Shift + LMB` [Wire]	Marks the pin closest to the click and highlights its wires.
`Shift + LMB` [Pin]	Marks the pin and highlights its wires. Click it again to unmark it.
`Shift + LMB` [Pin], then [Other Pin]	Connects the two pins without dragging.
`Ctrl + LMB Drag` [Pin]	Detaches all of the pin’s wires and drags them to another pin.
`Ctrl + LMB Drag` [Wire]	Detaches the wire from its closest pin and drags that end. The far end stays connected.
`Alt + LMB` [Pin]	Breaks every wire connected to the pin.
`Alt + LMB` [Wire]	Breaks only that wire.
`Alt + LMB Drag` [Empty Graph]	Draws a slice line. Every wire it crosses breaks when you release.
Double-click [Wire]	Adds a reroute node on the wire.
`Q`	Straightens the connections between the selected nodes.

These shortcuts work in the following graphs:

Blueprints
Materials
MetaSounds
Control Rig
Niagara
PCG

Explanation

Wire manipulation within Unreal Engine can be quite tricky. Regardless of whether you work within Blueprints, Materials, MetaSounds, Niagara, or Control Rig, it can be troublesome to deal with. Thankfully, there are a few useful shortcuts that help alleviate this. Let me show you.

How do I highlight a wire?

Highlighting makes it easier to follow one wire through a busy graph. Hold Shift and left-click a pin to mark it, or click a wire to mark the pin closest to where you clicked. Only one pin can be marked at a time, and Shift-clicking the marked pin again clears it.

How do I connect pins without dragging?

This one is quite the hidden gem. Instead of dragging from one pin to another, hold Shift and left-click an output pin, then left-click another node’s input pin (or vice versa). No dragging involved, and the connection is a single undoable step. It’s extremely useful for connecting those pesky, far-away nodes.

How do I inject a node onto a wire?

This is very useful when you need to inject a node in between two connected nodes. Hold Ctrl and drag the wire, and the end nearest your click detaches while the far end stays connected. Release over empty graph space and the context menu opens. However, the catch is that the node you pick only connects to the far pin, so you’ll need to wire up the other side yourself.

How do I move wires to another pin?

Now this one is very common and extremely useful. While holding down Ctrl, left-click a pin that has connected wires and drag. All of its wires come with you, so you can drop them on another pin, or release them on empty graph space to open the context menu and connect a new node. Alternatively, you can do the same on a single wire, as described above.

How do I add a reroute node?

Next is an organizational shortcut. Double-click any wire to split it with a reroute node at the cursor. The new node is selected, so you can drag it into place right away. Make sure to use this one often, as it’s easier to develop when your graphs are clean~

How do I disconnect wires?

And lastly, a classic. Hold Alt and left-click a pin to break all of its wires, or Alt-click a wire to break just that one. To cut several wires at once, hold Alt and drag across empty graph space. A slice line follows the cursor, and every wire it crosses breaks when you let go.

Make sure you memorize these shortcuts, as they’ll prove their weight in gold on your Unreal Engine development journey.

Frequently asked questions

Why won’t the slice line appear?

Slicing only starts when the drag begins over empty graph space in an editable graph. Starting the drag over a node or in a read-only graph does nothing, and the Physics Asset Editor’s graph turns slicing off entirely.