Useful Windows keyboard shortcuts
I thought I’d braindump the keyboard shortcuts I use on a near-daily basis. Turns out there’s quite a few! Feel free to add a comment with other useful ones!
If you have a mouse with 3 buttons:
- Click website links with the middle button to open them in a new tab
- Click on the tab with the middle button and it’ll close
- On a webpage, click somewhere ‘neutral’ (e.g not on an image or a link) with the middle button to scroll with your mouse
In modern web browsers:
- CTRL + T opens a new empty tab
- CTRL + W closes the current tab (clicking an open tab with the middle mouse button also closes it)
- CTRL + shift + T reopens a closed tab
- F6 highlights the address bar
- F11 views the webpage in full-screen mode
- CTRL + roll mouse wheel up zooms in/increases text size
- CTRL + mouse wheel down zooms out/decreases text size
- CTRL + 0 (zero) resets the zoom level back to 100%
- Backspace goes back a page in your browser history
- Shift + backspace goes forward a page in your browser history
- CTRL + tab switches between tabs
- Spacebar will skip down one page-length
- Shift + spacebar skips up one page-length
- Tab skips to the next box in online forms
- Shift + tab skips back to the last box in online forms
In Windows:
- The ‘Print Screen’ key copies everything on the screen onto the ‘clipboard’, which can be pasted into a document or image editing program
- Alt + Print Screen copies everything in the ‘active’ screen (i.e whatever you last clicked on) onto the clipboard
- Windows Key on its own displays the Start Menu
- Windows Key + E will open a new File Explorer window
- Windows Key + D minimises all windows and shows the desktop. Press it again to open them all again
- Windows Key + F starts the Find all files function
- Windows Key + L will lock your Windows XP/Windows 7 computer
- Windows Key + F starts the ‘Run’ command
- Windows Key + Pause/Break displays the Systems Properties dialog box
- Windows Key + Tab will cycle through the open programs on the Task Bar in a nice visual ‘Aero mode’ in Windows 7
- Alt + Tab will switch between open windows (Alt + Shift + Tab will cycle back the other way)
- Windows Key + U starts the Utility Manager with accessibility options
- Shift + Delete will delete an item immediately without placing it in the Recycle Bin
- In Windows 7, middle click on an open program in the taskbar to open a new window for that program
In many programs (Microsoft Office products, web browsers, etc):
- CTRL + N opens a new window/document
- F3 opens the search function
- F1 opens the Help function
- CTRL + S will save the document (or open the save box)
- CTRL + P will open the options to print that document
In Word/PowerPoint:
- CTRL + left/right arrow skips the cursor along by 1 word
- Home takes the cursor to the start of that line
- End takes the cursor to the end of that line
- Shift + left/right arrow starts to highlight from the cursor letter by letter
- Shift + Home highlights everything from the cursor to the start of the line
- Shift + End highlights everything from the cursor to the end of the line
- CTRL + Home takes the cursor back to the start of the document
- CTRL + End takes the cursor to the end of the document
- CTRL + C: Copy whatever’s selected
- CTRL + X: Cut whatever’s selected
- CTRL + V: Paste whatever’s selected
- CTRL + Z: Undo the last action
- CTRL + B: Bold whatever’s selected
- CTRL + U: Underline whatever’s selected
- CTRL + I: Italicise whatever’s selected
- Alt + F4 closes the current window
In Microsoft Outlook:
- CTRL + N starts a new email
- CTRL + Enter will send the current email (beware of sending too early!)
Got any other good ones? Let me know!
George
George Rosier runs this blog. It's somewhere he can vent his spleen about web design, usability, SEO, and other such nonsense that will no doubt mean nothing in 5 years' time.