Keyboard shortcuts greatly enhance your productivity and save you a whole lot of time. It actually makes for a more pleasing workflow. Maybe you just bought a new mechanical keyboard and you looking to get high on those tactile clicks.Instead of pointing and clicking with the touchpad or external mouse, you can keep your hands on the keyboard and simply press combinations of keys on to get things done. Here are the best Windows shortcuts you should know or print for quick reference.
Copy, Cut and Paste
These are the most basic keyboard shortcuts to know. For when you want to duplicate (copy) or move (cut) a photo, snippet of text, web link, file, or anything else into another location or document by pasting it. These shortcuts work in Windows Explorer, Word, email, and pretty much everywhere else.
CTRL+C: Copy the selected item
CTRL+X: Cut the selected item
CTRL+V: Paste the selected item
Selecting Items
Highlight an item so you can copy and paste it or do some other action
CTRL+A: Select all items in a window, on the desktop, or all text in a document
Shift+Any Arrow Key: Select text within a document in that direction of the arrow key (e.g., one letter at a time) or one item at a time in a window
CTRL+Shift+Any Arrow Key: Select a block of text (e.g., a whole word at a time)
Find Text or Files
Quickly search a document, web page, or Windows Explorer for a phrase or block of characters
CTRL+F or F3: Opens a “find” dialog box
Format Text
Hit these combinations before typing to bold, italicize, or underline
CTRL+B: Bold text
CTRL+I: Italicize text
CTRL+U: Underline text
Create, Open, Save, and Print
Basics for working with files. These shortcuts are the equivalent of going to the File menu and selecting: New…, Open…, Save…, or Print
CTRL+N: Create a new file or document or open a new browser window
CTRL+O: Open a file or document
CTRL+S: Save
CTRL+P: Print
Work with Tabs and Windows
CTRL+T: Open a new tab in your web browser
CTRL+Shift+T: Reopen a tab you just closed maybe by accident
CTRL+H: View your browsing history
CTRL+W or FN +F4: Close a window
Undo and Redo
Made a mistake? Go back or forward in history.
CTRL+Z: Undo an action
CTRL+Y: Redo an action
Once you’ve got the basic keyboard shortcuts down, learn these to save even more time.
Move the Cursors
Quickly jump the cursor to the beginning or end of your word, paragraph, or document.
CTRL+Right Arrow: Move the cursor to the beginning of the next word
CTRL+Left Arrow: Move the cursor back to the beginning of the previous word
CTRL+Down Arrow: Move the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph
CTRL+Up Arrow: Move the cursor back to the beginning of the previous paragraph
CTRL+Home: Go to the start of a document
CTRL+End: Go to the end of a document
Move Windows
One of Windows’ best features, you can snap a window to the left or right of the screen and fit half of the screen exactly, or quickly maximize the window to full screen. Hit the Windows button and arrows to activate.
WIN+E: open file explorer
WIN+D: Minimise everything and go to desktop
WIN+TAB: show all open tasks
WIN+Right Arrow: Resize the window to half of the display and dock it to the right.
WIN+Left Arrow: Resize the window to half of the display and dock it to the left.
WIN+Up Arrow: Maximize the window to full screen.
WIN+Down Arrow: Minimize the window or restore it if it is maximized.
WIN+Shift+Right/Left Arrow: Move the window to an external monitor on the left or right.
Function Keys
Press one of these keys at the top of your keyboard to quickly perform an action
F1: Open the Help page or window
F2: Rename an object (e.g., file in Windows Explorer)
F3: Find
F4: Shows the address bar in Windows Explorer
F5: Refreshes the page
F6: Moves to a different panel or screen element in a window or the desktop
Take a Screenshot
Useful for pasting an image of your desktop or a certain program and sending to tech support
ALT+Print Screen: Capture a screenshot of a window
CTRL+Print Screen: Capture the entire screen/desktop
Working with Windows
Windows system shortcuts
CTRL+ALT+Delete: Bring up the Windows Task Manager
ALT+Tab: Show open applications so you can quickly jump to a different one
WIN+D: Show your desktop
WIN+L: Lock your computer
CTRL+Shift+N: Create a new folder
Shift+Delete: Delete an item immediately, without placing it in the recycle bin
ALT+Enter or ALT+Double-click: Go to the properties screen for files or folders (much faster than right-clicking and selecting “Properties”)
