Keyboard Shortcuts in Microsoft Windows

Whenever you reach for the mouse to click on something, you are probably wasting your time! This page will teach you how to get things done faster by using your keyboard instead of the mouse. The first section deals with basic principles, and the second provides a comprehensive list of keyboard shortcuts.

Basic Principles
List of Keyboard Shortcuts

1. Basic Principles

1.1. Shortcut Keys

Most programs provide shortcut keys for frequently used menu commands. These are displayed on the right-hand side of the menu:

Shortcut keys in Notepad

N.B. Shortcut keys do not work when a menu is open. They are intended to make opening the menu unnecessary, and are only displayed on it for ease of reference.

Although shortcut keys vary from one program to another, many are standard and easy to remember. For example, most programs allow you to press Ctrl+P to print a document (see Application Shortcuts for further examples). If you find yourself choosing the same command frequently or repetitively, take a look at the menu to see if there is a shortcut key you can use instead.

1.2. Access Keys

Access keys provide an alternative way to access items on the screen without using the mouse. Whenever you see an item with a letter underlined, you can press Alt+[underlined letter] to choose that item. For example, in Notepad you can press Alt+F to open the File menu:

N.B. Depending on your settings, the underline may not be visible until you press Alt.

Once a menu is opened by pressing Alt, it is not necessary to hold down the Alt key because all subsequent keystrokes are interpreted as menu selections (unless you press Escape to exit the menu). For example, the following keystrokes can all be used to open a file in Notepad:

Alt+(F, O)
Alt+F, O
Alt, F, O

Alt is unnecessary if the active window doesn't accept text input. For example, in this message box you can just press Y or N for Yes or No:

Message box with Yes, No and Cancel buttons

In the following example, however, Alt is required to click the Submit button, because otherwise you would be typing 's' in one of the text boxes:

1.3. Dialogue Box Keys

A dialogue box is a popup window containing items that must be filled in before completing an operation. Dialogue boxes often have buttons labelled OK and Cancel. Here is an example of a Search dialogue box:

Search dialogue box

You can move to the next item in a dialogue box by pressing Tab, and to the previous item by pressing Shift+Tab. After 'tabbing' to a button or tick-box, you can click it by pressing the Space bar.

Dialogue boxes usually have a default button (equivalent to pressing Enter) and a cancel button (equivalent to pressing Escape). The default button is indicated with a thick border (Find Next in this example). The cancel button is usually labelled Cancel or Close.

You can also use access keys to access individual items directly. For example, in the Search box above you could press:

Alt+S to change the Search setting
Alt+C to change the Match case setting
Alt+H to click the Help button

2. List of Keyboard Shortcuts

2.1. System Shortcuts

These shortcuts can be used anywhere, any time:

Alt+Tab	Next task	Cycle through all open programs. Hold down Alt and press Tab until you reach the one you want.
Alt+Shift+Tab	Previous task	Cycle backwards through open programs. Hold down Alt and Shift, then press Tab until you reach the one you want.
	Start menu	Open the Start menu.
+D	Desktop	Show the Desktop.
+E	Explorer	Open Windows Explorer.
+F	Find	Search for files or folders.
, U	Shut Down	Shut down the computer.
, L	Log Off	Log off the current user.
, C	Control Panel	Open Control Panel.
, H	Help and Support	Open Help and Support Centre.
, R	Run	Run a program by entering its name.
, A	Favourites	Open the Favourites menu.
or Shift+F10	Popup menu	Display a popup menu for the current item.

2.2. Window Shortcuts

These shortcuts apply to the active window:

Alt or F10	Menu	Activate the menu bar. Use the arrow keys or underlined letters to navigate through the menus.
Alt+[letter], [letter]	Menu command	Choose a menu command. For example, to choose Open from the File menu in most programs, press Alt+F, O.
Alt+F4	Close	Close the active window.
Alt+Space	Window menu	Open a menu relating to the active window.
Alt+Space, N	Minimize	Minimize the active window.
Alt+Space, X	Maximize	Maximize the active window.
Alt+Space, R	Restore	Restore the active window.
Alt+Space, M, Arrow Keys, Enter	Move	Move the active window.
Alt+Space, S, Arrow Keys, Enter	Size	Resize the active window.
Ctrl+F4	Close document	Close the current document (but not the program).*
Ctrl+F6	Next document	Switch to the next open document.*
Alt+Hyphen	Sub-window menu	Open a menu relating to the current document.*

*Only applies to programs that contain a sub-window for each open document.

2.3. Dialogue Box Shortcuts

These shortcuts can be used in dialogue boxes.

Tab	Next item	Move to the next item.
Shift+Tab	Previous item	Move to the previous item.
Ctrl+Tab	Next tab	Move to the next page or "tab" (if applicable).
Shift+Ctrl+Tab	Previous tab	Move to the previous page or "tab" (if applicable).
Alt+[letter]	Access key	Choose an item containing an underlined letter.
Space	Click	Click a button or tick-box.
F4 or Alt+Down	Open list	Display the list portion of a drop-down list box.
Enter	Default button	Choose the default button (usually OK).
Escape	Cancel	Discard changes and close the dialogue box.
F1	Help	Display information about the current item.

2.4. Text Navigation Shortcuts

These shortcuts can be used to move to a new location in a document or text box.

Up	Previous line	Move to the previous line.
Down	Next line	Move to the next line.
Left	Previous character	Move to the previous character.
Right	Next character	Move to the next character.
Ctrl+Left	Previous word	Move to the previous word.
Ctrl+Right	Next word	Move to the next word.
Home	Start of line	Move to the start of the current line.
End	End of line	Move to the end of the current line.
Page Up	Previous screen	Move to the previous screen of text.
Page Down	Next screen	Move to the next screen of text.
Ctrl+Home	Start of document	Move to the start of document.
Ctrl+End	End of document	Move to the end of document.

2.5. Text Selection Shortcuts

These shortcuts can be used to select (highlight) text when typing in a document or text box. To select a portion of text, simply hold down the Shift key and use any of the shortcuts in the previous section.

Shift+Up	Previous line	Select to the previous line.
Shift+Down	Next line	Select to the next line.
Shift+Left	Previous character	Select the previous character.
Shift+Right	Next character	Select the next character.
Shift+Ctrl+Left	Previous word	Select the previous word.
Shift+Ctrl+Right	Next word	Select the next word.
Shift+Home	Start of line	Select to the start of the current line.
Shift+End	End of line	Select to the end of the current line.
Shift+Page Up	Previous screen	Select to the previous screen of text.
Shift+Page Down	Next screen	Select to the next screen of text.
Shift+Ctrl+Home	Start of document	Select to the start of document.
Shift+Ctrl+End	End of document	Select to the end of document.

You can also select text by holding down the Shift key when pressing the mouse button. This is particularly useful if you need to select several screens of text: click at the starting point, scroll down to the end point (using the scroll bar), then press Shift and click again to select everything in between.

2.6. Application Shortcuts

Most Windows applications recognise the following standard shortcuts:

Ctrl+N	New	Create a new document.
Ctrl+O	Open	Open an existing document.
Ctrl+S	Save	Save the current document to disk.
Ctrl+P	Print	Print the current document.
Ctrl+A	Select All	Select the entire document.
Ctrl+C	Copy	Copy the selected item to the clipboard.
Ctrl+X	Cut	Copy the selected item to the clipboard and delete it.
Ctrl+V	Paste	Insert the item on the clipboard at the current position.
Ctrl+Z	Undo	Undo the most recent change.
Ctrl+B	Bold	Format text in bold type
Ctrl+I	Italic	Format text in italic type
F1	Help	Open the application's help system.

2.7. Explorer Shortcuts

The following shortcuts apply to Windows Explorer (the program that displays files and folders on your computer). They can also be used in standard Open and Save dialogue boxes. To open an Explorer window, right-click on My Computer (or any folder) and choose Explore from the popup menu. Alternatively just press Windows+E (see System Shortcuts).

Home	First	Move to the first item in the list or tree.
End	Last	Move to the last item in the list or tree.
Backspace	Up one level	Move up the tree to the folder containing the current item.
Right	Open branch	Open up a branch of the tree (equivalent to clicking the plus sign).
Left	Close branch	Close a branch of the tree (equivalent to clicking the minus sign).
Alt+Left	Back	Move to previous location visited.
Alt+Right	Forwards	Move to next location visited.
F2	Edit	Rename the selected item.
Delete	Delete	Delete the selected item.
Alt+Enter	Properties	Show information about the selected item.