Keyboard shortcuts for Windows

Keyboard shortcuts for Windows

(Used with permission of Susan Fulton)

Why learn to use keyboard shortcuts?

By learning keyboard shortcuts, you can avoid using the mouse, which usually takes more time and can also be painful.

These keyboard actions apply to Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 & XP (with some minor variations between versions of Windows).

Opening and shutting down - Sick of clicking the little "x"?

ALT+ SPACEBAR - opens control menu (like clicking on the symbol in the top left corner of a window, from which you select (perhaps using mouse, perhaps using arrow keys and enter) among restore, minimize, maximize, close, etc)

ALT+HYPHEN - opens the document or window control menu.

ALT+F4 - shuts down the selected program, window or dialogue box.

CTRL+F4 - shuts down the selected document/file.

Some biggies

ENTER - will activate a selected item. Hitting Enter with a program icon selected will open the program. with a button highlighted, will activate the "button." It appears highlighted from the heavier line around it, or it might look like a depressed button.

Shift+F10 - like right click of mouse, brings up context menu.

Selecting items by first letter(s) - pressing a letter key will take you to the first item in an open or save dialogue box that begins with that letter. For example, in the open file dialog box, hit 'w' one or more times to go to the "Windows" folder in the list of stuff that appears on the C drive. This can save a lot of hand action.

TAB - takes you from one field to another, one "button" to another, one icon to another etc. Shift+TAB - tabs you backward

ESC - to cancel, or get rid of something like box or window that popped up when you didn't want it (or if you change your mind) etc.

Any arrow key - removes highlighting (i.e. undo a selection).

Alt+Down Arrow - opens a "Drop down list." It's like clicking those little arrows of fields in which you make a choice, for instance in the "Look in" field of an "Open" dialogue box.

Alt key magic

Alt + the-underlined-letter-in-a-menu-item carries out the action.

Alt or F10 - hitting this all by itself takes you to the menu bar, which can be navigated by arrow keys or by typing the underlined letter.

The versatile spacebar

Spacebar - pressing this will finalize a selection of an item in a list or an icon on the screen that's only half-selected, i.e., there's a box around the name but full highlighting is not there. Also puts a checkmark or big dot in a little box or circle for you to check one of several options.

The three-finger salute

CTRL+ALT+DEL - Shows you what's really running on your computer. Use this if things stall. Reboots the computer - eventually. First, it'll tell you what's hung up.

Ctrl+ESC - same as clicking on the "start button" in the taskbar area of the screen

Backspace - takes you back one level in the Windows hierarchy. With a folder open, it will take you to the parent folder, for instance.

Alt+TAB - holding down the Alt while hitting TAB cycles you through open applications.

Alt+ESC cycles between the last two open programs.

Alt+Enter - opens the item's Properties.

It's a control thing

Ctrl+Z or Alt+Backspace - undo. Undoes the previous editing action, if the application allows.

Ctrl+Y - redo. In some applications (Excel, for example), this combination repeats the last action.

Ctrl+A - select all.

Ctrl+X - cut. Removes your selected block from your document (or selected icon) and puts it on the Windows Clipboard.

Ctrl+C - copy. Puts a copy of the block on the Clipboard.

Ctrl+V - paste.

Ctrl+P - Use this to print.

Ctrl+S - save.

Ctrl+N - new document.

Ctrl+O - open. Brings forth the open file dialogue box.

Ctrl+B - toggle bold off and on with this; this will apply (or remove) bolding to either selected items or to the text that's input next.

Ctrl+I - toggle italic with this.

Ctrl+U toggles underlining.

Rapid cursor movement

Home - to beginning of line or far left of field or screen.

End - to end of line, or far right of field or screen.

Ctrl+Home - to the top

Ctrl+End - to the bottom

Page Up - moves you up in your document or dialogue box by one page

Page Down - moves you down in your document or dialogue list by one page

Shift for selection; Ctrl for amplifying movement

Hitting the ARROW KEYS will move you about the screen or dialogue box, or menu, not just a document. Modifier keys like CTRL and SHIFT when pressed at same time as arrow keys or page up and page down will perform selection and larger movements. You can undo a selection by hitting any arrow key. If you select too far, you can undo part of the selection by holding the SHIFT key down as you go in the opposite direction. In a document, that means, for example, that:

CTRL+RIGHT ARROW - jumps your cursor to the next word.
SHIFT+CTRL+RIGHT ARROW - selects from cursor position to the start of the next word.

SHIFT+DOWN ARROW - selects from cursor position down one line.

CTRL+DOWN ARROW - jumps your cursor to the next paragraph.

SHIFT+CTRL+DOWN ARROW - selects from cursor position to the next paragraph.
Using SHIFT and CTRL with PAGE DOWN, HOME, END, PAGE UP will also be useful. For instance:

SHIFT+CTRL+END - selects from cursor position through the end of the document. With the HOME key, you select to the top of the document.

SHIFT+PAGE DOWN - selects from cursor position down a page. With the PAGE Up key, you select up a page.

SHIFT+END - selects from cursor position to the end of the line

SHIFT+HOME - selects from cursor position to the start of the line

Noncontiguous selection in a list

CTRL+SPACEBAR - hitting these keys allow for noncontiguous selection.

CTRL+ARROW KEYS allow movement to the items you want to select non-contiguously.

Did you know … ?

Have you ever wondered whether you could maneuver in a Help contents page without clicking? What about those parts of Windows that have + signs and - signs? What about dialogue boxes, like "open" or "save," with icons and arrow-marked fields?

ALT+DOWN ARROW - is one of the Biggies, as noted earlier. It opens up a "Drop down list" - those little arrows that sit next to fields in which you must make a choice, for instance in the "Look in" field of an "Open" dialogue box.

BACKSPACE or ALT+1 - in a dialogue box (Save As, for instance), this will move you up one level in the Windows hierarchy.

ALT+2 - will activate the Favorites folder in a dialogue box. ALT+3 will open the save-to-favorites folder button, and ALT+4 gives you the list view, ALT+5 the details view.

NUMBERPAD* - in places like Explorer, the Registry or Help file pages with little book icons, this expands everything under the selected item, through all "child" layers.

NUM+ - Expands a selection (just one layer).

NUM- - Collapses a selection (just one layer).

RIGHT ARROW - Expands current selection if it's collapsed (same as NUM+); otherwise goes to the first "child."

LEFT ARROW - Collapses current selection if it's expanded (same as NUM-); otherwise goes to the "parent" item.

F6 - Takes you to the opposite pane, as in the Explorer, the Registry or in some applications (in the design view of an MS Access macro, for example).

ALT+F6 - Switches you between parts of the same application. For instance, if the Find dialogue box is open, hitting ALT+F6 will keep the box open but will return the focus to the document.

About those F keys

F1 - Help.

F2 - Rename, or edit. Hit F2, with an icon selected, will let you rename the icon. In Excel or Access, F2 takes you from having the entire field or cell selected to an editing position within the field. Do this and you don't have to click.

F3 - Find. Outside an application, will open "Find files or folders." Within an application, performs a Find Next function.

F4 - Opens a drop-down list.

F5 - Refresh, or reload.

F6 - move to opposite pane.

F10 - Toggles you from the text area to the menu area. From there, arrow keys will move you among menus.

Other F keys are used for specific purposes within applications.

Some examples of using the keyboard

You want to select the next line of text, but not the last two words. What do you do?
Down Arrow ... Home ... Shift+End ... Shift+Ctrl+Left Arrow twice
Your cursor is in the middle of a paragraph. You decide you want to move that paragraph up by one paragraph. What do you do?
Ctrl+Up Arrow ...Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow ... Ctrl+x ... Ctrl+Up Arrow ... Ctrl+V
(This assumes there's no line space between paragraphs. If there is, you'll treat the line space as another paragraph.
You want to sign off Windows and your mouse seems to have come unplugged. What do you do?
Alt+F4, Enter. Or, Ctrl+Esc, Up, Enter, Enter.
(These assume your first option is selected in the shutdown menu.)