Windows keystrokes/combos you couldn't live without

Question

OK, we all know the obvious ones here, but what always surprises me is the number of people that don't know all of them...

Simple ones:

Alt-Tab - switch between applications (Shift+Alt+Tab - go through in reverse order)
Ctrl-Tab - switch between documents in an application (doesn't work in MS Word though - grr)
Ctrl+P - print this document
Ctrl+S - Save
Ctrl+Z - Undo
Ctrl+Y - Redo
Windows+M - Minimise everything (Shift+Windows+M - put everything back!)
Windows+F - File search (as opposed to Ctrl+F - local find in document)
Alt+space - get the control box (the one with minimise/maximise) - esp. useful if you lose a window on a multi-monitor desktop...

New ones in Windows 7:

Windows-Tab - application switching (like alt-tab) + preview
Windows+ either up or down arrow - maximise/restore window position

Did you also know ones like - scrolling the mouse wheel and holding CTRL changes font-size/zoom options in most (MS) applications...

What are your favourites?

Mike

Joseph Kern · Answer 1 · 2009-06-15T19:13:35.347

7

Windows + L = Lock

Ctrl + Esc = Windows Start Menu, for those keyboards with no Windows Super Key

ALT + Print Screen = Take a screen shot of the current active window (not the whole desktop)

Print Screen = Take a screen shot of the entire desktop.

edited Jun 15 '09 at 19:13

answered Jun 15 '09 at 10:52

Joseph Kern

9,989

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 15 '09 at 11:15

7

Control-Shift-Escape: Task Manager.
Windows-R: Run dialogue.

answered Jun 15 '09 at 11:15

Richard

5,374

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 15 '09 at 10:47

6

WINDOWS + E - Explorer Window

answered Jun 15 '09 at 10:47

Dayton Brown

1,549

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 15 '09 at 12:47

5

Win + Pause/Break - opens System Properties

answered Jun 15 '09 at 12:47

Cooper

272

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 15 '09 at 09:36

4

Windows-D to show the desktop

answered Jun 15 '09 at 09:36

radius

9,701

fretje · Answer 6 · 2009-06-15T11:56:47.587

4

Obviously:

Ctrl-X : Cut
Ctrl-C : Copy
Ctrl-V : Paste

are the ones I use the most!

Some other ones:

In most text-editors:

Ctrl-F : Find
Ctrl-H : Find and replace
In most browsers:

Ctrl-T : Open new tab
Ctrl-Click on link or Middle Mouse Button on link : open link in new tab

edited Jun 15 '09 at 11:56

answered Jun 15 '09 at 11:33

fretje

1,734

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 15 '09 at 11:44

4

Windows+1
Windows+2
Windows+3...

Starts or activates the window of the corresponding numbered icon in the quick launch bar. Since Vista / Server 2008.

answered Jun 15 '09 at 11:44

Alex Angas

2,057

Doug Chase · Answer 8 · 2009-06-15T13:08:07.727

4

After opening an Explorer window with Win+E, press Alt+D to get focus in the address bar (works in IE too)!

edited Jun 15 '09 at 13:08

answered Jun 15 '09 at 12:47

Doug Chase

753

score 4 · Answer 9 · answered Jun 15 '09 at 13:01

4

Shift + Delete - Used everytime i delete something, for deleting permanently instead of going trough recycle bin.

answered Jun 15 '09 at 13:01

Frode Eskil

51

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 15 '09 at 18:45

My old favorite is Ctrl-C, but not on text, on a dialog box. Most of the time it will copy the entire dialog box as text, so you don't have to do Alt-PrtScn and save an image of the application (unless you need to). It also makes it easier to search for solutions to the error message without having to retype the whole thing. I think I discovered this by mistake one day and have used it ever since.

Try it yourself, Start, Run, asdf, Enter, Ctrl-C, then paste it somewhere.

asdf

Windows cannot find 'asdf'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search.

OK

Or, in the IE address bar type javascript:zxcv, Enter, Ctrl-C on the message box.

Error

A Runtime Error has occurred. Do you wish to Debug?

Line: 0

Error: 'zxcv' is undefined

Yes No

It looks like this editor is interpreting the dashed lines differently, but you get the idea. Try pasting it into Notepad.

score 3 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 15 '09 at 11:24

3

Alt-F4 - the fast way to close a Window. Will also pop-up the log off/shut down dialog if the desktop has the focus.

answered Jun 15 '09 at 11:24

Maximus Minimus

9,035

BenM · Answer 12 · 2009-06-15T15:14:29.853

2

My favourite is:

ALT + Print Screen - take screen shot of just the window you are looking at.

This saves me tons of time as I don't have to crop images when filing bug reports or documenting things for users.

edited Jun 15 '09 at 15:14

answered Jun 15 '09 at 10:52

BenM

758

score 2 · Answer 13 · edited Feb 08 '12 at 15:34

Rare but a godsend;

Alt + Space + (M or Down Arrow) + Arrow Keys

alt text http://helpmerick.com/images/wincontrolicon.gif

When you Remote Desktop/VNC etc into a PC that has a very large (or double/triple) monitor setup from a PC with only a single/small screen many windows will appear off screen (and worse yet may not show on the taskbar (e.g. Open File dialog from within an application)

Since you can't get your mouse to the application to move the window the above does the trick.

Alt + Space

Opens the little context menu on the titlebar of the application

M or Down Arrow

Goes to the Move option

Arrow Keys

Lets you safely return the offscreen window/dialog to some point on the screen where you can actually view it/ use it!

Edit: if you can see the taskbar, you can also just right click on the application in the taskbar and click "Move", then immediately (without moving the mouse) click and hold down the left mouse button then drag the window into view that way. this is the keystroke-less way to do it.

score 1 · Answer 14 · answered Jun 15 '09 at 10:09

Although not windows specific, I'm really using these alot:

Ctrl + ArrowLeft/ArrowRight - move cursor to the left/right
Ctrl + Shift + ArrowLeft/ArrowRight - move cursor to the left/right, selecting the text in between
Ctrl + Backspave - delete text one word at a time

gbjbaanb · Answer 15 · 2009-06-16T08:35:03.070

1

On Windows... CTRL+ALT+DELETE. If the system is not responding, that sometimes gets task manager up. It also gets you the change password option.

Also, on a remote terminal session, that can also bring up the 'shut down' dialog without needing to open a command prompt and shutdown the server.

Possibly its the most common keystroke there is!

edited Jun 16 '09 at 08:35

answered Jun 15 '09 at 10:52

gbjbaanb

3,902

score 1 · Answer 16 · answered Jun 15 '09 at 11:17

1

If you have OneNote running in the notification area:

Windows-S: Snapshot part of display (drag mouse to select area).

answered Jun 15 '09 at 11:17

Richard

5,374

score 1 · Answer 17 · answered Jun 15 '09 at 12:37

1

Windows + V (after having http://stevemiller.net/puretext/ set to AutoRun)

answered Jun 15 '09 at 12:37

score 1 · Answer 18 · answered Jun 15 '09 at 15:26

Windows + Z (Launchy, although you need to install it first :-)

Out of the box, F7 on a command prompt springs to mind — displays a popup with the command history. Scroll to the command line you want and press enter to execute, or press cursor left or right to just paste it at the prompt for editing.

Bratch · Answer 19 · 2009-06-15T21:17:23.927

1

Another favorite of mine, especially when I find a workstaion unlocked, is Left Alt + left Shift + PrtScn, Enter, walk away. It toggles high-contrast mode and is easy enough to restore.

More here:

Keyboard Assistance and Shortcuts for Microsoft Products

List of the keyboard shortcuts that are available in Windows XP

edited Jun 15 '09 at 21:17

answered Jun 15 '09 at 18:57

Bratch

432

voyager · Answer 20 · 2009-06-16T20:59:18.600

1

Ctrl + L on most non-IE browsers get you to the address bar.

Ctrl + W or Ctrl + F4 on most applications is close window/close tab.

Ctrl + K on Firefox get you to the search box, and get you a code block on StackOverflow ;)

edited Jun 16 '09 at 20:59

answered Jun 15 '09 at 20:51

voyager

728

score 0 · Answer 21 · answered Jun 15 '09 at 15:29

Windows + L = lock
Windows + M = Show Desktop
Ctrl + c = copy
Ctrl + v = paste
Ctrl + k = In outlook, type part of someone's name in the "TO" box, it'll either autofill or give you a list of available choices.
Windows + Tab = cycle windows but all pretty like... neat on Aero (req vista/windows 7)
Alt + F4 = close current program.
Printscreen = take screenshot.
Alt + Printscreen = take screenshot of active window only. Great for documentation/emails

score 0 · Answer 22 · answered Jun 15 '09 at 18:46

ALT + CTRL + '-' (minus) = Take a screen shot of the current active window in a remote desktop session

At a command prompt: CTRL + left|right arrow = skip to the next word boundary CTRL + END = delete from cursor to end of line

score 0 · Answer 23 · answered Jun 16 '09 at 02:29

0

Here's one from the olden days that I still use:

Ctrl+Ins = Copy
Shift+Ins = Paste
Alt+Backspace = Undo

I know these are all replicated in other methods, but if they ever get depreciated I'll be annoyed!

answered Jun 16 '09 at 02:29

Mark Henderson

69,480

score 0 · Answer 24 · answered Jun 16 '09 at 09:54

0

Alt + Shift

To toggle between languages. I can live without it here, but it is difficult to live without it when you are in China or Israel for example :-).

answered Jun 16 '09 at 09:54

Dani van der Meer

453

Windows keystrokes/combos you couldn't live without

24 Answers24

asdf

Windows cannot find 'asdf'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search.

OK

Error

Error: 'zxcv' is undefined

Yes No