April 24th, 2006
Handy Windows Keyboard Shortcuts You Never Knew About
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
To me, the one thing Microsoft did that slammed Apple way back when was making everything in Windows accessible by a simple keyboard shortcut. True, it doesn’t help most mouse junkies, but for techies who grew up on the command line, the handy keyboard shortcut has saved many an ugly situation especially when the mouse failed.
Here are some goodies to try:
CTRL and A Selects all the items in the active window.
CTRL and C Copies the item or items to the Clipboard and can be pasted using CTRL and V.
CTRL and F Displays the Find all files dialog box.
CTRL and G Displays the Go to folder dialog box.
CTRL and N Displays the New dialog box.
CTRL and O Displays the Open dialog box.
CTRL and P Displays the Print dialog box.
CTRL and S Displays the Save dialog box.
CTRL and V Pastes the copied item or items from the Clipboard.
CTRL and X Cuts the item or items selected to the Clipboard.
CTRL and Z Undoes the last action.
CTRL and F4 Closes the active document window.
CTRL while dragging an item Copy the selected item
CTRL+SHIFT with arrow keys Highlight a block of text
CTRL+F4 Close the active document
CTRL+ESC Display the Start menu
CTRL and F6 Opens the next document window in the active application.
ALT+ENTER View the properties for the selected item
ALT+F4 Close the active item, or quit the active program
ALT+SPACEBAR Open the shortcut menu for the active window
ALT+TAB Switch between the open items
ALT+ESC Cycle through items in the order that they had been opened
F1 key Gives help on the active window or selected item.
F2 key Rename the selected item
F3 key Search for a file or a folder
F4 key Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer
F5 key Update the active window
F6 key Cycle through the screen elements in a window or on the desktop
F10 key Activate the menu bar in the active program
Windows Logo Display or hide the Start menu
Windows Logo+BREAK Display the System Properties dialog box
Windows Logo+D Display the desktop
Windows Logo+M Minimize all of the windows
Windows Logo+SHIFT+M Restore the minimized windows
Windows Logo+E Open My Computer
Windows Logo+F Search for a file or a folder
CTRL+Windows Logo+F Search for computers
Windows Logo+F1 Display Windows Help
Windows Logo+ L Lock the keyboard
Windows Logo+R Open the Run dialog box
Windows Logo+U Open Utility Manager
TAB Move forward through the options
SHIFT+TAB Move backward through the options
CTRL+TAB Move forward through the tabs
CTRL+SHIFT+TAB Move backward through the tabs
ALT+Underlined letter Perform the corresponding command or select the corresponding option
ENTER Perform the command for the active option or button
SPACEBAR Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box
F1 key Display Help
F4 key Display the items in the active list
Arrow keys Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons
BACKSPACE Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box
END Display the bottom of the active window
HOME Display the top of the active window
NUM LOCK+Asterisk sign (*) Display all of the subfolders that are under the selected folder
NUM LOCK+Plus sign (+) Display the contents of the selected folder
NUM LOCK+Minus sign (-) Collapse the selected folder
LEFT ARROW Collapse the current selection if it is expanded, or select the parent folder
RIGHT ARROW Display the current selection if it is collapsed, or select the first subfolder
Source: Intelladmin
Todd says:
You’re forgetting a good one: ctrl + shift + esc opens the task manager.
April 24th, 2006 at 5:48 am
Matthew DeWitt says:
This is erroneous. Pressing {Windows Logo}+{L} doesn’t lock the keyboard, it switches users.
April 24th, 2006 at 5:49 am
Geek Stuff says:
Handy Windows Keyboard Shortcuts You Never Knew About @ Alice Hill’s Real Tech News - Independent Tech
This absolutely rocks! I’ve been looking for something like this for a while now. This…
April 24th, 2006 at 6:16 am
Marcellus King (Korrupt) says:
Schweet!!! Very useful information. Found this link via Fark.com. Thanks a lot for this
April 24th, 2006 at 6:27 am
JBell says:
Actually, DeWitt, It does in windowz xp pro. You must be on “home” ed.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:30 am
Dave says:
Matt: On pre-XP machines where you’re required to log in, or on XP machines where you’ve turned off the new style of username selection, it will actually lock the computer.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:30 am
Some Guy says:
Wow, who’s your boss, Ric Romero?
April 24th, 2006 at 6:33 am
OwnzJoo says:
Yeah, DeTwit.. it does work.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:33 am
Steve R says:
Matthew DeWitt, maybe on your standard copy of Windows XP Home, If you turn off fast-switching it should be re-enabled.
I do however think that all the Clipboard functions should have been grouped…
April 24th, 2006 at 6:34 am
e says:
“To me, the one thing Microsoft did that slammed Apple way back when was making everything in Windows accessible by a simple keyboard shortcut.”
Um…no.
Apple shortcuts predate Windows shortcuts and nearly every core Windows shortcut is based on an Apple one, which is why the Windows assignments follow the Apple pattern. Apple introduced the Command key with the first Macs. Windows uses the Command-equivalents, generally with the Command key replaced with the Control key.
April 24th, 2006 at 6:57 am
Aleph Null says:
Win-L will either lock the computer _or_ switch users in WinXP, depending on how the admin sets the security on the computer. So you’re both right (and both wrong, I guess).
April 24th, 2006 at 7:04 am
KingOFthePOOPeaters says:
I work for the WIndows people.
So I am really getting a kick out of most of these replies.
Some of you guys are very good at making it sound like you know what you are talking about.
But trust me…. You don’t.
I think you just want to make yourself sound smart, when in reality you dont know what you are talking about.
This is how bad info gets passed around.
If you dont know about the topic….Dont make yourself sound like you do.
Cuz some farkers believe anything they hear.
April 24th, 2006 at 7:08 am
James says:
There’s a list of many of the Mac OS X shortcuts here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459
April 24th, 2006 at 7:12 am
UberFarka says:
QUICK!!! SOMEONE CALL RIC ROMERO!!
Discover the technology of tomorrow - today. lol
April 24th, 2006 at 7:19 am
LiQiuD’s Lounge » Blog Archive » just some things… says:
[…] 8217;t really surprise me. This is just sad Get out your conspiracy theroist badges… Some nice keyboard shortcuts What’s the world coming too??? - lil’j
[…]
April 24th, 2006 at 7:21 am
spigo1982 says:
Where is RIC ROMERO? He needs to know this miracles!
April 24th, 2006 at 7:22 am
i hate peas… » handy Windows keyboard shortcuts you never knew about… says:
[…] ome of them, but woohoo! some of them are going to come in really handy. Check em out over on RealTechNews.com. Some of my most used ones? CTRL and C Copies the item or items to the Cl […]
April 24th, 2006 at 7:38 am
kate says:
CTRL + ALT + An arrow key —Rotates the picture on the screen. I’m not exactly sure what the point is, but it’s kind of fun.
April 24th, 2006 at 7:46 am
Some_Linux_Guy says:
KingOFthePOOPeaters “I work for the WIndows people.”
You just lost all credibility. Some how you know what you’re talking about? So which part of the building are you in charge of mopping?
you are teh ghey
April 24th, 2006 at 7:51 am
Stankdawg says:
RIC ROMERO IS ON THE CASE!
April 24th, 2006 at 7:51 am
Leon says:
Came from Fark. Nice list. Knew most of them though.
April 24th, 2006 at 8:09 am
civan93 says:
“To me, the one thing Microsoft did that slammed Apple way back when was making everything in Windows accessible by a simple keyboard shortcut”
Didn’t MacOS have keyboard shortcuts long before MS had a GUI? I’m pretty sure my Mac 512k had keyboard shortcuts. In fact, I’m positive it did. I remember Apple+C to copy in MacWrite.
That being said, anyone using a Mac today needs to know one keyboard shortcut not listed on that page someone linked to. Apple+` (the accent/tilde key). That cycles between windows of one application.
April 24th, 2006 at 8:31 am
simon says:
There’s one that switches case of selected text, really handy if you’ve left caps-lock on while typing, but I forgot what it is - any ideas?
April 24th, 2006 at 8:32 am
Ran Kailie says:
And don’t forget about probably the most useful shortcut for windows:
Alt + Tab to switch between programs on the task bar
I use this every single day, especially when gaming.
April 24th, 2006 at 8:35 am
Pat Moore says:
F12 key is a great shortcut to “Save as….” in most Microsoft products.
April 24th, 2006 at 8:43 am
Alice says:
I use Alt + spacebar + n
that instantly minimizes my open window - nothing is faster
April 24th, 2006 at 8:44 am
Alex says:
Ok, Mac’s had keyboard shortcuts before Windows pc’s…
But one thing that you still can’t do on a Mac is the “keyboard navigation through underline letters”.
It’s really useful because it eliminates the need to learn billion of keyboard shortcuts by heart.
You just press ALT + underline letter and voilà! you can trash your mouse.
And the most useful application of this, is when you navigate the window menus: just for example, press ALT + F and you gain access to the File menu, or use other letters and the arrow keys to get to the menu item you want….
I have been using this navigation for ten years and more, it really rulez!!!
Regards,
Alex
April 24th, 2006 at 9:00 am
dream says:
civan93: I just discovered Cmd-` a few weeks ago, it is by far the most useful yet obscure shortcut in OS X.
April 24th, 2006 at 9:16 am
wiredtobits says:
For the “OMIGOD I’VE LEFT CAPSLOCK ON AND i CANT TYPE SO i HAVEN’T BEEN LOOKING AT THE SCREEN AND NOW i’M GOING TO HAVE TO TYPE THE WHOLE FECKING THING AGAIN” style of feck up
highlight the text (in word) and press shift + F3
to turn this:
EXISTORSIO TE IMMUNIDISIMUS SPIRITUS, OMNIS INCURSIO ADVERSARI……
to this:
existorsio te immunidisimus spiritus, omnis incursio adversari……
again to turn is to this:
Existorsio Te Immunidisimus Spiritus, Omnis Incursio Adversari……
and one more time to get back to this:
EXISTORSIO TE IMMUNIDISIMUS SPIRITUS, OMNIS INCURSIO ADVERSARI……
April 24th, 2006 at 9:39 am
wiredtobits says:
To fix the “OMIGOD i’VE LEFT CAPS LOCK ON AND i’M GOING TO HAVE TO TYPE THE WHOLE FECKING THING AGAIN” style of mistake
Highlight the text and press Shift + F3
To cycle from this:
EXISTORSIO TE IMMUNIDISIMUS SPIRITUS, OMNIS INCURSIO ADVERSARI……
To this:
existorsio te immunidisimus spiritus, omnis incursio adversari……
To this:
Existorsio Te Immunidisimus Spiritus, Omnis Incursio Adversari……
And back to this:
EXISTORSIO TE IMMUNIDISIMUS SPIRITUS, OMNIS INCURSIO ADVERSARI……
April 24th, 2006 at 9:45 am
thejart says:
the keyboard shortcut for switching the case of text (within a microsoft office product) is….
[shift-f3]
—
and there was great rejoicing
“yeah”
April 24th, 2006 at 9:50 am
thejart says:
COCK-BLOCKED!
cock-blocked!
Cock-Blocked!
April 24th, 2006 at 9:53 am
Ric Romero says:
This just in, Windows is tricky!
April 24th, 2006 at 10:02 am
Dick Trickle says:
My favorite is just to beat the keys repeadetly with my fists until something useful happens.
April 24th, 2006 at 10:11 am
Morans says:
Get a brain! Morans!
April 24th, 2006 at 10:14 am
Andy Atkinson says:
For a few more checkout:
http://paininthetech.com/windows_keyboard_shortcuts_that_save_you_time
April 24th, 2006 at 10:19 am
UTards says:
Perhaps I missed it as I was fapping 2 all of your comments but:
CTRL + Y = Redo
April 24th, 2006 at 10:34 am
Bluefin says:
In MS Word there is the really useful F8 button. Click once selects the word, Double click higlight the paragraph, triple click highlights the whole document. But what is really useful is that once you click once, you can then use the arrow keys to simply select large areas of text with FAR more control than with the mouse. I’ve been using this since Word 5 Dos
April 24th, 2006 at 10:54 am
Argenfarg says:
microsoft’s most powerful key sequence
April 24th, 2006 at 11:13 am
Bill M says:
I do documentation with screen shots — ALT plus Print Screen captures only the window with the focus, no Task Bar or other running apps, pop-ups, etc. Handy for then pasting into Word, Powerpoint, RoboHelp, or your chosen tool.
April 24th, 2006 at 11:21 am
durb says:
ctrl + shift + >
ctrl + shift +
April 24th, 2006 at 11:35 am
hunt says:
I work for the person who works for the WIndows people.
So I am really getting a kick out of most of these replies to replies.
Some of you guys are very good at making it sound like you know what you are talking about refers to in other talkings about.
But trust me…. You don’t.
I think you just want to make yourself sound smarter than other people, when in reality you dont know why you are talking about what you are talking about.
You are how bad info gets passed around.
If you dont know that you know about the topic….Dont make yourself sound like you know what you don’t know the other guy knows.
Cuz some non-farkers believe anything they read on the intarwebs.
April 24th, 2006 at 11:51 am
uncfleece says:
Ctrl + { or Ctrl + } in ms word - change font size. Helpful for resumes etc.
April 24th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
lollocaust says:
dude man…chill out. Let the farkers have their fun, and you elitists can get your kicks out in the office….where you’ll probably get shot down by the not-so-attractive secretary you constantly hit on.
…and yeah, alt-printScreen rocks
April 24th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
phantasm says:
It’s a trap!
April 24th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
JoJo says:
Hit the Shiftkey 5 times fast! Yay!
April 24th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Chaon says:
What hotkey combination do I press to see pictures of lesbian sex nazis? ‘Cause I’ve pressed almost all of them and haven’t found the pics yet.
April 24th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
Homer says:
Which one is the any key? Doh!
April 24th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
Macs Rule says:
You’re an idiot, Alice. Apple has long had way better and more hotkey combos–a whole key, the command key, or open-apple, is devoted purely to hotkeys. You can combo it with control, shift, or option to get even more hotkeys. In short, you’re an idiot, Alice.
April 24th, 2006 at 10:45 pm
William Gatesington says:
The only useful windows shortcut, especially pre-XP. CTRL-ALT-DEL
April 25th, 2006 at 3:40 am
Faith says:
Here is another useful shortcut, windows logo-u-u, it shuts down the computer.
April 25th, 2006 at 6:50 am
Jacki says:
I think mean people suck! I think Alice was doing a nice thing by making this available to us non-pros who you all think are dumb because we have other lives outside our PC. So to make rude comments to her because of this is just plain mean! If you are such an Einstein why did you bother going to this site when you could have made your own? Back off of Alice! I knew many of these too but feel no need to outwit her because of it. Instead I shall print it and share it with my children so they don’t have to go to many of you and be insulted in order to continue their growth! I reiterate, mean people suck!
April 25th, 2006 at 6:58 am
Pain in the Tech says:
Windows keyboard shortcuts that save you time
Memorizing keyboard shortcuts will save you time, especially if you work in one environment for many hours each day (this article is written for a Windows environment). Some shortcuts will only give you a marginal time savings, while others will save yo
April 25th, 2006 at 7:46 am
Will says:
Don’t forget ctrl+shift+F10 = Automatically win your free cell game!
April 25th, 2006 at 10:30 am
BEN says:
CTRL - ENTER
COMPLETES WWW.xxxxxx.COM. JUST ENTER YAHOO AND HIT CTRL-ENTER
April 26th, 2006 at 4:49 am
Illiterate Poet says:
Old Friends
As some of you have noticed, I put a Frapper Map on the website. It is interesting to see where all my readers are from. Recently an old friend of mine contacted me on the Frapper site. Shaun and I…
April 27th, 2006 at 10:55 am
PeterFV says:
Odd that Hunt should have published the same comment on another Fark thread concerning the last Boeing 717. Oh dear. So he works for Boeing And the guy who works for the “Windows people”. Obviously not Microsoft. Who they?
Is he a troll?
April 30th, 2006 at 7:43 am
Amanda says:
Also, some good shortcuts for Microsoft Word and Excel:
CTRL+I= Italicizes the highlighted words or paragraphs
CTRL+B= Bolds them
CTRL+U= Underlines them
May 9th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
fritz says:
How about making this a printable version without all the feedback
May 12th, 2006 at 11:49 am
Morris says:
A great feature of the windows logo key is “Windows Logo+D” to minimize all open windows and show the desktop. But if you don’t have that key on your keyboard it’s my understanding that there are no workaround keystroke substitution for the windows logo+ combinations. (If there are, be nice to hear about them).
Of all of the windows logo combinations, the one I use most is “Windows logo+D”.
However,if you don’t have a windows logo key [you might have an original IBM keyboard - (why bother with anything else), or you’re using an older laptop such as the classic IBM T21 PIII] a bit slower but still fast substitute in WinXP to minimize ALL of your open windows and show the desktop is to move your mouse pointer to an empty area of the Taskbar, right-click, and click on “Show the Desktop”. All open windows will be minimized to the task bar. To open all of these minimized windows, do the same thing, but now click on “Show open windows”.
July 22nd, 2006 at 8:12 am
Alexx says:
Follow your dreams, you can reach your goals. nokia6630
July 25th, 2006 at 2:36 am
ronnie says:
Holla and Happy Thanksgiving. nokia6630
July 26th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
J says:
To all you douchebags who are saying who came out with shortcuts first can all shut up now. I recall the commadore 64 using commadore’s own DOS operating system which HAD SHORTCUTS.
Served….
August 24th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
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October 12th, 2006 at 5:45 am
genumikeg99 says:
Nice,
These will save me from tendonitis, from all the point and click stuff
November 10th, 2006 at 9:21 am
Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » Click Here! Writers’ Helpers Edition says:
[…] Real Tech News has some great tips re: shortcuts you can take using Windows key combos. These include how to shortcut your way into closing document windows, displaying the START menu and more. Check it here. […]
February 23rd, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Web 2.0 Announcer says:
Handy Windows Keyboard Shortcuts You Never Knew About @ Alice Hill?s Real Tech News - Independent Tech…
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June 10th, 2007 at 6:06 am
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June 21st, 2007 at 5:26 am