Control-Alt-Delete

October 13, 2020

Control-Alt-Delete

Keyboard Shortcuts

I decided to regroup all keyboard shortcuts I know/discovered and the ones I use almost everyday in this post.

It will be split in 4 parts which are global Microsoft Windows shortcuts, Calculator shortcuts, Google Chrome shortcuts and Command Prompt shortcuts.

Before showing those parts. Let’s see the keyboard layout:

[Source]

Most of the shortcuts use Ctrl, Alt, Win, Shift buttons/keys (bottom-left and bottom-middle). There are some exceptions with F1-F12, Tab and some keys of the right part (PageUp, Insert, Home, …) but usually the four first mentioned above should be enough for your usage.

Also, the position doesn't matter, meaning that Left Ctrl + Right Alt + Delete is the same as Left Ctrl + Left Alt + Delete.

"When you press the Alt key, you will have access to all of the menus in the current application. This means you can perform almost any task with just your keyboard. For example, you can type Alt + F + X to quit an application. When performing these shortcuts, you will not need to hold down the Alt key."
[Source]

Shortcuts	Action / Description
Alt + F	File Menu
Alt + E	Edit Menu
Alt + S	Seach Menu
Alt + ...	... Menu

Microsoft Windows

General / Basic / Clipboard Shortcuts

Shortcuts	Action / Description
Ctrl + C Ctrl + Insert	Copy the selected item / text into the clipboard
Ctrl + V Shift + Insert	Paste contents / text of clipboard
Ctrl + Shift + V	Paste without formatting (plain paste)
Ctrl + X Shift + Delete	Cut the selected item / text
Ctrl + A	Select all content (text, items in a document or window, entire picture, ...)
Ctrl + Z	Undo a change / previous action
Ctrl + Y	Redo a change / an action
Ctrl + F	Find / Search
Ctrl + S	Save
Ctrl + N	New
Ctrl + O	Open
Ctrl + W	Close
F3	Go to next search result
Shift + F3	Go to previous search result
Ctrl + H	Search and replace
Alt + Tab	Switch between open applications. Uses arrows or press tab again to switch
Alt + Shift + Tab	Switch between open applications (opposite direction)
Ctrl + Alt + Delete	Windows Security / Login screen
Ctrl + Shift + Esc	Open Task Manager
Ctrl + Shift	Switch the keyboard layout when multiple keyboard layouts are available
Ctrl + / Ctrl + Mouse Scroll Wheel	Zoom in or Zoom out
Ctrl + 0	Resetting zooming
Ctrl + Tab Ctrl + PageDown	Move forward through tabs
Ctrl + Shift + Tab Ctrl + PageUp	Move back through tabs
Alt + F4	Exit the active app
Ctrl + F4	Close the active item / document
Shift + F10 Menu Mouse Right Click	Display the shortcut menu for the selected item
Alt + Enter	Toggle fullscreen / windows mode

Screenshots / Print Shortcuts

Shortcuts	Action / Description
Print Screen	Take screenshot of entire desktop and stores it in clipboard
Alt + Print Screen	Take screenshot of active window and stores it in clipboard
Ctrl + P	Print

Text Formatting / Editing / Control Shortcuts

Shortcuts	Action / Description
Ctrl + B	Toggle Bold the selected text
Ctrl + I	Toggle Italic the selected text
Ctrl + U	Toggle Underline the selected text
Ctrl + Enter	Insert Line Break
	Move the cursor in the direction specified
Insert	Toggle Insert / Overwrite
Backspace	Erase character to the left
Del	Delete char to the right of cursor
Ctrl + Del	Delete word to the right of cursor
Ctrl + Backspace	Delete word to the left of cursor
Home	Move to beginning of line
End	Move to end of line
Ctrl + Home	Scroll to top of the console
Ctrl + End	Scroll to the bottom of the console
PageUp	Scroll / Move the cursor by one page up
PageDown	Scroll / Move the cursor by one page down
Ctrl +	Move the cursor to the beginning of the next word
Ctrl +	Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous word
Ctrl +	Move screen one line up
Ctrl +	Move screen one line down
Tab	Indent
Shift + Tab	Outdent
Shift + Shift +	Move cursor up or down one line and select text
Shift + Shift +	Move cursor left or right one character and select text
Shift + PageUp Shift + PageDown	Move cursor up or down one screen and select text
Shift + Home Shift + End	Move cursor to beginning or end of current line and select text
Ctrl + Shift + Ctrl + Shift +	Move cursor left or right one word and select text
Ctrl + Shift + Home Ctrl + Shift + End	Move cursor to beginning or end and select text

Windows Key Shortcuts

Shortcuts	Action / Description
Win + L	Lock desktop / Switch active user
Win + D	Minimizes all windows and pressing the combination a second time restores them
Win + M	Minimize all windows
Win + Shift + M	Restores windows that were minimized with Win + M
Win + Home	Minimize all but the active desktop window or restores all windows on second stroke
Win + E	Open File Explorer
Win + R	Open the Run dialog box
Win + P	Choose a presentation display mode
Win Ctrl + Esc	Display or hide the Start screen
Win + B	Access SysTray
Win + U	Open Ease of Access Center
Win + F	Open Find files and folders
Win + Shift + F	Open Find computers
Win + Pause	Display the System Properties dialog box
Win + Win +	Magnifier: Zoom in / Zoom out
Win + Esc	Exit Magnifier
Win +	Maximize the window
Win +	Remove current app from screen or minimize the desktop window
Win + Win +	Maximize the app or desktop window to the left or right side of the screen
Win + Shift +	Stretch the desktop window to the top and bottom of the screen
Win + Shift +	Restore/minimize active desktop windows vertically, maintaining width
Win + Shift + Win + Shift +	Move an app or window in the desktop from one monitor to another
Win + [1-9]	Open the desktop and start the app pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number. If the app is already running, it switches to that app
Win + Shift + [1-9]	Open the desktop and start a new instance of the app pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number
Win + Ctrl + [1-9]	Open the desktop and switch to the last active window of the app pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number
Win + Alt + [1-9]	Open the desktop and open the Jump List for the app pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number
Win + Ctrl + Shift + [1-9]	Open the desktop and open a new instance of the app located at the given position on the taskbar as an administrator

File Explorer shortcuts

Shortcuts	Action / Description
Ctrl + Shift + N	New folder
Enter	Open a selected application or file
Delete	Send a selected file or files to the Recycle Bin
Shift + Delete	Delete selected item permanently and skip the Recycle Bin
F1	Display Help
F2	Rename the selected item
F3	Search for a file or folder
F4	Display the address bar list in File Explorer
F5	Refresh the active window
F6	Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop
F10	Activate the Menu bar in the active app
F11	Maximize or minimize the active window
Alt + D	Select address bar
Ctrl + Shift + E	Expands all folders from the tree in the navigation panel.
Alt + Enter	Open Properties settings for the selected item
Alt + P	Display preview panel
Alt +	View next folder
Alt + Backspace	View previous folder
Alt +	Move up a level in the folder path

Calculator

Calculator shortcuts

Shortcuts	Action / Description
Alt + 1	Switch to Standard mode
Alt + 2	Switch to Scientific mode
Alt + 3	Switch to Programmer mode
Alt + 4	Switch to Statistics mode
F9	Press the +/– button
Esc	Press the C button
Delete	Press the CE button
F2	Select Dword in Programmer mode
F3	Select Word in Programmer mode
F4	Select Byte in Programmer mode
F5	Select Hex in Programmer mode
F6	Select Dec in Programmer mode
F7	Select Oct in Programmer mode
F8	Select Bin in Programmer mode
F12	Select Qword in Programmer mode
\|	Press the Or button in Programmer mode
^	Press the Xor button in Programmer mode
~	Press the Not button in Programmer mode
&	Press the And button in Programmer mode
%	Press the Mod button in Programmer mode
Spacebar	Toggle the bit value in Programmer mode
	To switch bit position (useful with spacebar)
Ctrl + E	Open date calculations
Ctrl + U	Open unit conversion

Google Chrome

Chrome Shortcuts

Shortcuts	Action / Description
Ctrl + T	New Tab
Ctrl + N	New Windows
Ctrl + Shift + N	New Incognito Windows
Ctrl + W Ctrl + F4	Close Tab
Ctrl + Tab Ctrl + PageDown	Go to next tab
Ctrl + Shift + Tab Ctrl + PageUp	Go to previous tab
Ctrl + [1-8]	Jump to a specific tab[1-8]
Ctrl + 9	Jump to the rightmost tab
Ctrl + Shift + T	Open a previously closed tab
Ctrl + E	Google Search / Focus and select the browser's search bar
Ctrl + L F6	Go to Address Bar
Ctrl + U	View Source
F12	Open DevTools
F11	Toggle Fullscreen
Ctrl + D	Bookmark the current page
Ctrl + Shift + D	Bookmark all pages
Ctrl + J	View recently downloaded files
Ctrl + H	Open browsing history
Ctrl + Shift + O	View bookmarks menu
F5 Ctrl + R	Refresh a webpage
Ctrl + F5 Ctrl + Shift + R	Refresh a webpage ignoring cache
Alt +	Go Back
Alt +	Go Forward
Ctrl + Enter	Add "www." to the beginning and ".com" to the end of the text typed in the address bar
Alt + Enter	Open the address bar location in a new tab
Alt + Home	Open homepage

* I focus on Chrome web browser but other web browsers like Firefox, Edge, ... should have similar keyboard shortcuts.

Command Prompt

Screenshots / Print Shortcuts

Shortcuts	Action / Description
Tab	Autocomplete folder / filename
F1	Print characters of the previous command one by one
F3	Repeat the previous command
F5	Scroll through history of typed commands
F7	Show history of previous commands
Alt + F7	Clear command history
F8	Move backwards through the command history, but only display commands matching the current text at the command prompt
F9	Run a specific command from the command history
Esc	Clear command line
Ctrl + C	Cancel the current command

[Tip of the post]
There is an useful command with the command prompt called "doskey" where it shows the history of all commands executed previously like that:

doskey /history

dir

cls

cd ..

dir

You can also output into a file like that: doskey /history> file.txt

is typing...

Like I said at the beginning, I didn't cover all the shortcuts available but a lot of applications share the same shortcuts. So try, experiment, and have fun !!!

Thanks for reading,

JS.

[Sources / References]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_key
https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/windowsbasics/keyboard-shortcuts-in-windows/1/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_keyboard_shortcuts
https://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_keyboardshortcuts.asp
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/all-the-windows-10-keyboard-shortcuts-you-need-to-know/
https://www.windowscentral.com/best-windows-10-keyboard-shortcuts
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12445/windows-keyboard-shortcuts
https://ss64.com/nt/syntax-keyboard.html
https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/157179?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en&oco=0