The Ultimate Windows Keyboard Shortcut Cheat Sheet

If you are constantly working on Windows operating system, it becomes a tedious job to constantly switch from keyboard to handle mouse/ track/touch for every small operation. Let’s have a look at some Windows keyboard shortcut cheat sheet.

Working on windows involves a great deal of using mouse or track pad. This is due to the interactive user interface. With evolution of touch screen technology, there is added advantage of input using touch screen. So overall operating Windows involves a combined use of keyboard and mouse/track pad/touch for a better user experience. But you lose a good deal of time in this frequent switching process. We will try to explore the keyboard cheat sheet to make our work convenient. Working with cheat sheet will allow us to save a significant amount of time.

Cheat sheet for windows users
Cheat sheet for windows users

Shortcut Using Windows Key

So we start with some Win key shortcut. The Windows key appears in the right and left lower corner of your keyboard.  We can access a number of options using this key;

  • Win                  -        Open Start menu ( you can also use Ctrl + Esc )
  • Win + F1         -        To open Windows help support
  • Win + Tab     -         To toggle through open programs (It will start a cycle of programs  you can go to any of the open Windows).
  • Win + D         -           Go to Desktop
  • Win + L          -           Lock the Windows
  • Win + R          -           Run Window
  • Win + Home  -           Clear all Windows except the Active Window
  • Win + Space   -           Make the Windows transparent to look at the Desktop
  • Win + Up        -           Maximize or minimize active Window
  • Win + Down   -           Minimize or Restore the Window

 

General Shortcuts

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General shortcuts using the control key (Ctrl) there are a number of general commands that we can access with the use of control key and Alt key ;

  • Ctrl + I  -                      Italicize the Text
  • Ctrl + U -                     underline the text
  • Ctrl + B -                     Maker the text Bold
  • Ctrl + S -                     Save the current document
  • Ctrl + C -                     Copy selected Text to clipboard
  • Ctrl + X -                     Cut selected object and paste to clipboard
  • Ctrl + V -                     Paste the copied content
  • Ctrl + Z -                     Undo the last command
  • Ctrl + Y -                     Redo the last action
  • Ctrl + A -                     Select all
  • Ctrl + +/- -                 Zoom in/out
  • Ctrl + Alt + Tab-       Use arrows to switch between all open Windows
  • Ctrl + D -                    Delete the current item and move to recycle bin
  • Ctrl + Esc -                Open the Start screen
  • Alt  + F4          -         Close the current window
  • Alt  + Enter     -         Display properties for the selected items
  • Alt  + Space    -          Open shortcut menu
  • Alt  + PgUp     -         Move up one tab
  • Alt  + PgDn     -         Move down one tab
  • Alt + C              -         Display table of content
  • Alt + N             -         Connection setting
  • Esc                    -         Leave the current Window

Function Keys

There are function keys in every keyboard. Windows utilizes these keys in a very interesting way. There are several combinations of function keys with Ctrl and Alt keys. But the interesting point is there individual functions.

  • F1 -          To display help
  • F2 -          Rename the selected item
  • F3 -          Search for a file and folder
  • F4 -          Display the address bar list in File Explorer
  • F5 -          Refresh
  • F6 -          Cycle through screen
  • F10 -        Activate the menu bar

By using these of keys and their combination, you can save a significant amount of time and effort. It will also help in enhancing your working capability as you don’t have to toggle through keyboard and mouse/track.

There are several instances where we are drawn into our work and using multiple inputs result in losing of files sometime. Like files lost during cutting and pasting to memory card, flash drives external hard drive etc. Using the keyboard for most of the instance may give u the comfort to stick to one input method most of the time.

So, if you are experiencing such issue of data loss while transfer. Read here for restoring pictures lost during data transfer error.

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John Harris

Senior Editor, Content Analyst and a fan of exceptional customer service. John develops and publishes instructional and informational content regarding partition management, Windows hot-fixes, data management and computer troubleshooting.

As a tenured data recovery specialist, John shares exceptional insights and blog posts about data loss and data recovery across any storage device. With 8+ years’ experience in writing for Data Recovery for both Mac OS and Windows OS computers, he is an avid learner who always wants to polish and simplify the data recovery process. John passes his free time playing Chess and reading Science Fiction novels.

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