Keyboard Shortcuts – Stay Productive and Comfortable

This is sequel of the post More Than 500 Useful, Timesaving Keyboard Shortcuts For Windows Vista. Some of these keyboard shortcuts may already be present in above said post. However, these keyboard shortcuts are very useful, so I decided to go ahead and post ’em.

Using keyboard shortcuts help you use your laptop without a mouse

Touch pads and external mice aren’t always the best solution when using your laptop. Learn how to use your keyboard to it’s full potential to save aggravating your wrist or when in restricted space.

I keep a copy of these printed on file cards in my laptop bag so I can always refer to it quickly and easily. Another set is taped to my desk for quick reference.

Windows System Key Combinations

• F1: Help
• CTRL+ESC: Open Start menu
• ALT+TAB: Switch between open programs
• ALT+F4: Quit program
• SHIFT+DELETE: Delete item permanently

Windows Program Key Combinations

• CTRL+C: Copy
• CTRL+X: Cut
• CTRL+V: Paste
• CTRL+Z: Undo
• CTRL+B: Bold
• CTRL+U: Underline
• CTRL+I: Italic

General Keyboard-Only Commands

li]F1: Starts Windows Help
• F10: Activates menu bar options
• SHIFT+F10 Open a shortcut menu for the selected item (same as right-clicking an object)
• CTRL+ESC: Open the Start menu (use ARROW keys to select item)
• CTRL+ESC or ESC: Select Start button (press TAB to select the taskbar, or press SHIFT+F10 for a context menu)
• ALT+DOWN ARROW: Open drop-down list box
• ALT+TAB: Switch to another running program (hold down the ALT key and then press the TAB key to view the task-switching window)
• SHIFT: Press and hold down the SHIFT key while you insert a CD-ROM to bypass the automatic-run feature
• ALT+SPACE: Display the main window’s System menu (from the System menu, you can restore, move, resize, minimize, maximize, or close the window)
• ALT+- (ALT+hyphen): Display the Multiple Document Interface (MDI) child window’s System menu (from the MDI child window’s System menu, you can restore, move, resize, minimize, maximize, or close the child window)
• CTRL+TAB: Switch to next child window of a Multiple Document Interface (MDI) program
• ALT+ underlined letter in menu : Open the menu
• ALT+F4: Close the current window
• CTRL+F4: Close the current Multiple Document Interface (MDI) window
• ALT+F6: Switch between multiple windows in the same program

Mouse Click/Keyboard Modifier Combinations for Shell Objects

• SHIFT+right click: Display shortcut menu containing alternative commands
• SHIFT+double click: Run alternate default command (second item on the menu)
• ALT+double click: Display properties
• SHIFT+DELETE: Delete an item immediately without placing it in the Recycle Bin

Shell Objects and General Folder/Windows Explorer Shortcuts For a selected object:

• F2: Rename object
• F3: Find all files
• CTRL+X: Cut
• CTRL+C: Copy
• CTRL+V: Paste
• SHIFT+DELETE: Delete selection immediately, without moving the item to the Recycle Bin
• ALT+ENTER: Open the properties for the selected object

General Folder/Shortcut Control

• F4: Select the Go To A Different Folder box and moves down the entries in the box (if the toolbar is active in Windows Explorer)
• F5: Refreshes the current window.
• F6: Moves among panes in Windows Explorer
• CTRL+G: Open Go To Folder tool
• CTRL+Z: Undo last command
• CTRL+A: Select all items in the current window
• BACKSPACE: Switch to the parent folder
• SHIFT+click+ Close button: For folders, close the current folder plus all parent folders

Windows Explorer Tree Control

• Numeric Keypad *: Expand everything under current selection
• Numeric Keypad +: Expand current selection
• Numeric Keypad -: Collapse current selection.
• RIGHT ARROW: Expand current selection if it is not expanded, otherwise goes to the first child
• LEFT ARROW: Collapse current selection if it is expanded, otherwise goes to the parent

To Copy a File Press and hold down CTRL key while you drag file to another folder.

To Create a Shortcut Press and hold down CTRL+SHIFT while you drag file to the desktop or a folder.