23 Lesser known but Incredibly useful Windows Shortcuts
Wednesday, Aug 6th, 2008 By Satbir Singh
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Keyboard Shortcuts are a great way to increase productivity as they save a lot of time and also relieve hands from that pain caused by using mouse repetitively.
Here are 23 lesser known Windows Shortcuts categorized into their area of use that are incredibly helpful in increasing productivity as they make common daily tasks a lot easier.
Windows Explorer
1. F2: Rename object – Forget right clicking a file or folder to find Rename option, Just select any file or folder with a single click and press F2 to rename selected object.
2. F6 – Pressing F6 will let you move across various panes of Windows Explorer.
3. Alt + Enter/ Alt+Double Click: Select any object in Windows Explorer and then use Alt+Enter or Alt+Double Click to open properties of the selected object.
4. SHIFT+right click: Displays right context menu containing alternative commands, e.g. you can get an option to Open Command Window here if you use Shift+right click on any explorer object.
5. SHIFT+double click: Runs the alternate default command (the second item on the right context menu). e.g. You can open Explorer View directly by clicking on any folder with Shift key pressed.
6. BACKSPACE: Move to the parent folder. Similar to Up button in Windows Explorer.
7. Ctrl + double click: Using double click on any folder with Ctrl key pressed will open that folder in a new explorer window.
8. SHIFT+click+Close button: this one’s useful if you have used Ctrl+double click to open folders in new windows. Click on the close button of a open folder window with Shift key pressed. This will close all parent folders of that folder.
9 SHIFT:To prevent a CD/DVD from running automatically press and hold Shift while inserting CD/DVD into your optical drive.
10. F3: Pressing F3 while you are in windows explorer will open Windows Search to search for files or folders. This shortcut also works in Firefox which lets you search the opened web page.
11. To copy a file from one folder to another, drag it to another folder with Ctrl key pressed.
12. To create a shortcut to a file or folder, hold down Ctrl+Shift and drag it to desktop or another folder.
13. ALT+SPACE: It’ll display the currently opened window’s System menu (System menu contains options to move, re-size, minimize, maximize, or close the window).
Windows Management
14. CTRL+ESC: Open Start menu, useful if your keyboard does not have a Windows key.
15. Windows Key+M: Minimize all open windows
16. SHIFT+Windows Key+M: This will Undo the action of above shortcut i.e. it’ll undo minimize all open windows.
17. Windows Key+D: Minimizes all open windows and displays the desktop. This one is also similar to Windows Key+M.
18. ALT+F6: Switch between multiple windows in the same program (for example, when the Notepad Find dialog box is displayed, ALT+F6 switches between the Find dialog box and the main Notepad window).
19. F5: This ‘ll refresh the currently open window. If you are on Desktop, you can refresh simply by pressing F5. This one also works in browsers to refresh the opened page.
20. CTRL+TAB/CTRL+SHIFT+TAB: Using these you can switch between various tabs of properties window.
Miscellaneous
21. SHIFT+F10 :It is similar to right clicking any object, it opens up the context menu obtained by right clicking.
22. Windows Key+Pause/Break: To open System Properties dialog box, no need to right click My Computer or look in Control Panel, just use Windows Key+Pause/Break.
23. Windows Key+L: This one is quite useful and big time saver. Use Windows Key+L to lock your screen in case you need to be away from your system for a short while.
If you know some more lesser known but useful windows shortcuts, you can discuss in comments below.
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88 Responses to “23 Lesser known but Incredibly useful Windows Shortcuts”
Quite a list I must many of them more than useful to save time. Stumbled.
@Keith
thanks
Nice list… Been using windows for quite a time now and I’ve never seen some of those…
Stumbled also…
Some good tips here. I thought i knew most keyboard shortcuts but, there are a few here which i had never heard of.
Thank You
(stumbled)
Usually these type of lists contain the blatantly obvious/common shortcuts, but yours was good and refreshing, I learnt a nice bit. Stumbl’d.
@Tim, @Les, @Pixellated
Thanks
Thanks, Some of those are very useful.
Excellent post.
Jason
http://www.mythemefinder.com
#23 depends on your system and configuration, most computers will lock screen, mine switches users. im sure there is a little checkbox somewere to toggle between the two.
great, thanks for refreshing.
Hey!
Thanks for a the list.
I did know a lot of them, and I’m using them daily, but there was a few I was missing.
Greetings from Denmark,
- Johan aka Josso
Is Ctrl+Shift+ESC mentioned? That opens the Task Manager.
ctrl+shift+esc brings up the task manager =)
@Paul, @nobile: Thanks for adding a new shortcut to the list.
23 Lesser known but Incredibly useful Windows Shortcuts | Technotraits.com | Karl Frank Jr. Consultants on August 8th, 2008
[...] useful Windows Shortcuts | Technotraits.com Posted in August 8th, 2008 by admin in Computers 23 Lesser known but Incredibly useful Windows Shortcuts | Technotraits.com Keyboard Shortcuts are a great way to increase productivity as they save a lot of time and also [...]
Most of these also work in Ubuntu as well!
I would add one shortkey but I don’t know if it isn’t so less known but at least it is very useful.
You can switch between open windows using “Alt+Tab” and choosing the window use Tab-key and releasing Alt-key.
You can also “lock” the window (where is shown open windows) on screen by using “Alt+Ctrl+Tab” which is useful when you have many windows open so you don’t need to keep Alt down when you choose the window. Choose the window using arrows or Tab and pushing enter when on the right window.
Good list anyway! (Stumbled!)
Greetings from Finland!
P.S I’m sorry if there are some typos. I’m from Finland.
This is a helpful list. Thanks.
Thanks for the tips! I’ll try to implement some of these into my own computing habits to save time.
Stumbled, Dugg, Subscribed
Some nice shortcuts. What I would really like though, is a shortcut to toggle between righthanded and lefthanded mouse. Does it exist? Can it be made?
One I use alot is Windows+R too bring up the Run box too come up
And Windows+F will bring up the search window
those are 2 that i use often
@Esko: Thanks for letting us know about Alt+Ctrl+tab, i would like to add that Alt+Ctrl+Tab works only in Windows Vista.
@ Sakura
Yes it is possible. Please see this
Thanks, Nain.
Also Ctrl>Shift>ESC opens the task manager. Its also very help full some time
Stumbled and BM’d! Several in here I’d either forgotten about or plain didn’t know!!! Great!
Don’t forget Windows Key+E .. opens a new windows explorer window!
Just an important note: It’s actually Windows Key+Pause, not Break. This may seem irrelevant since they’re generally on the same key, but same notebooks or specialized keyboards either break these keys up, or put Pause as a Fn alternative on a different key. So Windows Key+Break will do nothing on one of these keyboards. It’s Pause that you need to track down. As an IT guy I use this keyboard combo several times a day.
Also someone else noted Ctrl+Shift+Esc being important for opening the task manager. Those used to home versions of Windows may not recognize the use of this since Ctrl+Alt+Del does the same for them, but when joined to a domain, Ctrl+Alt+Del brings up the Security panel, not Task Manager. It takes an extra click to get to the task manager from there. Ctrl+Shift+Esc is a nice time-saver.
@turbofool: thanks for adding to our knowledge and nice elaboration
The Backspace button does not lead to parental folder. It leads to previous folder, just the same as pressing the back button. The Alt+Up combination will lead to Parental folder.
@Aidar: the Backspace button leads to the parent folder and not the previous folder. Plz check.
Thanks a lot for shortcuts, didnt know about the ctrl+shift+Esc which was really helpful.
( Alt + Right/Left Arrow = Back and Forward in Windows Explorer )
Prt-Sc button can be used to take screen shots quickly, try Alt + Prt-Sc for taking screen shots of active window only
Here’s another little productivity gem you might not have heard of. It works in Windows Explorer AND in Internet Explorer AND in any of the MS apps.
If you simply press F10 before running any ordinary ALT string (such as ALT+F+W+F for a New Folder), you won’t need to press ALT at all. (In this particular example, to open a New Folder simply press F10 and then type FWF.)
In any event it frees your hands for typing instead of holding down the ALT key. (Oh, and of course the caps are never necessary.)
Tom Raywood
Have checked on three computers with Windows Vista. Backspace leads to previous folder. And Alt+Up Arrow leads to parental folder.
@thenetguruz: i thought Prt-Sc is quite commonly used, that’s why i left dat, any ways thanks for quoting it.
@Tom: This one’s really helpful, thanks
@Aidar: This is true for Windows Vista only then, it didn’t work on Windows XP. thanks for the info.
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Here is another good one.
When in a command prompt, use the TAB key to auto complete file and folder names.
It will automatically scroll through all the files and folders within the current directory.
Even deals with folders with spaces in the name.
Best one ever! Hours of typing saved!
Another :
When in Explorer, to have full mouseless control, press F4 once to select the Address bar and list all drives, use cursors and return to select. Press F4 once again and you can start typing a location and Windows will help auto complete the address.
Good work.
also it works in any field you are typing in that i have found anyway “ctrl + shift + and any arrow key” to highlight that word or line going in the direction that you press.
This is my favorite obscure Windows shortcut.
Any time you have a bunch of deeply nested folders (like in the Windows Registry or c:\Windows), select a folder, then hit asterisk (*). Every subfolder, sub-subfolder, etc, will be expanded automatically. It’s a real time saver when you don’t know quite where something is, or when you just have a lot of levels to go down and don’t feel like hitting that tiny plus sign a billion times.
Specifically, Eric L.
I was so hopeful about the shortcut you posted. Probably class as my favorite too if I could get it to work. Unfortunately it didn’t work for me on XP Pro. I tried the asterisk (Shift+8) to no avail. Please clarify.
Tom Raywood
thanks man.. great post
thank you..!
Bookmarked it. Thanks for this – keep up the good work.
Hey! Nice one…interesting….I wonder such shortcuts are there in the GNU/Linux OS.
Really nice post and many thanks for sharing!
@Tom – Make sure you have the folder in the tree selected, not the folder icon in the currently displayed directory. Also, Shift + 8 will not work, it has to be the actual asterisk key located on the numberpad, or as a Fn command on another key.
@Jason~
Thanks for the heads up on that. When it comes to navigating through your system, nothing’s more useful and expedient than the Folders pane in Windows Explorer. Yet only a small percentage of Windows users seem to be aware of this functionality. (Once in Windows Explorer it can easily be accessed by hitting F10 and then typing VEO.) That said, this little trick with the asterisk key is truly a gift. It’s amazing that something this useful isn’t common knowledge by now.
@ Satbir~
Great job, Satbir, trying to share the wealth in this way.
Oh, and I was also reminded today of another curious little time saver. Whenever you’re in the command console, the arrow keys can be used for typing. They’re programmed to remember all the command strings you’ve typed during the current session. The up and down arrows essentially allow you to scroll through those strings so that you don’t have to retype them. Doesn’t take long to get a handle on at all.
Tom Raywood
Yes stumbled as well and kudos: good tips.
For Vista ONLY with the Aero interface,
Window Key + TAB is a nice way to flip between applications.
Window Key + Shift + TAB reverses the direction (handy if you get carried away and flip past the program you’re looking for!)
Cheers
Nathanh (Stumbled)
Nice list.
To shut down my windows xp (english version) I press, consecutevely: windows-key, u, s.
to restart: windows-key, u, r.
Depending of the language of your system you will to type different letters.
just my two ce… shortcuts.
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[...] 23 Lesser known but Incredibly useful Windows Shortcuts | Technotraits.com (tags: xp windows tips shortcuts keyboard howto computer commands) [...]
Nice list! Stumbled!
Some good tips here. I thought i knew most keyboard shortcuts but, there are a few here which i had never heard of.
Very useful, thank you. I knew about some of these but others were surprising. Stumbled!
Some great short cuts in here that I ve not heard of, and I ve been a Windows user since 3.1.
Stumbled….Too cool for school!
Thanks for the shortcut tips for Windows and/or Office 2007.
I was searching for a long time the shortcut for Show Desktop. Now thanks to you and Stumble Upon, I know it
.
Stumbeled(Y)
thanx a lot for such time saving shortcuts.. very useful indeed..
goodday
backspace in vista actually goes backwards in the history, you can use the up arrow to go to the parent folder. strange thing to change that really winds some people up.
Cool sauce. Stumble’d.
Ok, let’s clear something up about the backspace key.
When the left pane is selected(the one with all the folder, but not the files) it is like “folder up”.
When the right pane is selected(the one with files and folders) it brings you to the previous folder.
Just tested this on Vista.
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waaay cool, i’ve always wanted to know the shortcut for “rename” thank you
stumbled
thanks for sharing…
gr8 list ..
Thnx for the cool tips n sharing with us!
hi,
thanks for the list.
what i use quite often is this:
Windows Key + E
this opens a new explorer window. i find that very usefull
Check this image for Fast access to right context menu Image
A shortuct I use quite often is:
Windows key + d
if you use this it minimizes all the open windows, press it agan and it maximizes all of the ones that were minimized
Don’t forget about Alt + Tab to switch between windows and the new Windows key + Tab to activate Windows Aero to switch between windows.. i use that alot
windows key + b allows you to navigate the taskbar icons with the keyboard.
windows key + b = allows you to navigate the taskbar icons with the keyboard.
also, pressing the spacebar will toggle highlighted/active radio buttons and checkboxes.
windows key + x = opens the mobility center/power options on some systems.
windows key + u = ease of access/accessibility center
windows key + 1 = also shows desktop
windows key + 2 = change windows without holding keys
windows key + 4 = opens default email client
windows key + 8 = opens default burning program on some systems
ctrl + left click = opens links in new tabs/windows
my email is njansen@craftingthefuture.com if anyone has any questions/comments
update: spacebar can be used to toggle almost anything, including radio buttons, checkboxes, web buttons, (i.e. the submit comment button at the bottom of the page), etc.
in a document editor, control + l aligns text with the left side of the page; control + e aligns text with the center of the page; control + r aligns text with the right side of the page.
control + p opens print dialog box on any window.
alt + f4 closes active window.
f11 maximizes active window to fill screen, without displaying toolbars
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Wow, I thought I knew all the good ones. I’ll be Ctrl clicking and Winkey+L’ing from now on
Great post, thanks
i was not aware of half of them…very useful….thanx for sharing..!!!!
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nice article, i learned a lot from this.
im using windows but not know this key combinations..
anyway checkout my blog too. http://haktech.blogspot.com
more power..
Awesome, didn’t know some shortcuts. Thanks for this post!
FAO post 69
Windows key + number keys load the quicklaunch programs – different on each pc setup.
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i have to say, these are some great short cuts.
The only two keyboard shortcuts i use are
1.) ctrl+alt+del opens task manager and
2.)windows key+up+right+enter shuts down your computer. It might take longer for some people, and its not exactly a shortcut, but its faster for me and it works